MATTHEWS, N.C. — As Charlotte City Council spent Thursday in Miami studying the South Dade Transitway, a 20-mile Bus Rapid Transit line in the Charlotte area is still under construction. But the mayor of Matthews questioned the point of the trip.
"There's no running BRT system in Miami. If they were serious about learning about BRT, they would have gone to a town like Albuquerque that built BRT in 2016 and learn about the pitfalls and challenges that they had," Mayor John Higdon said.
Higdon is hoping to pump the brakes on recent talks that would switch plans for the Silver Line from a light rail between Uptown and Matthews to a BRT line in Charlotte's long-term mobility plan.
"I found out in May that there would not be enough funding to build the Silver Line, and BRT is a very poor substitute for light rail," Higdon said.
Charlotte leaders are studying BRT as a possible compromise between meeting the transit needs of east Charlotte and Matthews after state lawmakers indicated the regional plan was too dependent on rail projects. The General Assembly has a final say before a referendum for a one-cent sales tax goes before voters.
"We went to Miami in order to learn more about bus rapid transit because we knew that that was likely to be a major component in the transportation plan that we will develop by next year," said Ed Driggs, Charlotte Councilman and Chair of the city's transportation committee.
Higdon is now calling for a summit among local stakeholders.
"I've reached out to Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox last night, and he has indicated a willingness to meet."
On Tuesday, Charlotte City Council plans to vote to purchase tracks from Norfolk Southern for the Red Line commuter rail line which would stretch from uptown to Davidson. It would make paying for a Silver Line under the state's parameters too expensive.
"I'm going to talk to other elected leaders, various council members, and see if we can't have some sort of summit to work out a plan that will be a true consensus, community plan that we all can get behind," Higdon said.
Contact Ben Thompson at bthompson@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.