Currently, only Express buses go outside of the county of Mecklenburg. However, there are two excellent transit systems already in place in the Concord/Kannapolis area and in the Gastonia area. There are no links in place for people in one county to get to the next, even though tens of thousands of people who live in Charlotte and Mecklenburg county work in the surrounding counties, and thousands of people who live in the surrounding counties work in Charlotte and Mecklenburg. There needs to be a link between these two systems NOW so we can have a truly regional system, not separate systems.

If we link the Concord/Kannapolis transit system to Charlotte, you would be able to ride a bus from anywhere in Charlotte to anywhere in the Concord/Kannapolis transit system for $2.50 each way. This link would have to be via Concord Mills Mall. The Concord/Kannapolis transit system already has hourly bus service to Concord Mills Mall. However, since Concord Mills is 100 YARDS on the other side of the Mecklenburg county line, CATS does not want to service Concord Mills for people who work at the Mall and surrounding area or shoppers. CATS does provide Express Bus Service to Concord Mills, but you would have to go to Concord Mills at 6 AM and come back at 6 PM. That just isn't a viable option for the average bus Rider. However, we have found a way to link CATS service to Concord Mills and still stay within the county. If the Graham Street bus was extended 3.4 miles down Mallard Creek Rd. to Odell School Rd., with a turn on Carolina Lily Dr., the bus would actually be just 100 yards from Concord Mills Mall. Concord/Kannapolis Transit has agreed to request a bus stop at Carolina Lily Dr. on the road circling Concord Mills to pick up passengers who wish to travel on to Concord and Kannapolis. Riders from the CATS Graham street bus could simply either walk the 100 yards to the entrance of Concord Mills and enter by the AMC theaters, or they could catch the Concord/Kannapolis transit bus and be taken to the Bus Entrance for Concord Mills Mall.

We have already been asking for a bus to Concord Mills Mall for years. Yet, CATS officials want to study the issue and said it would probably be next year before the matter is brought up. A simple reconfiguration of the Graham Street bus (Route #22) is all it would take to provide service to Concord Mills and the ability to continue on to Concord and Kannapolis, with a total cost of $2.50 each way. We could start the regional building of our transit system and have local bus service to three counties (Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Rowan) at this one low rate. Round trip on either of these two systems would only be $5.00, just a little over the cost of one gallon of gas.

If you agree with us that service should be extended along Graham Street to Concord Mills Mall and on to Concord and Kannapolis, we ask that you do two things.

1) Send us an e-mail to ConcordBus@msn.com and tell us how the extension of this route from Charlotte to Concord Mills and beyond would benefit you.

2) Call CATS at (704) 336-RIDE and tell them you want a bus to Concord Mills with connections on to Concord and Kannapolis.



The same thing could allow us to offer a link to connect with the Gastonia Transit System. We suggest that either the Airport Bus (Route #5) or the Tyvola bus (Route #60), be extended to Franklin Square in Gastonia. This would allow a Rider to transfer from the CATS bus to the Gastonia Transit system and ride anywhere within Gastonia for a joint fare of only $2.50 each way, or $5.00 round trip. A Park and Ride for CATS could easily be established at Franklin Square and we would then have a link to Gastonia all day long. The Airport bus would bring passengers into the Transportation Center in uptown Charlotte. The Tyvola bus would take passengers to the middle of the Lynx Light Rail line with connections available all over Charlotte and terminate at Southpark.  

If you agree with us that service needs to be established to Franklin Square in Gastonia and throughout Gastonia, you need to do two things:

1) Send an e-mail to us at GastoniaBus@msn.com and tell us how the extension of one of these routes would benefit you in getting to Franklin Square and Gastonia.

2) Call CATS at (704) 336-RIDE and tell them you want a bus to Franklin Square with connections on to Gastonia.


We need your help in making our local transit system a truly regional one. Charlotte can never be a World Class City if we ignore our neighboring counties and don't work with them. We need to establish these two links NOW. With gas prices continuing to rise, we can't afford to wait any longer. We challenge CATS to work to provide the benefits that Charlotte Bus Riders need and ask that CATS establish the links for these two routes within the next 30 days. Remember, this is OUR bus system and we know that CATS is listening to what we have to say!