Tagged: CATS

Perhaps it's hard to believe, but giant billboards on the sides of Charlotte buses and trains only appeared about a year ago when the city started allowing ads on transit vehicles. Now the Charlotte Area Transit System wants to go even further.  

Monday night, CATS will petition city council members for permission to sell advertising on light rail platforms. CATS Spokeswoman Jean Leier says the recession hurt transit funding.

Charlotte officials say this gift from the Federal Transit Administration is the single largest federal grant the city's ever received: $580 million.

FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff traveled from D.C. to bring news of what city leaders have expected for several months now.

That hasn't always been the case, though.

"This project was on life support back in 2009," says Mayor Anthony Foxx.

Extending the light rail from Uptown to UNC Charlotte will cost just over $1 billion. That price tag has contributed to the project's sometimes on-again-off-again status as local, state and federal funds tighten.

But Danny Rogers - the Blue Line Extension's project manager for the city - says all the funding is nearly in place.

"Right now we're just waiting on the full-funding grant agreement - FTA recommended and has approved it, pending the congressional review," says Rogers.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Metropolitan Transit Commission will consider a request to reverse its decision allowing alcohol ads on the sides of buses and trains. Consider, yes.  But actually rescind the decision?  Not likely.

“I wouldn’t support changing the position,” says MTC member and Cornelius mayor Jeff Tarte.

Tarte says the commission will talk about the request from the Charlotte City Council at tonight’s meeting, but says the income from the ads – estimated to be nearly $600,000 annually – is too great to give up with CATS struggling to rebound from the recession.

In just a few days alcohol ads will debut on Charlotte Area Transit System buses and trains.  Those ads have gone through an additional review to make sure they don't cross the line.  

Alcohol ads are expected to earn the cash-strapped transit system $600,000 annually.  CATS has already signed two six-month contracts to promote alcohol on city buses and trains.  

But the money comes with a challenge.  The last thing CATS wants is an overly racy ad on a bus that winds through every neighborhood in the city.  

The group that represents hundreds of private bus companies wants to prevent the Charlotte Area Transit System from leasing out its buses during the DNC.

Thousands of delegates and media will be hopping on buses to get from their hotels to the main convention area. DNC organizers expect it will take about 250 450 buses to get people around. But they found they don't have enough buses to accommodate wheelchairs.