How the LYNX light rail got its name

If you haven’t ridden it, you’ve seen it or you’ve heard of it. The LYNX Blue Line light rail, Charlotte’s first light rail service, is 9.6 miles long and stretches from I-485 at South Boulevard to uptown at 7th Street. When the 9.3-mile extension opens later this year (likely in August), the line will reach to UNC Charlotte.

But why is the Blue Line light rail branded as “LYNX?”

Well, it is a double-pun that the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) announced in 2006, according to Charlotte Observer archives.

At the time of the announcement, Richard Rubin at the Observer reported that “‘Lynx’ conveys the way transit connects the community, officials said, and plays off CATS’ feline motif.”

I would add that it also aligns well with the panther imagery that the Carolina Panthers football team has brought to the city.

[Related: New Panthers stadium sculpture gets commented — and climbed — on.]

“We want it to be inviting, not stiff,” Brannon Cashion, a branding consultant hired by CATS for $10,000, said in the 2006 Observer article.

Update: According to a recent statement by Krystel Green, CATS Manager of Public & Community Relations, CATS was not playing off of a feline motif, but was seeking to convey connectivity. The brand consulting and branding company Addison Whitney was hired to help with the initial brand name of the LYNX Blue Line, Green added.

The name “LYNX” won out on a list of 250 options, including “City Lynx,” which had too many syllables, and “Xcel,” which did not emphasize city connectivity.

A lynx is a type of wildcat with long limbs, a short tail, gray-brown fur with white marks, and often tufted ears. It is a stealthy cat, and a skilled hunter.

The CityLYNX Gold Line streetcar joined Charlotte’s feline-themed scene in July 2015. And the conceptualized Red Line light rail to the airport, Lake Norman and Matthews could be next.

I vote to nickname it “Red Lion.”

Photos: Charlotte Observer file, Katie Toussaint

This story was originally published February 20, 2017 at 11:00 PM with the headline "How the LYNX light rail got its name."