Matthews is in mecklenburg county, so they already have CATS service.
They of course pulled a Pineville and said they didn’t want it running through their downtown though, so now whenever (if) the Silver Line gets built, riders will not have easy access to downtown matthews.
It’s a shame because its one of the better downtown areas for small towns that surround Charlotte. Not as nice as Belmont or Davidson, but it has a nice vibe.
Every bit of that about Union County is painfully accurate.
I’m from Union and still spend a fair amount of time there. My mom still lives there and I’m there often for work. I dread going every time I have to.
Could be a saturday afternoon and 50 cars lined up at an intersection trying to make a turn. Indian Trail and Wesley Chapel areas are the absolute worst for this.
Just say no
To domes
With the line running down 74 it won’t roll into downtown belmont either but the city is in the initial stages of a trolly line that will eventually go over 74 and connect belmont with Mount Holly and will cross the light rail line. Initially it will Just connect belmont abbey and downtown. Either way though it will enable folks to take a little trolly into downtown belmont from the light rail station. The tracks are already laid and are no longer used.
Mathews does have a good downtown shame they aren’t letting the line run all the way in. Last I talked with the city manager there was about 18 months ago.
The trip times on the light rail are very slow plus you have to worry about someone doing something stupid in a public space. CATS has done a poor job maintaining the existing blue light with derailments last year. I’ve been a long supporter of light rail but I’m starting to doubt its practicality and adoption by the masses.
CATS has done a poor job managing it but as far as someone doing something stupid- that’s literally everywhere. You step outside your house and it’s a concern. Street train highway sidewalk mall concert etc
I am always concerned that I am about to do something stupid whenever I step out of the house
I talked to the maintenance director a few years ago when I went in to quote some striping work in their maintenance facility. He took the job after working on the DC metro line for a long time.
He said maintenance on public rail systems is difficult because everyone wants to bitch about shoddy maintenance and delays, but they also want to bitch if things are taken offline for preventative maintenance. At the time he said it was less of an issue here than on the DC metro (which is notorious for reliability issues), but now that the blue line has aged more and the cars are likely needing more frequent work, he’s probably feeling right at home in the same shit he lived in in the DC area.
maintenance Is outrageous with a dome stadium
clt says this meme started about the dc metro fires
I support the light rail but I wish it was a subway. It’s just too slow.
The Matthews decisions is dumb.
I can’t imagine what the costs would have been with subway.
Yeah it would have been insane.
What worries me about light rail is that eventually your city is going to grow to the point you need a metro anyway (in some cases, hopefully Charlottes!).
Either way I support it. I would use it if I lived near it.
And anything they helps keep traffic under control is a good thing.
Glad to hear about the forward looking outlook for Gaston and the Belmont Mt Holly trolly.
