Six years ago I proposed both an extension of the Independence Bus from Crown Pointe to the Windsor
Square Park and Ride, where the Express buses terminated. I also proposed that a bus link Charlotte and the Concord transit
system via Concord Mills so that we could begin linking the surrounding counties transit systems to Charlotte.
After
5 years, an Express bus was established to Concord Mills on Saturdays only. Then, in the last service change, the Independence
Bus was extended to the Matthews Park and Ride across from Windsor Square. However, it was for weekdays only with no weekend
service to Windsor Square.
It amazes me that our bus system counts on revenue from sales taxes to run the transit
system, but our bus system ABSOLUTELY does not support our retail centers. Whole areas like Windsor Square, Sycamore Commons,
and Matthews Festival in Matthews and The Promenade, Stonecrest and Blakeney in the south end of town have no regular bus
service for regular bus riders.
The first task of the committee would be eliminating
the barriers that the city of Charlotte and the MTC has placed on it's residents. You have placed a wall at the county line
that no one can cross unless they ride an Express bus across the county line. If you want to increase the sales tax revenue,
you need NEW PEOPLE to come to Charlotte to spend with our retailers, restaurants, hotels, etc. The barriers were put in place
because our city leaders were afraid that people in Charlotte would cross the county line and spend money there.
Atlanta had the same problem years ago. They set up a complicated fare sharing revenue system with the surrounding counties.
As it turned out, in every case, between 60% to 70% of the bus riders who took the cross county buses actually took the bus
to Atlanta. So, Atlanta got 30% of the fare and the other counties got up to 70% of the fare. That system was changed very
quickly.
Think about it. How many people in Charlotte go the Concord, Monroe or Rock Hill for the weekend? Very
few. People in Charlotte go to Atlanta, New York or Washington, DC. However, EVERYONE in the surrounding counties wants to
come to Charlotte because there is so much more here that we can offer them. People would shop at our stores, dine at our
restaurants and stay in our hotels while they go to all the museums and theater offerings that Charlotte has to offer. We
can increase our sales tax revenue by millons simply by providing the direct link that these people need to come to Charlotte.
We are asking that Charlotte and the MTC tear down these invisible walls at the county line so we can provide basic
service to the surrounding counties that will bring in millions and millions in new spending from the nearly 2 million people
in the counties that surround Charlotte.
A survey that we did recently in Matthews at Windsor Square showed that
58% of the people that we interviewed were from Union County/Monroe. So many people would come to Charlotte if we just provided
the simple links to help get them here.
Let's work together to make Charlotte the World Class City it should be,
including transportation that is equal for all. We CAN put our transportation needs on a FAST TRACK and make Charlotte a destination
City with an excellent transportation system.
We have established two e-mail response accounts
that we would like to have citizens from Gastonia and Concord/Kannapolis and any surrounding area respond:
If you live in Gastonia, please e-mail your comments to GastoniaBus@msn.com
If you live in Concord/Kannapolis or Salisbury, please e-mail your comments to ConcordBus@msn.com
If you live in other areas around the Charlotte area and would like to see bus transportation
for regular buses in addition to Express Bus service, please e-mail us at BusChanges@msn.com
Your comments will be forwarded to the appropriate parties. Please check our our website
at http://www.weridethebus.com
LETTERS FROM CONCERNED CITIZENS
A Charlotte-Concord
bus system is essential. I was house hunting up
there and gave up because of highway crowding and pollution. Someone
I know who teaches in Concord is now struggling to find
transportation up there to keep working or else shut down
a scarce
resource in that area. In other words, Concord is losing resources
and income because of the transportation
issue.
I recently came from the NYC/NJ area where transport between states
and cities is commonplace. Transport
must lead and follow population!
Carol S
Charlotte, NC
The CATS link to Concord
Mills is a no-brainer and should be accomplished immediately. I live in downtown Kannapolis, 2 blocks from the new North
Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), and would use this service. The NCRC is going to boom in Kannapolis and CATS should
not wait to tie in their system into CK Rider.
A link from the NCRC to Charlotte's Center City
will only benefit both CATS & CK Rider.
Also, Kannapolis has a first class Amtrak station at
the NCRC. This station is along the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) that services the Amtrak station near Center City
Charlotte on North Tryon Street. Passenger rail service in a continuous loop between Charlotte and Kannapolis
has to be in our future plans.
The light rail plan to extend North to Lowe's Motor Speedway
is a great idea...but one that will take millions and years to complete. Using existing infrastructure's such as CATS
and CK Rider, as well as the NC Railroad will solve immediate transportation issues.
Sincerely,
Mike
H
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