There’s good reason to be skeptical about Charlotte’s new Silver line plans | Opinion

Things don’t seem right with the LYNX Silver Line.

The Charlotte Area Transit System presented new ridership projections to the City Council’s transportation committee last week, claiming the route that skirts north of uptown would carry more passengers than a route that goes through the city’s center.

That’s a reversal from last summer, when the system’s own projections indicated the route that passes through uptown — sharing tracks with the existing Blue Lines — would carry the most passengers.

When asked what changed, interim CATS chief executive Brent Cagle said he did not know, according to WFAE. That’s hardly a reassuring answer.

So, really: what changed?

The Silver Line, a proposed light rail project that would run 26 miles from Matthews to Belmont, is just one of several big transit projects Charlotte leaders have planned over the next 25 years. It also raises familar concerns.

Transit advocates have long criticized CATS and city officials of misplaced priorities — namely, sacrificing ridership for the sake of economic development. And it’s true that the city has emphasized development as a reason they’d prefer to see the Silver Line bypass uptown, pointing out that it could spur growth along I-277 much like the Blue Line has reshaped South End. The City Council’s transportation committee backed the northern route in December before updated ridership projections were even discussed.

The point of transit, though, is to move people — to get more of them out of their cars and onto buses and trains. The Blue Line may have brought more development to Charlotte, but the people who have moved here because of it aren’t necessarily riding the light rail. That’s a problem, and it’s one that the city hopes to fix by improving public transit.

The Urban Land Institute, an outside consultant, warned the city last year that building the Silver Line around uptown could jeopardize federal funding, because the Federal Transit Administration cares more about ridership than it does development. By going through uptown and sharing tracks with the Blue Line, the Silver Line would cost less and generate more riders, ULI said, making it more likely to receive federal funding.

The more complicated it is to take public transit, the less likely people are to ride it. And many fear that the Silver Line, as approved, won’t achieve the desired result. For example, people wanting to travel uptown would have to get off at 11th Street and walk 10-15 minutes to Trade and Tryon or walk two blocks to a Blue Line station and wait for another train. Nor does the Silver Line actually go all the way to the airport, instead stopping a mile away from the terminal. (The ULI also recommended that the Silver Line have a direct airport connection, but alas.)

If bypassing uptown will actually generate the highest ridership, then the decision to move forward with that route may be the right one. Nonetheless, that projection contradicts what CATS itself said last summer, with no explanation of how or why the model changed. That doesn’t provide the kind of comfort that taxpayers rightfully expect from a project and expenditure of this size.

The public should be wary of any big transit project when big questions remain — and especially while CATS is in a state of disarray. An outside management review released in December painted a troubling portrait of the transit system. It noted issues with the leadership, organizational structure and internal culture of CATS — including unclear goals, poor communication and cooperation and low employee morale.

All of this is hypothetical, of course, because the city still does not have a way to pay for the Silver Line or its other big transit plans. A transit tax increase will be necessary, but voters must approve it through a referendum, and authorization must be obtained from the North Carolina General Assembly before putting it on the ballot. If city officials want voters to OK such a tax hike, they need to offer up some clearer answers first.