Allow me to share the real-life tale of a woman we’ll refer to as Linda.

Years back, Linda was employed in uptown Charlotte. Preferring not to rely on public transit due to safety concerns, she opted for her car for the daily commute. Linda carefully selected her parking spot to ensure she could walk alongside groups of people heading in the same direction, avoiding solitary walks whenever possible.

On one occasion, Linda’s colleagues, who worked for another company a few blocks away, invited her to join them for lunch. Although she didn’t mind walking, the distance was considerable from her office to theirs. Her friends recommended taking the trolley, a service that briefly operated before Charlotte’s light rail system became the city’s transportation staple.

One day, some friends of Linda’s who also worked uptown but for a different company several blocks away invited her to meet them for lunch. Though Linda didn’t mind walking, it would have taken a considerable amount of time to walk from Point A to Point B. So her friends suggested she take the trolley, which had a short-lived run before the light rail system’s rise to prominence in Charlotte transportation.