CATS dealing with ‘unprecedented’ labor shortage amid bus frequency, reliability issues
The Charlotte Area Transit System has an “unprecedented number of vacancies,” CEO John Lewis told Charlotte City Council members Monday in an update on the bus system’s labor shortage.
CATS has more than 45 open bus jobs that have been empty for more than two months, Lewis said.
The update came just days after a CATS driver, 41-year-old Ethan Rivera, was fatally shot while on the job.
“Our words cannot adequately convey the depth of our feelings nor the tragedy of this loss,” Lewis said during a transportation committee meeting Monday. “But we will continue to move forward in providing mobility options to this community while we wrap our arms around Ethan’s family during this tragic time.”
CATS is rolling out retention bonuses to front-line employees and recruitment bonuses to new applicants to encourage people to join the system, Lewis said.
The retention bonuses ranged from $2,000 to $3,000, Lewis said. That includes bonuses for more than 800 bus operators and mechanics and fewer than 300 rail system employees, he said.
The labor shortage is not unique to CATS or Charlotte. Nationally, bus systems and other industries are struggling with labor shortages related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bus frequency and reliability
Even once CATS overcomes pandemic-related issues, the system still needs to deal with structural issues, including long wait times between buses and reliability issues, Lewis said.
Some 18 of the system’s bus routes have intervals between buses of 45 minutes or more.
Increasing the frequency of bus service is a major goal for CATS, Lewis said. And the system has worked on that “little by little,” he said.
But an overhaul to increase bus frequency will require a new revenue source, Lewis said. And CATS will need more than 100 new vehicles to get intervals between buses on those routes down to no more than 15 or 30 minutes, he added.
Charlotte leaders are pushing for a 1-cent sales tax to fund mobility programs, part of a $13.5 billion plan, but haven’t outlined a timeline to get that program moving.
“It’s on council to make this a priority at this point in time,” City Council member Braxton Winston said Monday.
Another issue with the bus system is reliability of the buses — especially related to traffic on the road.
CATS has looked at a pilot program rolling out “bus only” lanes on Fourth Street and Central Avenue to increase bus reliability, he said.
“If we are able to provide that level of reliability to our bus system then I think we will have created a system that will meet the mobility needs of all Charlotteans and everyone in our region for years to come,” Lewis said.
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 12:16 PM.
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