From the News & Observer comes this blog by reporter Jesse James DeConto about Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy’s endorsement — no surprise — of a sales tax to support regional rail in the Triangle.

In his State of the Town address Monday, Mayor Kevin Foy endorsed a half-cent sales tax to support a regional rail system in the Triangle, saying Charlotte’s light-rail system had already reached its ridership projections for decades from now.

In reality, traffic on the Charlotte LYNX light rail system is down, as the Locke Foundation’s Michael Sanera points out in the comment area of the N&O blog. An excerpt:

I hope all Triangle mayors look at the current numbers for Charlotte’s light rail system (LYNX) before they endorse the half-cent sales tax for Triangle rail.
Most of them are using outdated figures. The latest numbers on the Charlotte LYNX light rail system show that ridership has dropped 18 percent from the peak last July and is down 10 percent in just the one month from Dec. 08 to Jan. 09 to 13,900 riders.

You can find more details in this report from Dr. David Hartgen and recommendations for effective ways to reduce congestion in this letter to the editor by Sanera.