Charlotte, North Carolina’s light rail line has unfurled a ribbon of density across the sprawling landscape, proving that high-quality transit can have a transformative impact on even the most car-dependent American cities. Since the Blue Line opened in 2007, millions of square feet of office space and tens of thousands of homes have risen around its stations. The line has effectively extended the city’s downtown — or Uptown, in Queen City parlance — to the north and south, conjuring a new collection of walkable neighborhoods in the heart of the city.
Yet the triumph of light rail in Charlotte is tinged with tragedy.
The city’s investment in light rail created an increase in real estate values orders of magnitude greater than what it put in. But beyond growing property tax revenues (at the same rate every property owner in the city pays) the public saw no additional financial benefit from its transit investment. The Blue Line is an urban planning version of the iPhone, to borrow from economist Mariana Mazzucato: a missed opportunity for the public to recoup some of the value it created through its entrepreneurial efforts…