It was bad enough when several of the top banks in Atlanta were gobbled up by banks in Charlotte.

Now Charlotte is beating Atlanta when it comes to transit and land-use.

MARIA SAPORTA • E-mail Saporta Recent columns

The Transit Planning Board, a group of metro Atlanta political and business leaders working on a regional transit plan, organized a one-day trip of 44 Georgians last Thursday to see what's happening in Charlotte.

Charlotte's city leaders were bursting with pride. Four months ago, Charlotte opened its first light rail transit service — 10 miles of LYNX Blue Line.

"The line has truly become an icon in Charlotte in just four months," said Keith Parker, CEO of the Charlotte Area Transit System and director of transportation for Charlotte. "We anticipated having an average of 9,000 riders a day, and we are getting an average of 12,000 a day."

It's just the beginning. Charlotte is embarking on a regional transit plan that eventually will serve the five major corridors in the city.

Laura Harmon, the economic development program manager for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department, said the city's progress on transit began with a land-use strategy.

Charlotte expects 330,000 new city residents by 2030. Instead of continuing past trends of sprawl, Charlotte's leaders decided to concentrate growth in corridors. A transit plan was designed to serve those five corridors.

For several years, Charlotte worked with business and civic leaders to build consensus for its transit plan. They determined that a sales tax would be the smartest way to raise local money for the plan and launched a campaign to educate voters on the plan.

In 2002 voters passed a half-penny sales tax dedicated to funding the transit plan, as well as a $100 million road bonds referendum.

The 2030 plan includes 14 miles of Bus Rapid Transit (with its own dedicated lanes), 21 miles of light rail, 16 miles of streetcar lines and 25 miles of commuter rail. Charlotte also is heavily invested in its urban bus system. Most buses come every five to 10 minutes. By comparison, many MARTA buses in Atlanta come every 30 minutes or even less frequently.

MARTA CEO Beverly Scott asked Parker how many buses he has in his bus fleet. About 400, he answered.

"We have 609 buses at MARTA, and we are probably four times your size," Scott said.

Parker said that all transit agencies have to decide whether they want to be a mode of last resort or a mode of choice. In Charlotte, they decided to go after the choice riders, and not just those who had no other options. And what about funding?

In addition to the dedicated sales tax, the Charlotte system gets significant support from the state of North Carolina. The state contributed about 25 percent of CATS capital costs. The state also allocates money for about $13 million to $14 million of the system's operating costs, roughly 10 percent of the transit system's budget.

By comparison, MARTA and other local public transit agencies get virtually no financial support from the state of Georgia.

Natalie English, senior vice president of public policy for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, said the business community understands that congestion hurts economic development. It hears from companies that they will not consider cities with major traffic problems.

"Charlotte will not fall off the list because we are not addressing our infrastructure needs," she said.

Charlotte's leaders were polite when asked how they view their competition with Atlanta.

"Anybody who has driven to Atlanta knows that congestion is just more pronounced than it is here," said Jennifer Roberts, chairwoman of the Mecklenburg County commissioners, who also chairs the Metropolitan Transit Commission. "What Charlotte has tried to do is be a little bit more ahead of congestion and have public transportation be more of the solution."

Parker told Atlantans: "You all have had a bigger struggle coming up with a big collaborative vision, and saying: 'Let's move forward.' "

Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission and Cobb County Commission chairman, put it in perspective.

"We are letting a city that historically has been way behind us gain ground quickly on us," Olens said. "I've spent enough time watching. I want to DO."

Next week: What regional leaders learned in Charlotte and what they hope to bring to Georgia.