Charlotte hires outside review of CATS bus problems; oversight chair demands answers
In response to ongoing staff shortages, the Charlotte Area Transit System may cut some public bus routes. But long-term fixes to recent problems — ranging from riders left behind to a steep drop in public demand — hinge on consensus among CATS’ broad web of stakeholders.
Namely, an expired union contract between bus drivers and mechanics and the contractor CATS pays has coincided with unprecedented worker absences and increased frustration from riders over buses that run late, or not at all.
CATS’ top leader says paying employees more should help with recruitment and retention of drivers and he wants to see a loophole closed that gives workers excessive unplanned time off. Both depend on union negotiations.
The system, meanwhile, is contending with a years-long negative trend in ridership and complaints about transparency.
In a memo to Charlotte City Council members earlier this week, City Manager Marcus Jones revealed he’s hired an outside management consulting firm to make recommendations on stabilizing CATS.
“Management Partners began its assessment in early June and will report their initial findings to the City in August/September,” he wrote.
The city manager, in the memo, acknowledged “significant external operational challenges” at CATS, trouble with employee morale, and the possibility that Charlotte will change its contract affecting bus service. But some solutions the firm recommends, Jones wrote, may need “collaboration and support from other stakeholders” beyond CATS and city government.
County Commissioner Leigh Altman, chair of the Metropolitan Transit Commission, CATS’ policy board, says communication has been lacking about how the problems will be fixed — even among key leaders. In an email earlier this month to commission members and CATS CEO John Lewis, she questioned why the governing board had not been updated on how CATS planned to address its staffing shortages.
Altman listed 10 questions for Lewis to answer at an upcoming commission meeting. These included how proposed driver pay raises would be funded and what CATS was doing to address drivers’ safety concerns.
CATS has not made Lewis available for an interview despite repeated requests from The Charlotte Observer, and Jones refused requests for comment. In a July 11 meeting of the City Council Transportation and Planning Committee, Lewis shared parts of CATS’ proposed strategy. He also responded to Altman’s questions in a reply memo, largely detailing previously-announced plans.
CATS has identified routes with fewer passengers, like Routes 1 and 8, where it could potentially reduce bus frequency. This altered schedule would let CATS provide more consistent service with about 50 fewer drivers needed, Lewis said at the meeting.
CATS is also working toward a substantial pay increase for drivers.
Other parts of that plan rely on third-party contractor RATPDev, the company that employs CATS’ bus operators and mechanics. Contract negotiations with SMART Union, the union for CATS bus drivers and mechanics, have been ongoing for at least the last nine weeks, Lewis said.
SMART spokeswoman Amy Rayner said negotiations are still ongoing, but a tentative agreement is expected soon with RATPDev.
The company, along with Charlotte City Council, two separate transit commissions, the union and CATS leadership, make for many “cooks in the kitchen,” says Ely Portillo, assistant director of outreach at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Portillo, a former Observer reporter, recently wrote about CATS’ operation challenges for The Charlotte Ledger.
In the short term, Lewis said CATS will consider adjusting its service schedules on 14 local and express routes — mostly by curbing some early morning and late-night trips. Route 1 and Route 8 were considered for frequency decrease, Lewis said, as routes with lower ridership. Route 1 runs from the Charlotte transit center to Mt. Holly Road, and Route 8 runs to the transit center from Tuckaseegee and Little Rock Roads.
A preliminary schedule Lewis presented earlier this month projected CATS would need 50 fewer drivers to provide consistent service on weekdays.
Bus driver shortages in Charlotte
For months, buses in Charlotte have been running with inadequate staff and CATS has struggled to fill vacant jobs.
On average, about 80 drivers were absent every day since June 22, according to an Observer review of data reported through CATS’ social media. On weekdays, CATS needs 292 drivers to provide regular service and has 571 drivers total, according to the agency.
Lewis said 35 drivers have vacation scheduled on any given day. This, combined with unexcused absences and operators’ weekly days off, has left CATS operating some days short of 40 to 50 drivers. This leads to some buses not running, as not enough drivers are available to fulfill schedules.
Krissy Oechslin, chair of the Transit Services Advisory Committee — an advisory body made up of CATS riders who make recommendations to improve service — said she’s seen riders wait up to two hours for a bus.
CATS recently held a job fair to attract employees for 74 vacancies. While CATS did not allow news reporters inside, officials reported that 86 people attended the job fair.
Berlean Dixon, who attended the job fair, said she understands the difficulty of retaining employees who apply without understanding the daily realities of operating a bus.
“People see… working for CATS as a good job, and it is,” Dixon said. “But they don’t know what comes with driving a bus. You’re dealing with the public, so you really have to have excellent customer service skills, and you have to have patience and endurance.”
Dixon said she applied because she has previous experience operating buses and enjoys the work.
Public transit ridership
Over the last decade, bus ridership in Charlotte took a nosedive.
In 2013, the earliest data available online from the Federal Transit Administration, Charlotte buses served a total of 23.3 million passengers.
In 2016, the number dipped to 20.4 million and by 2019, it was 15.6 million. The pandemic caused another sharp drop in 2020, recording 12.5 million trips.
Portillo said the ridership decline looks even more severe when considered with Charlotte’s population growth. Charlotte grew from around 731,000 in the 2010 census to an estimated 880,000 today.
Infrastructure like traffic signal priority for buses and dedicated bus lanes could help make public transit more appealing than cars, Portillo said. But if public confidence in CATS’ continues to fall with its current struggles, getting legislators to approve additional funds could be an uphill battle.
Lewis said CATS is exploring options like on-demand shuttle services and bus-only express lanes to attract more riders.
Budget, pay issues
CATS received a 13.7% operating budget increase from the newly approved Charlotte city budget, allocating about $211 million.
Drivers’ average pay is $18.77 for their first year with CATS. Lewis has alluded to a significant pay increase, but the exact amount of the raise hinges on contract negotiations with SMART Union.
Pay, time off and benefits are the primary concerns employees noted in exit interviews with RATPDev, Lewis told the city’s Transportation and Planning Committee recently. He said driver safety has not been an issue consistently raised.
Workers, unions and labor groups have recently demanded CATS make changes to protect its drivers after bus driver Ethan Rivera was killed on the job in February and another bus was shot into in May.
Charlotte’s bus drivers have been privately employed for years though their work takes place on a publicly-operated and owned system.
Bus operators in Charlotte are unionized under rights afforded in federal law. Most other government sector employees have limited unionizing rights. The city took over the bus system from a private company in the 1970s. Third-party management allows CATS, a city department, to maintain bus employees’ bargaining rights.
App to track bus times
Oechslin says riders are acutely aware of the staff absences and vacancies affecting bus service.
CATS began publishing its absent driver data daily on June 22 after Oechslin called for “radical transparency” last month. While she’s pleased to see daily absence data being published, Oechslin said there’s still more to be done, like letting riders know how many drivers short CATS is each day and publishing performance data on buses and drivers.
Crucially, Oechslin said CATS must find a way to make sure its tracking app accurately reflects which buses are running. The app allows riders to view bus timetables and when the next bus is arriving at their stop. But when a bus has been canceled for the day on that route, the app still shows it has arriving on time.
“The real-time app works if your bus is running — unfortunately it does not account for missed buses. That is a real problem,” Oechslin said.
To help advocate for transparency and hold CATS accountable for service lapses, Oechslin urged riders to share their experiences whenever they can.
“I would ask folks to actually share their experiences with CATS,” Oechslin said. “They can come to TSAC meetings, that’s why our committee exists, to advocate for riders ... But we can only share what we know.”
Metropolitan Transit Committee meetings are also open to the public. The next transit committee meeting will be Wednesday, July 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, conference room 267. Attendees wishing to comment must call 704-353-1794 by 12 p.m. July 27.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
