"Nah. They want everybody to get on the train"

Absolutely hysterical — you gotta either laugh or cry — account of what it is like to depend on a city bus to get around Charlotte. “Diary of a CATS rider” by Cheris Hodges should be required reading for the Uptown crowd. They will pick up a copy of Creative Loafing, won’t they?

It is all there — the loss of bus routes along South Blvd. in order to better serve the train, the tremendous time sink, the surly drivers, the mysterious signage and routes, annoying passengers, and the abyss of the Transit Center. That and lots of f-bombs. Probably even more than I would’ve used, which would be a lot. But I’m so glad someone wrote an objective account of their CATS experience.

Update: Check out what Miami is facing with its 25-year-old light rail line — upgrade the cars for $300m. or replace them for $350m. That’s a helluva deal.