It’s just not like New York. The Lynx Blue Line which opened in November 2007, serves South Charlotte Homes and South Charlotte NC Real Estate running from north of Pineville to Downtown Charlotte NC. If you are planning to use public transportation frequently, a weekly or monthly pass could be a good deal. The passes offer unlimited rides on both the mainstream and buses. There are separate passes to cover express buses and express buses to go outside Mecklenburg County. For more information go to www.charmeck.org.

If you want to share your commute with others, you can get on a waiting list for a CATS Vanpool - a city subsidized program that provides you with a minivan or van for commuting. You can lease the van, and CATS pays for maintenance and fuel.

If you're trying to join existing vanpool, CATS might be able to find your place.

If you work uptown, find out if your employer offers free or reduced-price transit passes. Some companies promote using transit; others offer discounts, but don't promote it as much.

The areas worst traffic is on I-485, east of I-77. That stretch of the loop was built with only two lanes each way, and becomes clogged at rush hour daily, from I-77 to Johnston Rd. It might be faster to take an alternate route, such as exiting I-77 at Westinghouse Blvd.

If you have moved to Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate Market from New York or Boston, you might be discouraged by the public transportation options. But it's all about perspective. When Charlotte Real Estate is compared with similar sized cities, transit options here are actually pretty robust. Charlotte is one of the smallest metro areas to have light rail. And it's buses travel about 11,000,000 miles annually. About the same as buses in Raleigh, Nashville and Richmond combined the largesse is paid for mostly by half cent sales tax levied in Mecklenburg County.

The jewel of the Charlotte area transit system is the 9.6 mile Lynx Blue Line which opened in November 2007 the light-rail line serves only South Charlotte, and runs from uptown to the station just outside Pineville with a large park and ride lot at South Boulevard and I-485. The train has seven park and ride lots, though the two southern most lots, I-485/South Boulevard and Sharon Road West are usually full by 8:30 AM. There are spaces available at other lots, though with four dollar a gallon gas they are filling quickly. All CATS park and ride lots are free. A one way local bus or train fare cost $1.30 increasing to $1.50 later this fall. If you don't live within the light real corrider, CATS has a number of express bus routes that spread throughout the county, with six express routes going into neighboring counties. Some express bus routes take advantage of bus only or a high occupancy vehicle lanes that can shorten your trip. Routes running down I-77 in North Mecklenburg, such as the 77X, use an HOV lane, and other routes use a busway in the middle of Independence Boulevard. But a major draw for express bus riders is not having to pay for parking uptown. Saving on gas has also been a big draw.

For people living within the city of Charlotte NC there are a number of local routes. Most feed into the Trade Center uptown, across, from Time Warner Cable Arena. There are some routes at go to small transit hubs, such as South Park. CATS is trying to create a more crosstown routes. Most people around here will still get around in their cars. The good news is that despite the regions surging population, at least one study, by the Texas Transportation Institute, has shown the amount of time Charlotteans are stuck in traffic has been stable this decade. Much of that is due to new road construction, most notably the i-485 loop. The latest segment of the loop-from NC16 to NC 115 is now open. That will leave only one piece of I-485 unfinished in northeast Mecklenburg but that isn't scheduled to be built until 2015.