Charlotte NC Light Rail Posts Ridership Record

The ridership gain is due in large part to the 9.6-mile LYNX Blue Line light-rail corridor, which opened in November 2007.

(Published in Progressive Railroading on March 24, 2008.)

In February, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) recorded its highest-ever single-month ridership in almost 60 years, at more than 2 million trips, up 34.4 percent compared with February 2007's total.

Ridership averaged 79,000 daily passengers on the agency's bus, light-rail, vanpool and community circulator services.

The ridership gain is due in large part to the 9.6-mile LYNX Blue Line light-rail corridor, which opened in November 2007, CATS said.

Last month, the Blue Line carried more than 387,000 riders, with weekday ridership averaging more than 14,000 passengers, a 35 percent increase compared with the projected average first-year daily ridership of 9,100.