CATS jumps right back on the money train tonite, with Ron Tober moving to use Train Envy to get the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to back $1 billion worth of new trains. Tober knows that there is tons of political pressure from the Northern mayors for the $250 million North corridor line. And the Uptown crowd and CATS really want to extend the South Blvd. line up Tryon Street to University City. Price tag of that one: $750 million.
In a sane world, members of the MTC would look at the $463 million South Blvd. adventure and conclude that we need a time out of more CATS train building. But the MTC is not sane, not as led by Parks Helms and Pat McCrory. Instead, we are likely to get a green light for the Northeast corridor to UNCC, as there is some chance the feds will help pay for it.
The North corridor with probably get enough love — and funding — to keep it limping along until CATS can invent enough funding — likely involving tax-increment financed transit oriented development deals and the new car-rental tax money secured debt — to keep it on the table and moving forward.
Meanwhile, Tober tells us that — surprise! — the $40 million trolley is not going to run before the light rail system is complete, or November 2007 at the soonest. This means the real price tag of the South Blvd. rail adventure can reasonably be pegged at $500 million. The trolley will never run a full schedule and will never be anything more than a weekend diversion.
Taken together, this all means that the only way to arrest the train-building disaster is to repeal the county-wide half-cent transit tax which funds CATS and our irresponsible officials who are poised to throw $1.5 billion away on a transportation nightmare.
