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We're big supporters of a strong regional transit system in Charlotte, and we're glad to see the city sitting atop a new national list for the largest increase in people using public transportation. But, er, it's important to point out a few things.
When you launch a long-awaited, 9-mile-long light rail line in a city that hasn't had rail transit since its streetcar system was torn up decades ago, it's not surprising when transit ridership soars. And when, within months of said rail line opening, gasoline prices hit $4 a gallon - well, you get the picture. People poured onto the Lynx Blue Line when it opened in November 2007 and onto it and buses during the summer of 2008, to avoid shelling out twice as much as they were accustomed to paying for gasoline.
The rankings were put together by the Planetizen.com Web site, which focuses on planning, growth and transportation issues. Writer Nate Berg used ridership data from 2006 through 2008. From 2006 to 2008 the city's ridership went up 47 percent. No. 2 in its transit-riding increase was Detroit; No. 3 was Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.
Yet it's also important to point out that Charlotte did many things right in building its transit system, having learned from mistakes in places such as Miami and Atlanta. Most important, the city made sure its transit plan was also a land-use plan. Cities that plopped rail transit lines into a landscape of auto-centric, low-density suburban development - with no changes to allow and encourage higher-density, walkable development - saw under-filled rail cars. Charlotte, by contrast, created transit-oriented development standards and set about rezoning land along the light rail corridor. It didn't hurt that the city was experiencing eye-popping growth, with developers flocking to town like 12-year-old girls to a new vampire movie.
Even though today's recession has put the brakes on most projects, the transit-oriented developments already built in South End helped feed transit ridership.
Charlotte's experience can be - and is - a guidebook for other Sun Belt cities, including others in the Carolinas. It proves that with the right land-use planning and a modicum of good luck, even a sprawling, car-loving city such as Charlotte can find public transit success.
