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CHARLOTTE — It looks mighty snazzy gliding through town with its sleek, bulletlike contour in a futuristic color pattern of black-and-blue on silver.

All the big boys have something like it, from New York to San Francisco. Now, Charlotte's got one, too.

The Queen City opened its new light rail line two weeks ago, the first such metro system in North Carolina and one that cost more than $462 million to build.

But the big question for Charlotte, and potentially for the Triad, is whether such a system is a valuable alternative to traffic congestion or a needless affectation that just gobbles money — money that otherwise might be spent improving overburdened highways used by more people.

"Simply building more roads is a dead end because you just end up creating more traffic congestion," said Parks Helms, vice chairman of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners and a longtime supporter of light rail.

"But this has never just been about light rail," Helms said. "It's also about economic development, and it's about having a transportation alternative."

The new South Lynx line is the first of at least three planned for Charlotte over the next two decades, eventually branching out to North Mecklenburg, UNC-Charlotte and, possibly, along Independence Boulevard.

It will be years before the Triad gets big enough and congested enough that such a light rail system might be up for consideration, experts say.

"We're not at that point where we have the money, the ridership or the need," said Brent McKinney, director of the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation. "For a long time, we're going to be bringing people in by bus."

But PART is looking into a 33-mile commuter rail line between Greensboro and Winston-Salem, a system that would have fewer stops farther apart than a metro and run with less frequency.

McKinney says it will be instructive for government leaders and Triad commuters to watch as light rail evolves in Charlotte, taking note of what is done right and what could be improved.

Charlotte's new line runs

9.6 miles from the center city to the Pineville area, near South Boulevard and the Interstate 485 urban loop.

The new service seems to have attracted steady ridership in its first two weeks, with estimates of 6,700 to 13,000 riders a day. That's an overall daily average of 12,300 passenger trips, significantly above the projected 9,100.

The types of riders include veteran commuters who previously traveled by public bus, train buffs just trying out the new service and people who otherwise would drive their cars to work. Several two-car Lynx trains did steady business one recent weekday morning and afternoon. Many, if not all, seats were taken during hours of light commuting. It was standing-room only during rush hours.

Passengers ran the gamut, including blue-collar workers, suit-and-tie professionals, college students and young mothers with kids in tow.

The cars are spacious, clean and comfortable with a good view of the urban landscape. The line is all above ground, alternating between street level crossings and bridges over major roads.

Tickets are dispensed from self-serve machines at each stop. Riders travel on the honor system, but transit officers patrol the cars and periodically ask to see tickets.

Some riders last week were enthusiastic about their new commuting option.

"I've been paying $90 a month to park uptown. Now, I can park free and just pay $1.30 each way," said suburban commuter Jim Jenkins, who works as a computer programmer. "I've already canceled my parking space for next month."

But Jenkins lives near the Pineville park-and-ride garage where commuters park for free. And his office is a half block from the new line's northernmost stop on Seventh Street.

Others do the same calculations and find that light rail just doesn't work for them.

"This is going to take me longer than commuting on the freeway," banker Mike Babb said. "It would be something I might use more for coming to the Panthers or a hockey game, occasionally."

Babb said he believes the money could have been better spent on improvements to relieve rampant highway congestion. But riding toward town in a nearly full train about 1 p.m., Babb said he was impressed by the number of passengers.

Even so, the numbers are unlikely to add up to a wise use of public money, said David Hartgen, professor of transportation studies at UNC-Charlotte. Hartgen isn't impressed by initial ridership figures, noting that planners initially predicted 18,000 passengers per day before halving that estimate as the project moved forward.

He said the passengers include large numbers of people who have been public-transit commuters all along, now just taking the train instead of or in conjunction with a bus.

Others are checking out the new ride and will become, at most, intermittent users, Hartgen said.

"That was never the argument (for light rail). It was, 'Let's have an option for commuting,'" he said.

Most do their own calculations and decide to keep driving their cars, he said.

Perhaps a third, a couple thousand at most, are commuters who forsook a car for light rail, Hartgen said. Is that worth all those millions of dollars, Hartgen asks. Especially, he adds, when the project ended up costing more than twice its original estimate?

That question has been controversial in Charlotte and led to a bitterly fought referendum last month. Critics sought to repeal Mecklenburg's half-cent sales tax for transit expenses, including the light rail system.

But voters rejected the proposed repeal 70 percent to 30 percent, which surprised even transit proponent Mayor Pat McCrory.

"There is a silent majority who understands our long-term needs," McCrory said. "It's an investment in our future, and even people who won't be riding it wanted to see that investment."

Helms, the Mecklenburg commissioner, points to the additional private investment the rail line has attracted, both commercial and residential developments.

"It's been enormous, well in excess of a billion dollars," he said, noting that will translate into additional millions of dollars in revenues for local government.

But critics still have questions. They say it remains to be seen whether light rail will really take hold in a region where so many commuters are wedded to their cars.

Babb, the banker, said it boils down to a mathematical equation different for every commuter.

"If gas were $10 a gallon, I think we'd all figure out where the (transit) stops are," he said. "But even at $3 a gallon, I don't know."

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or twireback@news-record.com