A Streetcar named Awesome

• Runs from Presbyterian Hospital to TWC Arena (1.5 miles). Total of 6 stops.
• Free (no ticket needed).
• Arrives at stations about every 15 minutes, and a one-way trip takes about 10 minutes. Travels 16mph. 
• Schedule: 6am-11pm (Mon-Thurs), 6am-midnight (Fri), 8am-midnight (Sat) and 9am-7pm (Sunday).

As you almost definitely know, Charlotte launched its latest transportation initiative, the Gold Line Streetcar, on Tuesday.

As the days ticked down to yesterday’s launch, it seemed that the feeling around town was a sarcastic “took you long enough” with a “wish someone would give me $37 million” thrown in for good measure.

I understand the arguments against the streetcar. It seemingly took forever, dramatically altered Uptown traffic patterns for months, and put the businesses along Elizabeth Ave on life support for half a decade. But I think ultimately it’s a necessary investment in Charlotte’s future.

With any major civic transportation investment, a certain segment of the population is going to push back. Check out these New York Times articles from 1905 about the New York Subway and tell me the Gold Line isn’t history repeating itself. The original section of the subway cost $50 million to build. In 1894. That’s like a zillion dollars in today’s money (check my math). Citizens of New York were upset that the subway project at times seemed rushed and that civic leaders with a vested interest in its completion were forcing it upon a populous that wasn’t necessarily asking for it. Sound familiar?

But like it or not, the streetcar opened for business on Tuesday. I live in Elizabeth and work in Uptown – the streetcar tracks essentially run to my front door and drop me off at work – so I guess you could say I’m pro streetcar. I’ve been waiting for July 14th for a while, so I scrounged together all my spare change to make the fare, and took the streetcar home for my evening commute. Here’s my running diary of my experience:

5:10pm I leave work from the city center. From my building, I could see lines forming at the station between Time Warner Cable Arena and the Transportation Center, so I didn’t know what to expect as far as crowds.

5:14pm I get to the station and there’s a crowd of about 15 people already waiting. The streetcar isn’t here yet. I kind of assumed that a train would be waiting for me. How long is this going to take?!

One of the major arguments for the streetcar is that it will spur development along the route. I think this corner of Trade and Brevard is early evidence of that. A year ago this was dilapidated buildings, but they’ve since been remodeled and look halfway decent. Not sure what kind of business they’re looking to fill the space with, but this corner could be pretty jumping for Hornets games in the near future.

5:15pm That didn’t take long. Here comes one now! While I was taking this picture, no fewer than three cars swerved into the right lane to pass the streetcar. Driving on Trade is going to be interesting for the foreseeable future as people get used to sharing the road with the streetcar. I’ll be surprised if we get through Labor Day without some sort of minor incident. Know the rules of the road and be patient, you hotheads.

5:17pm The train passed us and is still waiting at the terminus near the Lynx Blue Line overpass. Is it waiting for traffic to clear or to hit a schedule? Unclear, but either way we are all just waiting for something to happen. Someone at the stop tells me the last one took off at 5:08, so it looks like we’re close to a 15 minute schedule.

5:20pm Here it comes! I am kind of embarrassed at how excited I got seeing the train rumbling towards us. It was kind of like when the empty roller coaster pulls up at an amusement park. I can see this being a huge draw for kids. Speaking of that, I would say about 60% of my fellow riders were families with children clearly riding just to check out the novelty of it. Keep that in mind when we’re looking at the undoubtedly large ridership numbers that CATS and the City are sure to put out in September to demonstrate the Gold Line’s popularity.

5:21pm I’m on! There are entrances at the front and the back, so there was little waiting in line to step aboard. Because the trains have to drive both directions, there are controls at each end of the train. As I boarded, I expected to be greeted by a driver (conductor?) at the top of the steps, but instead I just stepped right into the control area like I was driving the thing. I remained standing and let the families and kids have the seats, because I am a gentleman like no other.

5:23pm Ok, in two minutes we’ve traveled one block and are sitting at a light at Davidson St. That’s kind of anticlimactic, but it gives me a chance to check out the car. They’ve done a good job keeping the design and feel of an old-style streetcar with all wood everything, but the streetcars still include the latest in cutting edge technology that we all come to expect in 2015.

5:24pm We are finally moving…only to come to another stop just on the other side of Davidson St. This stop seems entirely unnecessary. Can we trade it in and get like $300,000 back? That’s how infrastructure works, right?

5:26pm Uh-oh, I think I’m in trouble. I’m still standing, and as the train lurched forward, I lost my balance a bit and stepped on something on the floor, that coincided with a trolley clang. Could it be?

Holy cow, it looks like you can make the trolley clang just by stepping on this yellow button on the floor. This train runs until after midnight on the weekends? Get ready to watch the drunken masses slowly discover that they can make the trolley clang, then incessantly pushing the button to their delight and no one else’s. Pulling the night shift as a streetcar conductor on a Saturday night just became the second-worst job in Charlotte (just after Sunday morning EpiCentre elevator janitor).

5:29pm We’ve gone through the row of bail bond places, under 277, and across Charlottetown, stopping briefly to pick up some students at CPCC. By the way, how much has being a student at the CPCC Uptown campus improved over the past five years? Just about every classroom building is less than four years old, they’ve got bike lanes, Earl’s Grocery and Viva Chicken, and now a brand new free streetcar to shuttle them to and fro. They’ve even got a clocktower. Sucks for you, CPCC Class of 2009.

5:30pm Here we are at the stop across the street from Earl’s and the Visulite. After a slow start, it took all of nine minutes to get here from TWC Arena, and that’s during the heart of rush hour traffic. Even the most staunch (staunchest?) streetcar hater has to admit that’s pretty cool.

5:33pm This is the end of the line. Ironically waiting at the light at Hawthorne right in front of Presbyterian Hospital for two minutes took up 17% of the entire travel time. If you were able to hit all the lights you might be able to make the trip in five minutes.

I exit the streetcar and thank our driver, Randa. She did a great job. Always thank your streetcar conductor, people. It’s just good manners.

Needless to say, I’ll be riding the streetcar again. Based on this experience, it’s fast and convenient enough to rely on for a morning and afternoon commute, and the price of free is less than any other transportation option out there.

Even if you aren’t one of the lucky few to live in the slice of heaven we call Elizabeth, I think the streetcar is a great option for anyone in Charlotte. If you’re going to anything at TWC Arena, park and grab dinner at one of the restaurants along Elizabeth Avenue and take the streetcar into Uptown. You can avoid the whole hassle of finding and paying for parking in Uptown, and you can enjoy the ride in the process.

Happy riding, and I’ll see you all on the Gold Line. I’ll be the one “accidentally” making it clang.