Light-Rail's Future Is Already in the Past | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by Jim Tynen, was originally published in the Civitas's online edition.

    While debate over using state tax money for light-rail projects continues, a news story is pointing out more clearly than ever that light-rail is already a thing of the past.

    Last year, the legislature put a $500,000 spending cap on state funding for light-rail projects. This year, however, a bill was put forward to lift the cap. We pointed out the problems with this maneuver, especially regarding a proposed Chapel Hill-Durham light-rail project.

    See our articles here and here.

    Among the points we made was that light-rail would soon be outmoded. And it turns out "soon" is "already."

    The Charlotte Observer reports on what is happening right now at that city's light-rail line, Lynx:

• Chris Walker ... is one of thousands of people drawn to living within a stone's throw of the Lynx Blue Line.
• Walker likes being close to the light-rail line, but he doesn't actually use it all that much.
• "I have lived here a year and a half, and I have taken the train twice," said Walker, whose apartment is less than a quarter-mile from the New Bern light-rail station at the southern-most part of South End. "We Uber instead. For $5, you can get uptown. It's easy."
• For much of the past year, ridership on Charlotte Area Transit System buses and the Lynx Blue Line has declined. ...

    The newspaper notes that there may be other explanations, etc. But let's face it: the future is here, and in it there's no space for light-rail.