How Charlotte lost 75% of its bus riders in less than a decade (WFAE)

Charlotte leads the nation in declining bus ridership — a trend that started 5 years before Covid. Can CATS reverse the drop?

Meg Fencil with the pro-transit group Sustain Charlotte said CATS needs to build a system where people don’t have to spend more than 20 minutes or so at a bus stop.

“If the network is not functioning as a network, it’s difficult to call some routes a failure,” she said.

She also said the city hasn’t spent enough on the bus system. “Frankly, (there has been) a lack of investment in the transit system,” Fencil said. “As Charlotte was investing in rail service, we did not make a concurrent investment in the bus system to meet the needs of a growing population.”

This article is a version of a two-part series produced this week by WFAE called “Getting off the Bus.”

You can read the original articles here: Part 1, Part 2. Read the full Transit Time article.