The countdown is on to the March 16th opening of the Blue Line Extension (BLE) light rail. What you may not have heard about is some major changes coming to the Charlotte Area Transit Service (CATS) bus network at the same time.

As the first stage of the Envision My Ride initiative, CATS will be making service changes to over 20 routes. More than 700 bus stops will be discontinued, added, or changed. These changes will give more people access to the full bus and rail network.

Learn more about the Bus-Rail Integration Plan and find info about upcoming public workshops.

City Council, it’s time to fund transportation plans and programs!

Part of advocating for smart growth is connecting with our elected leaders to emphasize the importance of funding effective, forward-thinking policies and programs. We recently sent the following letter to the entire Council (including the five newly elected members) and the City Manager, asking them to support funding in the new City budget for four key priorities that will improve transportation safety and access in Charlotte.

Sustain Charlotte joined with Southern Environmental Law Center, the NC Conservation Network, Clean Air Carolina, and WakeUP Wake County to submit a letter outlining our suggestions with regard to how the Department of Environmental Quality should best allocate funding from the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust. The suggestions are outlined below, while the entire letter can be found here.

EV charging station in Raleigh (Photo Credit: Rural Electric Magazine)

Have you taken a ride on one of the new dockless bikes situated around town yet?  It’s a chance to ditch the car for your lunch break, finish that last mile of a bus trip, and explore new neighborhoods from the comfort of a bike!

What is dockless bikeshare?
Dockless bikeshare is a new way to navigate cities by bike. Anyone can rent the brightly-colored bikes for $1 per ride through their smartphone and ride to any destination they desire. You don’t have to return the bike to a specific location. Just make sure that it’s not impeding a walkway or in an unsafe location that could cause damage to pedestrians or other vehicles.

Since November, four new companies have deployed bikes in Charlotte. Limebike, Spin, ofo, and Mobike have permits that allow as many as 500 bikes for each new company. That’s 2,000 more chances to substitute a car trip daily!   

Thank you for all of your generous support and for helping to make 2017 a success!

We're already off and running to make an even greater impact in 2018! Here are our top ten goals for the year:

Programs

• Through our Walk2Transit initiative, complete three demonstration projects and secure City approval for improvements to make ten local bus stops safer and more accessible for pedestrians.

• Convene six meetings of our Transportation Choices Alliance to foster greater collaboration among organizations and individuals working toward a sustainable transportation network.

• Host quarterly Shifting Gears workshops in which hundreds of Charlotteans come together to take action to support and improve cycling in Charlotte.

• Create and publish helpful transportation resources for residents including a Bus Stop Improvement Guide and Charlotte Family Biking Guide.

• Survey seniors in four Charlotte neighborhoods and publish a report of findings and recommendations to improve their mobility via our Senior Mobility Project.

• Continue our partnership with the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition to make streets safer for thousands of residents that walk, bike, and ride transit by building social capital and facilitating a summer youth service project.

Public Policy Engagement

• Inform thousands of local residents about critical opportunities to help shape the decisions that guide development as the City evaluates rezonings and updates its zoning ordinance.

• Secure 5,000 signatures to demonstrate community support for expanding our transit, bike, and pedestrian networks so that all residents can safely and conveniently walk, bike or ride transit to the places they need to go.

Events

• Host at least fifteen inspiring and educational community events including the Sustain Charlotte Awards (April), WalkCLT (June), Biketoberfest (October), and Grow Smart CLT, our NEW monthly series of community conversations.

Communications

• Inform and engage the public by publishing at least 50 newsletters, 25 blog posts, daily social media posts, and having our work or point of view featured in 40 media stories.

A network is only as strong as its weakest link.

Even small gaps in a transit network or a sidewalk network can mean the difference between a safe and unsafe experience. That was our message to Charlotte's City Council when we formally introduced them to our Walk2Transit project findings at this week's Citizens Forum.

More than 200 people have volunteered to collect data through out walkability audit tours!

Did you make it to the Five Points Better Block on November 17th and 18th?  If so, you got to see some awesome temporary bike lanes, placemaking and a ton of community involvement!

Read a full summary of the event below!

Photo Credit: The Better Block Foundation

On Monday night (11/15), we asked City Council to support the 5-year pedestrian plan, Charlotte WALKS, and close two loopholes to the city code that currently allow developers to forgo the building of safe sidewalks during site construction.

Read Charlotte WALKS here and read the comments made by Sustain Charlotte’s Bicycle Program Manager Kate Cavazza here below!  

As Program Director at Sustain Charlotte, I love the opportunity to visit other cities during conferences to see how they're solving their transportation challenges. Join me as I share a few key takeaways from my recent trips to Los Angeles and Denver.

There's nothing sweeter than the smell of a freshly painted bus lane!

More people will choose to ride transit if travel times are fast and predictable.  When I visited Denver in mid-September for the Rail~Volution conference, the paint was barely dry on the city's very first bus lane. In a recent Streetsblog Denver article, project manager Kristina Evanoff said, "It's about the reliability of transit, but also to prepare us for the future."

As a daily bus rider here in Charlotte, I would like to see CATS and the Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) work together to identify areas where buses are frequently slowed by rush hour traffic congestion. Particularly in areas with high bus ridership, bus lanes could be implemented to significantly improve travel times!

This newly painted lane in Denver gives buses priority.

Pedestrians and cyclists account for less than 3% of Charlotte's street users, but account for almost 30% of traffic fatalities.

Pedestrians and cyclists are the most vulnerable users of streets. (image: CDOT)