The Johnson & Wales stop is also where a large corporate office is located for Bank of America, so a lot of employees are shuttling between that stop and Tryon stop, where the Corporate Center and other bank buildings are located. The Greyhound station is only a year or two old, as they construct the new Gateway Station that both Amtrak and Greyhound will use (located where the Gold line stop is). Thank you for visiting Charlotte, the Applebee's of Cities.
Rode this with my wife 2 days ago while visiting Charlotte for the very first time. Parked the car at the University parking spot and toured the entire city using this rail line. It was a very unique & good experience, *more US cities should follow this green initiative!*
Glad you enjoyed your ride on CATS. I don’t think it gets as much love as it should. I use the Blue line to get to “Uptown” for work. It was running every 7mins before covid during morning and evening rush hour. CATS-Pass app is the only way to go with payment and knowing the time. The Gold line will get more use soon I believe. The further expansion the Gold line will replace the route 9 bus which is the most used bus line in Charlotte. Ron Tober who was in charge of CATS didn’t allow any wraps or advertisements because he said you lost the branding of the system. Once he left they started wrapping everything to increase revenue.
Let me explain the center of town. You may have noticed that the center of town is at the top of a big hill. Back in the middle of the 20th century, the people that lived in the surrounding neighborhoods would walk there to shop or eat. They'd say "let's walk up the hill to Uptown."
Interesting to see Charlotte coming out swinging with some solid transit lines. Shame that the frequency is so low, I feel like upping it even just to 15 minutes would make a HUGE difference for rider perception. But honestly if they built all of these elevated stations and corridors there's almost no excuse to not be running the train sub 10 minutes, at least at peak ridership times.
This was really well done. Lots of info, covered all the major upsides and downsides. I have never seen a video before, but I expect I will be coming back.
thanks for touring my city! the TOD going south out towards I-485 is South End, a really pretty neighborhood, and NoDa was the one going North to UNCC. Love the cat cafe in NoDa
I live in the suburbs of Charlotte and sugar creek station is a great foamer spot with light rails, Amtrak piedmonts, Carolinians, and piedmonts and freight trains! Oof, they used to have old fashioned street cars and you got the new one
The Blue Line IS a very good light rail line. Only issue is that it's the only one, but I give them grace on that because it's a deeply suburban, sprawling metro area and good urbanism has only been a force there for a fairly short time. I'm just sad that the Silver Line isn't there yet (same thing but east-west). Also, "six hours from Gastonia" killed me.
Hope you enjoyed the Queen City! And yes I agree with you that the light rail wrapping (aka the "Dots") are absolutely intolerable lol. CLT's light rail is pretty cool, but their buses are REALLY struggling. But I love using the CATS Express Commuter Buses however, which I believe Charlotte is one of the only major US cities among a tiny handful that has a specialized suburban commuter bus system that takes you from various suburban towns directly to the city center (Uptown). I live right next to a park and ride so that's really convenient.
It’s funny to hear Miles taking about doing his 1000 subscriber livestream at the end of this video. It’s 11 months later and he’s now at 14 times that number.
I wonder what happened to the replica trolleys they used to use on the Gold Line before they expanded it. I’ve been to Charlotte a couple times…the line was closed when I was there last…a couple weeks before they reopened the Gold Line.
They still have the old trolleys, but they don't work with the new raised platforms for the high capacity cars, so they're just sitting at the CATS maintenance facility.
They're being restored to use as the lakewood trolley. On the west side, from the stadium uptown out to blue blaze brewing on old tracks. Kinda up in the air right now though.
I really wish there were another line that went north along I-77/Route 21. There's a lot of new suburban expansion there, and traffic in the area has gotten pretty bad over the years. There's an existing freight line in place that's been abandoned for a while, but it could probably be re-used.
CATS has been trying to get access to that track for years. Norfolk Southern owns it. They don't use it but don't want to allow CATS to use it. They have rejected every proposal. CATS is trying to avoid having to spend $5 billion to lay its own track.
The worst thing about the rail is heading south towards 485, far too many parking lots for box stores near valuable real estate where housing would be much more beneficial to the line sustainability
Local transit enthusiast and former large Canadian city dweller here. You correctly pointed out problems with the frequency and speed. Several trains from the original order were pulled out of service for refurbishment so they had to reduce the frequency - not great planning :/ Furthermore, there was a safety issue with the axles which caused 1 derailment in which NO ONE was hurt in 2022 I think. As a result, the max speed was reduced across the network by about 10 MPH. I am not sure when either situation will be remediated. Do I take CATS? I would, but I work across the street from the station which is nearest to my house :-( But I might be moving in 2025 so who knows!
@MilesInTransit curious, but how are you able to do all of these cool trips through the various cities via transit and stuff, because I imagine it gets pretty expensive! Very cool content though!
It was a mix of having a decent amount of money stored up in the bank from internships with having a lot of free time that would let me fly on weird days to get cheap deals! Now I have a Real Job and the channel's big enough that the videos are paying for themselves for the most part, which is incredible!
@@cedricye1767 I have ridden a vehicle for over an hour with a wrapped ad and............ yeah my opinion doesn't change. But you're right agencies can make money without a full vehicle wrap, doesn't mean they can't make more money doing it. Also originally this was a joke, just to make fun of Miles. So you know that GIF of the stick figure and the world "joke" flying over him? You're the stick figure! My final word on full vs. no full, if you tell me a tourist trap like Orlando wraps their buses well that's stupid because Orlando is a tourist trap, you don't want to obstruct the view of Universal or the big Orlando eye for tourists. But if Boston wraps their buses I got no issues because majority of their riders are students or workers, you see one tall building you've seen em all, not counting any obvious historical looking building. If I didn't read the title of this video, nor not know Boston's transit, for all I know Miles is in Boston complaining about dots not Charlotte, because a tall building is a tall building. I now have a sudden urge to start a pretention for Greyhound and Amtrak to start wrapping their buses in dots.
I'm a staunch believer in the idea that wrapping vehicles harms the rider experience so much that it's in no way worth the additional money the transit agency might get from ad revenue. If you're on a wrapped bus at night, it's pretty much impossible to see out the window to know when your stop is - and that applies to anyone, local or tourist. Yes, it sucks to not be able to see the scenery outside, but even worse is not knowing when your stop is (to any rebuttals: automated announcements absolutely do not always work, and not everyone has a smartphone, and indeed the appropriate data plan, to be able to constantly check their location to see if they're in the right place).
This video was filmed 2 months ago and I've said it a bunch since then so sadly I think I show no signs of change from the juggernaut that is "it's worth noting" ;)
Charlotte is 317 square miles.. We need all the public transit we can get, but you’re going to need a car, similar to LA, there are large portions of city scattered in different districts, hopefully one day the subway will be completed.
The Johnson & Wales stop is also where a large corporate office is located for Bank of America, so a lot of employees are shuttling between that stop and Tryon stop, where the Corporate Center and other bank buildings are located. The Greyhound station is only a year or two old, as they construct the new Gateway Station that both Amtrak and Greyhound will use (located where the Gold line stop is). Thank you for visiting Charlotte, the Applebee's of Cities.
“The Applebees of Cities” is the best descriptor I’ve ever heard for Charlotte.
@@colbyjd3 so accurate it hurts
@@colbyjd3true
Rode this with my wife 2 days ago while visiting Charlotte for the very first time. Parked the car at the University parking spot and toured the entire city using this rail line. It was a very unique & good experience, *more US cities should follow this green initiative!*
Glad you enjoyed your ride on CATS. I don’t think it gets as much love as it should. I use the Blue line to get to “Uptown” for work. It was running every 7mins before covid during morning and evening rush hour.
CATS-Pass app is the only way to go with payment and knowing the time. The Gold line will get more use soon I believe. The further expansion the Gold line will replace the route 9 bus which is the most used bus line in Charlotte.
Ron Tober who was in charge of CATS didn’t allow any wraps or advertisements because he said you lost the branding of the system. Once he left they started wrapping everything to increase revenue.
DECENT MODERN TRANSIT??? IMPOSSIBLE
Although both lines should be every 15 at least...
And yes, NOT THE DOTS
Let me explain the center of town. You may have noticed that the center of town is at the top of a big hill. Back in the middle of the 20th century, the people that lived in the surrounding neighborhoods would walk there to shop or eat. They'd say "let's walk up the hill to Uptown."
Charlotte may not have the most frequent or widespread trams, but the stations look very nice and have a good control of their ROW.
Charlotte has one of my favorite light rail systems
Interesting to see Charlotte coming out swinging with some solid transit lines. Shame that the frequency is so low, I feel like upping it even just to 15 minutes would make a HUGE difference for rider perception. But honestly if they built all of these elevated stations and corridors there's almost no excuse to not be running the train sub 10 minutes, at least at peak ridership times.
This was really well done. Lots of info, covered all the major upsides and downsides. I have never seen a video before, but I expect I will be coming back.
Thanks Bill, that means a lot!
thanks for touring my city! the TOD going south out towards I-485 is South End, a really pretty neighborhood, and NoDa was the one going North to UNCC. Love the cat cafe in NoDa
I live in the suburbs of Charlotte and sugar creek station is a great foamer spot with light rails, Amtrak piedmonts, Carolinians, and piedmonts and freight trains!
Oof, they used to have old fashioned street cars and you got the new one
The Blue Line IS a very good light rail line. Only issue is that it's the only one, but I give them grace on that because it's a deeply suburban, sprawling metro area and good urbanism has only been a force there for a fairly short time. I'm just sad that the Silver Line isn't there yet (same thing but east-west).
Also, "six hours from Gastonia" killed me.
Hope you enjoyed the Queen City! And yes I agree with you that the light rail wrapping (aka the "Dots") are absolutely intolerable lol. CLT's light rail is pretty cool, but their buses are REALLY struggling. But I love using the CATS Express Commuter Buses however, which I believe Charlotte is one of the only major US cities among a tiny handful that has a specialized suburban commuter bus system that takes you from various suburban towns directly to the city center (Uptown). I live right next to a park and ride so that's really convenient.
I have been in that Philly airport terminal too and it is a disappointment each and every time.
5:03 - thank you for this
Thank you for noticing, hehehe
It’s funny to hear Miles taking about doing his 1000 subscriber livestream at the end of this video. It’s 11 months later and he’s now at 14 times that number.
Automatically generated subtitles at 1:59 : "A lot of space for candies which is actually needed".
I definitely remember not being able to find the light rail from the transit center. Missed a train because of that.
5:05 that would be a great thing for Phoenix’s light rail line to have.
I usually don't enjoy riding these 'wrapped' cars. Like riding in the back of a windowless van, particularly on a cloudy day.
Man this channel is fire, Subscribed cuz this is a legit adventure for me!
Thanks a lot!!
The blue line has an ok connection to the amtrak station. You do have to walk through a pretty rough part of town to actually get there though
I wonder what happened to the replica trolleys they used to use on the Gold Line before they expanded it. I’ve been to Charlotte a couple times…the line was closed when I was there last…a couple weeks before they reopened the Gold Line.
They still have the old trolleys, but they don't work with the new raised platforms for the high capacity cars, so they're just sitting at the CATS maintenance facility.
They're being restored to use as the lakewood trolley. On the west side, from the stadium uptown out to blue blaze brewing on old tracks. Kinda up in the air right now though.
Another epic journey!
I really wish there were another line that went north along I-77/Route 21. There's a lot of new suburban expansion there, and traffic in the area has gotten pretty bad over the years. There's an existing freight line in place that's been abandoned for a while, but it could probably be re-used.
CATS has been trying to get access to that track for years. Norfolk Southern owns it. They don't use it but don't want to allow CATS to use it. They have rejected every proposal. CATS is trying to avoid having to spend $5 billion to lay its own track.
Yeah it's called the Red Line.... Norfolk Is very Stubborn, won't let it happen
I had no idea that the system had an elevated section!!!!
super useful to explore the city as a college student at UNC Charlotte. Go Niners
Nice video do one more on charlotte light rail next week make it lil longer next time on charlotte blue line light rail
Charlotte is my second home and I ride the light rail and streetcar there quite a bit. I might add you could have taken Amtrak back home.
The worst thing about the rail is heading south towards 485, far too many parking lots for box stores near valuable real estate where housing would be much more beneficial to the line sustainability
Local transit enthusiast and former large Canadian city dweller here. You correctly pointed out problems with the frequency and speed. Several trains from the original order were pulled out of service for refurbishment so they had to reduce the frequency - not great planning :/ Furthermore, there was a safety issue with the axles which caused 1 derailment in which NO ONE was hurt in 2022 I think. As a result, the max speed was reduced across the network by about 10 MPH. I am not sure when either situation will be remediated.
Do I take CATS? I would, but I work across the street from the station which is nearest to my house :-( But I might be moving in 2025 so who knows!
Should have like 3-4 proper metro lines imo
And that's a wrap.
badum-tss
*growls* I absolutely HATE the dots!!! On any transit vehicle....
5:03 I couldn’t stop laughing😂
@MilesInTransit curious, but how are you able to do all of these cool trips through the various cities via transit and stuff, because I imagine it gets pretty expensive! Very cool content though!
It was a mix of having a decent amount of money stored up in the bank from internships with having a lot of free time that would let me fly on weird days to get cheap deals! Now I have a Real Job and the channel's big enough that the videos are paying for themselves for the most part, which is incredible!
Dots are the best thing ever in my book! Annoys Miles and it gets the transit agency money from advertising.
Ride a vehicle with dots for an hour then revisit your opinion, please
Agencies can make ad money without a full vehicle ad wrap...
@@cedricye1767 I have ridden a vehicle for over an hour with a wrapped ad and............ yeah my opinion doesn't change. But you're right agencies can make money without a full vehicle wrap, doesn't mean they can't make more money doing it. Also originally this was a joke, just to make fun of Miles. So you know that GIF of the stick figure and the world "joke" flying over him? You're the stick figure!
My final word on full vs. no full, if you tell me a tourist trap like Orlando wraps their buses well that's stupid because Orlando is a tourist trap, you don't want to obstruct the view of Universal or the big Orlando eye for tourists. But if Boston wraps their buses I got no issues because majority of their riders are students or workers, you see one tall building you've seen em all, not counting any obvious historical looking building. If I didn't read the title of this video, nor not know Boston's transit, for all I know Miles is in Boston complaining about dots not Charlotte, because a tall building is a tall building. I now have a sudden urge to start a pretention for Greyhound and Amtrak to start wrapping their buses in dots.
I'm a staunch believer in the idea that wrapping vehicles harms the rider experience so much that it's in no way worth the additional money the transit agency might get from ad revenue. If you're on a wrapped bus at night, it's pretty much impossible to see out the window to know when your stop is - and that applies to anyone, local or tourist. Yes, it sucks to not be able to see the scenery outside, but even worse is not knowing when your stop is (to any rebuttals: automated announcements absolutely do not always work, and not everyone has a smartphone, and indeed the appropriate data plan, to be able to constantly check their location to see if they're in the right place).
I’m surprised nobody commented on the “please look both ways before exiting”. Sign. Not needed if the wrap wasn’t there. Insanity!
lmao chills as a train announcer would be something that makes my daily mundane commute even better on the E train here in NY!
2:18 "something important to mention" has replaced "it's worth noting" and this is personal growth ❤
This video was filmed 2 months ago and I've said it a bunch since then so sadly I think I show no signs of change from the juggernaut that is "it's worth noting" ;)
Frequency still sucks and the trains don't run late
Can you please explain Burger King floor lettuce? I listened and still don’t understand.
I love wrapped
UP TOWN FUNKYWUP
✌🏾
Too hot. Hot damn.
Dose this ride with traffic or not
The Blue Line is entirely separate from traffic, but the Gold Line mostly runs in mixed traffic.
Subtle shots fired at Gastonia lmfao, never been on that side of the city heard its shit
theres nothing there........ no disrespect to gastonia but its def the gateway to charlotte...
I hate wrapped Transit
Charlotte shows even small places can have lots of transit
Charlotte is 317 square miles..
We need all the public transit we can get, but you’re going to need a car, similar to LA, there are large portions of city scattered in different districts, hopefully one day the subway will be completed.