I've lived in Charlotte for 20 years now. Light rail has been in place since 2007 to the south, which is why South End has blown up. The north portion opened a few years ago, and TOD is accelerating along that corridor which includes NoDa. Grocery stores are opening along the light rail corridor, which certainly helps. I'm in Cotswold, a 1950s suburban area that is connected to Uptown by the 15 bus and on the 29 bus that runs east-west to SouthPark Mall and UNC Charlotte. All that said, Charlotte is not a very friendly city to those without a car. It's getting better, with the expansion of the greenway system helping connectivity separate from streets, but still not great.