Should the existing Blue Line be renamed the Green Line, to please UNCC? Tomorrow the Metropolitan Transit Commission takes up the discussion at its 5:30 p.m. meeting. Here’s a link to the meeting agenda.
At first, it sounds like an easy and simple decision: The transit line that’s planned to run from uptown to UNC Charlotte should be the Green Line, to reflect the 49ers school colors.
But with transit – and transportation in general – things are rarely as simple as you’d think. Here’s the biggest sticking point: The new line will be a continuation of the existing Blue Line. That is, you could hop on at I-485 outside Pineville and ride all the way to beyond UNCC.
There’s already been significant investment in “Blue.” Even the train cars are blue, not to mention the signs, etc.
As CATS officials note, they couldn’t find any other transit system that “changed colors midstream” (hmmm, interesting turn of phrase). It might well confuse riders. I mean, we’re not talking a lot of riders here with New York-caliber subway expertise (where one line simultaneously might have two numbers or letters or colors, and you have to notice whether you’re hopping on a local or an express route, for instance). Starting on the blue line and ending on the green line might be as confusing as starting out on Woodlawn and, without turning, finding yourself on Runnymede and then Sharon Road then Wendover, and then Eastway. Or maybe Tyvola to Fairview to Sardis to Rama. Or … well, I could go on but I won’t.
Hmmm. Now that I think about it, a Blue-to-Green Line transit corridor fits right in. How very Charlotte.