CATS

The Charlotte City Council on Monday voted 10-1 to buy freight rail tracks from Norfolk Southern. It also voted to ask state lawmakers for permission to place a 1-cent sales tax increase on the November 2025 ballot.

A new Mecklenburg County sales tax to fund city and county rails, roads and buses is up for a city council vote Tuesday night. But while the Charlotte Area Transit System's budget has reached a record high, ridership remains far below pre-pandemic levels. Still, some believe the city needs to continue investing in buses to bring commuters back to public transit.

Because the city of Charlotte expects to have half as much new tax money for trains from a proposed one-cent sales tax, it told town managers this spring that it can’t afford to build the $6 billion Silver Line light rail from uptown to Matthews. The city said it would build bus rapid transit instead.

On this week's Transit Time, we answered frequently asked questions about Charlotte's revised transit plan, including what is it, what it would do, how much it would cost and what happens from here.

The city of Charlotte hopes to create a new transit authority to replace the Charlotte Area Transit System.

The city of Charlotte made one tough decision about how to trim its ambitions for its $13.5 billion transportation plan. But it’s probably not enough.

Neighborhood advocates and elected officials say they’re ‘very disappointed’ and are ‘getting the shaft’ in Silver Line cutback as Charlotte reconfigures transit tax plans.

The original transportation plan calls for roughly 80% of new sales tax revenue to go to rail projects. A new proposal would cap rail's portion to 40%.

The Charlotte City Council voted 9-1 to approve a new governing agreement for the Charlotte Area Transit System.

The city of Charlotte’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes a sizable increase in funding for the Charlotte Area Transit System, reflecting continuous investment even as ridership remains significantly lower than peak levels a decade ago.