Tuesday is the big day: Mecklenburg County voters will decide whether to approve raising the sales tax to fund a multibillion-dollar transportation plan. Transit Time has been covering the issue for years, and with Election Day fast approaching, here is an overview of the plan, followed by details of what it would do.
Boosting transit and roads:
🚊 Expand rail:
- Build Red Line commuter rail to northern Mecklenburg
- Build Silver Line light rail from the airport to uptown to Bojangles Coliseum
- Extend Blue Line light rail to Pineville
- Extend Gold Line streetcar each direction
- Increase frequencies of bus service
- Build shelters and benches at 2,000 bus stops
- Expand Uber-like “microtransit” to at least 18 new zones throughout the county
- 🛣️ Add roads and related projects: Cities and towns in Mecklenburg would receive money to build and expand roads, sidewalks, bike paths and other road-related initiatives. See Charlotte’s plan.
- Governed by new entity: The money for transit would be overseen by a new 27-member transit authority that operates independently of city, county and state government.
The money: Most of the money ($19.4 billion) would come from raising Mecklenburg’s sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25%, which is estimated to cost the typical family $240 a year. Supporters estimate that about 30% of the tax would be paid by visitors, not residents.
In addition, the plan counts on an estimated $5.9 billion in federal grants and fares.
Ballot language:
One percent (1%) local sales and use taxes, in addition to the current local sales and use taxes, to be used only for roadway systems and public transportation systems.
[ ] For
[ ] Against
The pro and con cases:
✅ The case for supporting it: Supporters say the transit tax is a smart, forward-looking investment that will prevent Charlotte from grinding to a halt as its population grows, giving residents safer, cleaner and more efficient ways to get around. They say the plan is a result of negotiations to ensure that all of the county benefits, and it gives Mecklenburg the best chance for a transformational investment to improve transportation by expanding rail, modernizing buses, improving roads and sidewalks, and making the region more livable for everyone.
❌ The case for opposing it: Opponents say the transit tax is a $25 billion mistake that was crafted with insufficient community input, transparency or safeguards for low- and moderate-income residents, who would bear the biggest burden of a regressive sales tax. They say it enriches business interests while risking displacement, makes living in Mecklenburg more unaffordable, offers vague promises instead of tangible benefits and repeats Charlotte’s history of leaving everyday people paying the price.
Going deeper: The details on money, roads, rail and buses
How much would the sales tax increase be? Is it a ‘penny’? 1%? 14%?
The plan would raise the sales tax by 1 percentage point, from 7.25% to 8.25%. The tax on prepared food and bar tabs would increase from 8.25% to 9.25%.
Proponents of the plan often refer to it as a “penny tax,” since your bill for most every dollar spent would increase by a penny.
Opponents talk about it being a 14% increase in the sales tax, or a tripling of the current half-cent transit sales tax that was approved in 1998.
All of the descriptions are fair.
The city of Charlotte has estimated the tax would cost the average Mecklenburg household $240 a year. Some items are exempt, like most groceries, gas, prescription drugs and car purchases.
The tax has been estimated to raise $19.4 billion over 30 years.
Sales taxes are regressive, meaning they impact low-income people more than high earners. But the sales tax is also paid by people who don’t live in Mecklenburg, such as commuters and tourists.
Roads
The enabling legislation — called the PAVE Act — for the tax and a new transit authority requires that 40% of sales tax revenue go to “roadway systems.”
The city of Charlotte’s focus for its road money — more than $100 million a year — is on building a multi-modal system, with a heavy emphasis on bike lanes, sidewalks and shared-use paths.
There are some road widenings and new streets, but the focus is on giving people options to get around other than by car. The city wants to reduce the number of car trips residents take, and city leaders say the plan is a step toward that goal.
The Yes For Meck campaign says the projects will make the roads safer.
◼️ What about adding lanes? There are large parts of Charlotte where it’s not practical to build new roads or add new lanes.
The city’s mobility blueprint calls for some new road capacity for cars and trucks, but it’s not a large part of the plan.
Most of the roads that carry the most cars and trucks are controlled by the state, not the city. These include the interstate system and busy thoroughfares like Providence Road and Steele Creek Road.
The city, however, could partner with the N.C. Department of Transportation to expedite long-delayed road widening projects or those corridors.
There are no plans to do so, however.
◼️ Would all the money actually go to roadway systems?
That’s hard to say. Earlier this year, Charlotte City Manager Marcus Jones said he was planning to take money that’s spent on roads today and shift it to other things, like salaries for employees. He said he would then replace that old road's money with the new sales tax money for roads.
The PAVE Act puts a limit to that possible shell game. It requires that Charlotte and other municipalities continue to spend a minimum of the average amount they have spent on roads in the last 10 years, in addition to the new tax revenue.
But it’s unknown what that minimum number is. If Charlotte has been spending $40 million a year on roads recently, but its 10-year average annual spend is $20 million, the city is still allowed to shift some road money to other things.
Transit Time and WFAE requested from the city several weeks ago what that baseline number is. The city said this week that compiling that information is complicated and will do so after the referendum.
Rail
◼️ What are the trains proposed? When CATS holds community meetings about what kind of transit people want, residents usually prefer rail. And the recovery of ridership on the Lynx Blue Line has been stronger than on the bus system, compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Early versions of the mobility plan called for spending between 80% and 90% of new tax revenue on rail transit. But to win approval from Republican lawmakers in Raleigh, the PAVE Act capped the amount for rail at 40%.
Faced with less money, the Metropolitan Transit Commission earlier this year prioritized four rail projects:
- The first is the Red Line commuter rail line from uptown’s proposed Gateway Station to Davidson. The PAVE Act mandates that the authority “shall complete at least fifty percent of the Red Line as evidenced by a scope of work schedule created and submitted by the general contractor or construction manager on the project before the completion of any other rail project.”
- The second priority is the Silver Line light rail from near the airport to Bojangles Coliseum. That’s the most expensive rail project.
- The third is extending the Gold Line streetcar by six miles to the east and the west.
- And the fourth project is extending the Lynx Blue Line to Carolina Place Mall in Pineville.
◼️ What are the controversies about?
The original plan was to build the Silver Line from the airport to Matthews. But when the PAVE Act reduced the amount of money allowed for trail transit, the city of Charlotte and the MTC had to scale back their plans.
Instead of running the Silver Line to Matthews, the plan calls for it to stop at Bojangles Coliseum. That has infuriated some leaders in east Charlotte and Matthews.
One of their complaints: Why should Pineville be placed ahead of them, considering Pineville rejected the Blue Line in the early 2000s? Shouldn’t that town go to the back of the line?
Robert Dawkins of Action NC has also said rail transit will accelerate gentrification and that the city has no plan to mitigate that.
The Plaza Midwood Merchants Association has also come out against the plan because its worried Gold Line streetcar construction on Central Avenue would cripple businesses.
◼️ Is the plan realistic?
In 2007, Mecklenburg voters rejected a plan to repeal the existing half-cent sales tax for transit. During the campaign, CATS said the half-cent tax could build numerous other rail projects, including the streetcar, the Red Line, bus rapid transit along Independence Boulevard and the Blue Line Extension to University City.
The Blue Line Extension was built (though a few miles shorter than planned) and the city paid for the streetcar with general fund dollars. There wasn’t enough money from the sales tax to build anything else.
For the 2025 plan to work, not only must the sales tax bring in as much as projected, but Charlotte must win competitive grants from the federal government. Another factor: The construction estimates for the rail projects also must not increase significantly.
◼️ What is the concern with federal grants?
The Federal Transit Administration has funded only a few commuter rail projects since the pandemic. Commuter trains are dependent on office workers, and with more people working from home, ridership on express buses and commuter trains nationwide has lagged the recovery seen on other transit modes.
If the Red Line doesn’t receive federal funding — or receives less money than projected — it would have a domino effect, making it harder to build other projects.
However, the new transit authority would likely have enough money to build the Red Line even without federal funding. There just won’t be much money left for anything else.
The FTA has also moved away from funding streetcar projects.
Buses and microtransit
◼️ What does the plan do for bus service?
CATS says it would increase service on the 15 busiest routes to have buses arrive every 15 minutes. Today, only one route — No. 9 on Central Avenue — has service that frequent. All other routes would have buses coming at least every 30 minutes, and the frequency of express buses that run during rush hours would increase as well.
The idea is that more frequent service would benefit not only existing riders but would entice new passengers to give the bus a try.
When buses arrive every 15 minutes, the idea is that you don’t need to check a schedule before heading to the bus stop.
CATS made a number of service cuts in 2022 because it lacked money and because it said it couldn’t hire enough drivers.
◼️ Would there be new routes?
CATS says the plan, known as Better Bus, would add only one or two new routes. The transit system says new microtransit would improve the coverage area. (More on that below.)
◼️ Most bus stops don’t have amenities? Would that change?
Yes. Charlotte says it would improve 2,000 bus stops by adding shelters, benches and lighting. Tax proponents like Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles say the Better Bus program would ensure bus riders — most of whom are low-income — travel “with dignity.”
◼️ Has CATS said how many new people it expects would ride the bus after the improvements?
It hasn’t. In fact, CATS hasn’t done any ridership projections for any part of the Meck Connect plan.
The bus system has struggled over the last decade, with ridership down 60% percent since 2014. New data released from the Federal Transit Administration last week showed that CATS buses were some of the emptiest among all large transit systems, carrying 13 people per hour. For comparison, buses in large cities like Miami and Chicago carry more than 30 people an hour. Charlotte’s peer cities also have more crowded buses, like Kansas City (23), Nashville (16), Orlando (16) and Raleigh (15).
◼️ How would Better Bus work to improve congestion and shorten commutes?
For the people who commute to work by bus daily, more frequent service means they get to work faster. And if more people leave their cars at home to take the bus, that also frees up space on the road.
But if the additional bus service doesn’t attract new riders, it can make congestion worse, at least during rush hour. Most buses are 40 feet long — which takes up space on the road — and they take a long time to accelerate after being at a complete stop.
◼️ CATS is focused on expanding microtransit. What is that?
Earlier this year CATS launched a new service in north Mecklenburg similar to ride-share companies like Uber. For a $2.20 one-way fare, passengers get door-to-door service inside a certain zone.
If the tax passes, CATS says it would expand micro to nearly 20 zones across Mecklenburg. The idea is to have micro serve less dense areas that don’t have enough riders for traditional bus service.
Other large transit systems are starting microtransit service. And some cities like Gastonia and Wilson have scrapped their bus systems and instead switched to door-to-door service.
◼️ How is microtransit doing so far?
Ridership on microtransit has grown steadily since February. When the service started, it was serving about 100 people on the average weekday; it’s now grown to more than 200 passenger trips on the average weekday.
It carried 5,900 passengers in August and 5,200 in September.
CATS budgeted $2.3 million for microtransit in north Meck for the year. At the moment, the service is costing the transit system about $35 for a one-way trip (not including the $2.20 fare riders pay).
