By Michael Handy - bio l email
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Despite all the initial controversy surrounding Charlotte's light rail system, it has been a big success. In fact, ridership continues to surpass expectations, which means the city might need to adjustment its future light rail plans.
That is why City Council members will hear from LYNX engineers during their regular Monday night meeting.
One of the first changes they will ask for would be on the platforms beside the tracks. Some of the future stations are going to need lots more room than existing stations.
Again, the main reason is because we have seen lots more passengers than anyone projected. Thousands of folks now commute to Center City on a daily basis using the LYNX Blue Line, and if there is a large sporting or entertainment event, you can triple, maybe even quadruple that number.
Of course, a lot of these folks are using one of the seven park and ride stations which brings up the next big concern, have the engineers planned for adequate parking? On several occasions, we have seen the parking deck at the South Boulevard station shut down because of the simple fact there was no more room.
LYNX officials want to make sure that does not happen when the Blue Line is extended north of the city. Also, they say they are going to need more vehicle maintenance and storage capacity, plus additional grade separations.
Again, these enhancements would be only to the Blue Line extension that is to be built north of the city. LYNX officials say some of the same improvements are needed to the existing south line, and they also plan to ask for those changes.
However, a large chunk of the LYNX budget comes from the city's sales tax and during an economic crisis, those revenues are way down. City leaders already told LYNX to cut back on service, so it will be interesting to see what happens.
No immediate action is planned. Monday night's meeting is for engineers to explain to city leaders why these enhancements are needed
