If you expect 9 and get 12, that has exceeded what you expected... nm.I am just saying I think it was a "safe" expectation. Getting 1 out of how many ever expectations right is a start, and you gotta start somewhere.
Char, will you please respond so I can think about something other than the garbage going on in Tulsa?
:biggrin:
[QUOTE=stonecoldken;277904]If it’s standing room only, that’s nothing to brag about. Who wants to get out of their car to get in another traffic jam?
And it stops at every stop. There is no express from the start to downtown, hence, what’s the point?[/QUOTE]
Here you go.
I rode LYNX from Stonewall to 485 today after the bowl game. I was impressed with most aspects of it.
The ticketing/fare system is flawed.
I’ve ridden it three times. I’ve been impressed with everything except the ticket machines. They’re terribly slow and I had TWO break while I was waiting for a train the other day. One broke right before I got a ticket and one broke right after I got my ticket. After you buy a ticket they say “thank you, your ticket is printing” for 20-30 seconds after the tickets are finished printing. If there is a crowd, most of the people are going to miss the train. They need to work that out or get some new machines because that will deter a lot of people from riding.
Bump for the game
Taking it this morning from 485 with a stop off East Blvd. for a brunch at Pikes and then off to the game. Will be my first time riding it so hoping things go smoothly.
I did ride it from 485 for the Panthers/49ers game last year and they did have live people there to help with the tickets for the trains. I don’t believe they do that during normal operation but it definitely helped the traffic flow of people.
I rode it today from the S Blvd to CTC and back for the game. It was nice, but like already said, the ticket machines are rather slow, and when there’s a long line, it can cause people to miss the next train.
We enjoyed our first trip on it. We got on the 10:20am departure at 485 and pretty much had the car to ourselves and we got the all-day pass for just $2.30 each which is nice because we may go back uptown tonight for dinner. There were a few construction delays on the way up but it still beat driving/parking. The ride back was slammed but that was to be expected after the game letting out. We made it back to 485 by around 2:30 which was nice.
I'm surprised this blurb from the Lynx article on Sunday in the Observer didn't get posted by somebodyhttp://www.charlotte.com/274/story/407501.html
I do wonder how “event-driven” the ridership is though, and how the numbers will fare when the Panthers and Bobcats are done playing for the year.
http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/433928.html
Tale of the tickets
CATS collected just under $214,000 from its ticket machines in the first month of rail operations.
That first-month revenue translates to 5,300 full-fare trips per day. CATS has said rail ridership is above 12,000 daily trips. Why the discrepancy? At least part of it is because some people are riding for free, frustrated when ticket machines aren’t working.
So what’s the other part?
[URL]http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/433928.html[/URL] [B][I]Tale of the tickets[/I][/B] [I]CATS collected just under $214,000 from its ticket machines in the first month of rail operations.[/I] [I]That first-month revenue translates to [B]5,300 full-fare trips per day[/B]. [B]CATS has said rail ridership is above 12,000 daily trips[/B]. Why the discrepancy? [B]At least part of it is because some people are riding for free, frustrated when ticket machines aren't working.[/B][/I]So what’s the other part?
The other part, as it states in the article, is people getting transfers from buses and others riding with weekly and monthly passes.
The other part, as it states in the article, is people getting transfers from buses and others riding with weekly and monthly passes.where do they get that 12k number? They certainly don't have anyone counting, so I imagine it is off of some formula from studies of other light rail systems (maybe UNC Charlotte did the study) that takes ticket sales to determine the ridership, to account for montly passes, bus transfers, disabled tickets, and "stealing" a ride. I dont think that, that math is take the number from tickets sold, and multiply by 2.26.
Digging a little deeper…
Cats projected $180,000 a month, or $6,000 a day with 9100 riders a day in the first year. Looking at the current situation, we are generating $5,300 a day an 11.66% DROP, but some how have 12000 riders a day, a 33% RISE.
Doesn’t add up.
peanut butter?
they do actually have people that get on the trains from time to time to do a count. It’s not exact, but they can get a good estimate based on how much room is left. Trains have a certain capacity and you can get a pretty good idea based on how much standing room is left. Some of the trains are also equipped with lasers that count the number of people entering and exiting.
They can’t go by ticket sales alone because bus transfers do not have to buy another ticket and I’d estimate that a pretty good bit of the people using the line are bus transfers. The few times I’ve ridden it I’ve seen quite a few people get off of buses and walk up to the station.
People buying weekly and monthly passes also are not counted. There are also quite a bit of people thus far that have gotten a free ride because of ticket machine problems. The fines handed out do not count towards fares as far as I know.