REVENUE SERVICES on the 15·4 km Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte, North Carolina, began on November 26, following a formal dedication ceremony with local officials a week earlier.
Charlotte Area Transit System offered free rides over the weekend of November 24-25, attracting more than 100 000 people, and leading to lengthy queues at the stops.
Traffic on the first day of revenue operation was just 6 700 passengers, which CEO Ron Tober attributed to poor weather, failure to integrate the 20 bus routes being restructured as feeder services and defective ticket vending machines. Traffic jumped to 8 000 passengers the following day, and CATS is confident of achieving its projected first-year average weekday ridership of 9 100, rising to 18 000/day by 2025.
