Marty Minchin

Special Correspondent

Express bus service from Monroe to Charlotte past June 30 remains in limbo.

Union County commissioners met for more than four hours Thursday to discuss budget issues, and the CATS budget was one of three unresolved items at the end of the meeting, said Union County Manager Cynthia Coto.

Facing a $13.2 million budget deficit, Coto said she "doesn't have too many options" except for cutting, reducing or finding other ways to pay for the commuter bus service that travels from Monroe to uptown Charlotte.

Commissioners have not directed Coto to eliminate CATS service into Union County, but they have asked her to seek other sources of money for the service from Monroe to uptown Charlotte. The county usually gives about $125,000 to CATS, the same amount CATS contributes to run the service, but county leaders have said they cannot provide that money this year.

CATS, which stands for Charlotte Area Transit System, operates an express bus line that carries 100 people in the morning and about 100 in the afternoon from Monroe to uptown Charlotte and back, stopping once in Indian Trail. Buses travel the route four times in the morning and four times in the afternoon.

Commissioners rejected an idea to add a $1 fee to vehicle registration costs to help pay for CATS, Coto said. Instead, they directed her to talk to CATS officials about raising the fare to ride the Union County buses.

Coto said bus riders have told county leaders they would be willing to pay a higher fare rather than lose the service.

Another option is to reduce the number of times buses ran the route each day. If the route was traveled three times in the mornings and afternoons instead of four, the county would save about $40,000 a year, Coto said.

CATS must receive 50 percent of its funding from a community partner if the buses serve another county, said Larry Kopf, CATS chief operations planning officer. CATS operates similar express service to Gastonia, Concord, and Rock Hill, and Kopf expects those three routes to continue.

Forty-three people attended a recent CATS public hearing on the possible end of the Union County Express, Kopf said.

"Basically, they'd like service to be retained, and we would too," he said. "We're still willing to put in our share. We just need a match from Union County to keep that going and we hope we can work it out with Union County."

Moto said she has to present a balanced budget on May 23, and she expects a decision on the CATS funding soon. If the Union County Express is not funded, Moto hopes that the bus service will be funded a little past the July 1 cut-off to give riders ample notice.

Kopf said the Union County Express was a "good route" that has seen more riders recently.

"It does well," he said. "It's been picking up with the increase in gas prices."