Lack of funds leaves streetcar idling

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When the city of Charlotte won a $25 million federal Urban Circulator Grant to build a starter streetcar line through uptown, from Time Warner Cable Arena to Presbyterian Hospital, supporters touted the 1 1/2-mile section as an important step toward a proposed 10-mile track.

The plan was to expand the starter line from Eastland Mall to Beatties Ford Road. Supporters said the streetcar would serve as a catalyst for economic growth in distressed corridors.

That’s still the plan. But Metropolitan Transit Commission members got a rude wake-up call at their Nov. 17 meeting.

As slide after slide clicked on, showing a presentation by Raleigh-based financial consultant Jeffery Parker, the financial picture for the Charlotte Area Transit System got grimmer.

Between 2010 and 2035, CATS will face a $1.15 billion deficit, a far cry from the $1.6 billion surplus projected in 2006, when its 2030 transit plan was developed. For those 25 years, projected operating and capital expenses for CATS has increased 8 percent, from $5.7 billion to $6.2 billion, while revenue projections for the same period have decreased 30 percent, from $7.3 billion to $5.05 billion.

And that’s before any additional transit systems are adopted.

“That’s not a happy curve,” Parker said, pointing at a slide showing revenue projections dipping down. “That’s a sad curve.”

It was clear that the 2030 transit plan was not going to come to fruition within its designated timeline. Some projects were going to have to wait.

One of them was the 10-mile streetcar line.

“We’re recognizing that we’re going to have to push that project into the future,” MTC Chairwoman Jennifer Roberts said. “The intention is not to say we’re not doing any more streetcar.”

In the meantime, thanks to an agreement with CATS, the city is left shelling out $1.5 million a year to operate the starter line. So far, a funding source has not yet been identified.

That steep figure does not sit well with some critics.

“It makes no sense that they built that one mile,” said City Councilman Andy Dulin, who has been critical of the streetcar from the start. “We still have no revenue source to run it.”

The original 2030 plan prioritized the Lynx Blue Line Extension, which would connect the city’s 9.6-mile light-rail line up South Boulevard to the university area in northeast Charlotte, and the Red Line commuter-rail project, which would connect Center City with the northern towns of Davidson, Cornelius and Huntersville, over the streetcar line.

But when the Urban Circulator Grant became available, and the streetcar was the only project that would qualify, the City Council decided to go for it.

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx defended the decision to pursue the streetcar grant, saying that when money is scarce, the city should go after available funds.

At the MTC meeting, however, it was back to the drawing board: Commission members agreed to reprioritize their plan and focus efforts on the Blue Line Extension and Red Line for now.

“It is discouraging,” said Vickie Fewell, president of Charlotte East Community Partners, “because sometimes when you carry through with that major project, it gives the community around it hope that the economy is turning around.”

Roberts still defends the starter line, arguing that just because it’s short does not mean it isn’t important. Elizabeth Avenue, where the starter line will run, still has room for development, she said.

“Having the rails in the ground leads to density of development,” Roberts said. “There’s something about having a fixed line that makes patrons and businesspeople more confident in the long-term access via transit.”

Though MTC members agreed at the meeting not to proceed with any preliminary engineering for the streetcar beyond the starter line, Foxx asked members if they could continue pursuing funding for the streetcar. He was careful to specify that they should only do so in cases where other projects, particularly the Red Line, do not qualify for whatever grants or loans are available, a clarification that may have been influenced by criticism that the city’s concentration on the streetcar project is coming at the expense of the Red Line.

“We clearly shouldn’t compete the streetcar versus the Red Line for sources that should support both, Foxx said. “The Red Line should take priority. But if there are dedicated streams of revenue that would support the streetcar, is there a way to come to the MTC and say, ‘There’s this grant for the streetcar; can we look at it?'”

MTC members agreed with Foxx’s suggestion, including Davidson Mayor John Woods.

Caitlin Coakley can be reached at [email protected].