Isabelle Nilsson interviewed on Charlotte’s first commuter rail line
Isabelle Nilsson, associate professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, was quoted in The Charlotte Observer’s article ‘Feeling slighted, residents north of uptown wonder why they won’t have a Red Line stop.’
Charlotte’s first commuter rail line, the Red Line, does not include any stops in the largely low-income areas just north of uptown. The first proposed station is more than 6 miles north near the intersection of Nevin and Gibbon roads, outside neighborhoods whose residents often depend on public transportation, according to the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.
In a 2022 study, ‘Rail Transit, for Who? perceptions and factors influencing light rail ridership in Charlotte, NC,’ Nilsson and former postdoctoral research fellow Claire Schuch found that Black and lower-income residents felt Charlotte’s growth, including the construction of the Blue Line, benefited younger, wealthier residents, but not them.
“Are we doing it again? Are we not listening to the residents and what their needs are?” Nilsson questioned.