Charlotte, NC — Ridership Tops 2000 Daily

November 2015

The Charlotte Observer reports the city's Gold Line Uptown streetcar route handled an average of 2,000 daily riders during September. The line is thus handily exceeding the 1,000 daily riders forecast before it opened. The streetcar, called the Gold Line, carried 1,682 passenger trips on weekdays in August then in September averaged 1,938 trips.

This trend was the opposite of the transit agency’s overall numbers. In September, overall transit ridership declined 5.6 percent compared to 2014. Ridership on the light rail Lynx Blue Line declined 6.6 percent, and regular bus service was down 7.4 percent.

Despite the ridership growth some motorists are having a harder time adapting to the streetcar. At least six minor accidents between autos and streetcars have been reported since service began.