The Charlotte Area Transit System launched a new microtransit service in north Mecklenburg County Monday. Gastonia’s new public rideshare option is only 8 months old and, on Monday, the city celebrated 100,000 passenger trips.
“We were not expecting the system to take off as quickly as it did [and] to be as popular as it was,” Gastonia Transportation Director Randi Gates said.
Since its beginning, Gastonia has sprinted to keep up with the program’s success. The service launched July 1. A fleet of 14 cars covered the city limits. Already, ridership has eclipsed the city’s old, fixed-route bus numbers.
“People just didn’t want to sit on a bus — it was inconvenient to go to a stop,” Gates said. “So, we see a lot of our passengers had never used public transportation before."
Bus ridership enjoyed a brief spike when the city offered free fares during the pandemic; however, rides had started to decrease. In 2023, passengers made just over 10,000 trips on the old, fixed-route system.
Public rideshare races to keep up with rapid adoption
The popularity was a double-edged sword. There were many times when folks couldn’t catch a ride because all the drivers were busy.
The city added nine cars to the fleet and more drivers. In the beginning, drivers would drop passengers off at fixed destinations in the same way that a bus drops passengers off at a bus stop, and the rider makes the rest of the journey on foot.
“We saw very quickly that that model was not going to work for the city of Gastonia,” Gates said.
Passengers arrived at stops that required them to make unsafe crossings or navigate roads without sidewalks. The city then modified the program to drop passengers off at the address provided.
Via Transportation — a contractor implementing the program — rehired some of Gastonia’s former bus drivers for the new service. Driver Charles Littlejohn said the transition took some time for drivers and riders alike, but earlier that day, a customer told him she appreciated the rideshares.
“She was so happy that she doesn’t have to call her daughter or anybody else,” Littlejohn said. “She can take $1.25 and go get her eyeglasses, go to lunch and get a ride back by herself.”
Gates said other comments the department has received echoed the sentiment, reading aloud a comment from a user thanking the city for the service.
“One of our riders said that, ‘GoGastonia is the only way that I’m able to get around. I’m 70 years old.’”
The city surveyed riders after the program launched. About 200 responded — a small number relative to the number of registered GoGastonia accounts. Most respondents said they didn’t have access to a car and the service saved them money — a major boon since most respondents reported a household income below the median for the area. Many used the service to ride to work or school.
Charlotte’s new 1-cent sales tax, if approved by voters, would fund similar services in more of Mecklenburg County.
