Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) riders face crime rates three times the national average, according to overlapping state and federal audits. Assaults on transit workers run five times the average. The audits also found the system loses up to $6.5 million a year because roughly 60% of light rail passengers don't pay.

The findings land as CATS prepares to add three weekday trips to Route 61x, the Arboretum/Waverly Express that serves Ballantyne commuters, starting Monday, Oct. 5.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) cited CATS for 18 areas of noncompliance in a February audit, according to a WFAE and Carolina Public Press report. A separate audit released Aug. 17 by North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek found gaps in security, weak fare enforcement and a failure to implement FTA safety guidelines, WBTV reported.

As of December 2025, about 45% of all CATS riders were not paying fares. On the light rail alone, that figure hit 60%, costing the system an estimated $5 million to $6.5 million annually, the state audit found.

Citations for fare evasion dropped from 4,763 in 2023 to 2,018 in 2025. Fines actually collected totaled $750 in 2024 and $550 in 2025, according to documentation CATS provided to the state auditor. The audit said CATS instructed bus drivers to stop enforcing fares after disputes led to verbal and physical abuse of drivers.

Jeanette Gallagher, a light rail rider who has used the system three days a week for about eight or nine years, told Carolina Public Press she wasn't surprised. "When you see how many people just hop onto that train, and it's way crowded, I'm like, not all these people bought tickets," Gallagher said.

CATS also underspent its own safety budget. The agency set aside more than $2 million for safety and security equipment in fiscal year 2025 but spent only about $470,000, roughly 21% of the budgeted amount, according to the state audit. A five-year capital plan for safety equipment totals more than $7.6 million.

The Metro Transit Unit, created under a 2023 agreement between CATS and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD), has been staffed with only two officers, the audit said. Professional Security Services provides six armed guards, 26 police officers and one captain under a separate contract.

Charlotte Mayor Robert Harrington responded in a July 31 letter to the auditor, noting the security services contract grew from $5.8 million in fiscal year 2022 to $23.1 million in fiscal year 2027. Contracted staffing rose from about 110 to 262 personnel. A network of roughly 4,500 CATS cameras was connected to CMPD's Real Time Crime Center on Oct. 10, 2025, Harrington wrote.

Crime on the Blue Line dropped 69% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to Charlotte police. About 1,000 hours of weekly off-duty officer patrols have been added to the line.

CATS Interim CEO Brent Cagle told the Charlotte Observer on Aug. 22 that turnstiles would not solve the problem. A new three-year fare enforcement ambassador program will put more than 60 uniformed personnel on the system starting in October through a $5 million-per-year contract with Kentucky-based vendor Block by Block. CATS also plans to install fare validators for buses, streetcars and light rail platforms by early 2027.

A Consumer Affairs analysis published Sept. 30 ranked Charlotte's transit system 36th out of the 50 largest U.S. urban areas, with safety dragging the city to 45th out of 50 in that category, QC News reported.

The audit findings also shadow CATS' long-range plans. The proposed Silver Line light rail is projected to cost $3.3 billion, and a full Blue Line extension to Ballantyne carries an estimated $1.8 billion price tag that CATS has said it cannot afford, according to WFAE reporting from August 2026. A new Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority is expected to take over transit operations from CATS in January 2027, according to that same report.

Route 61x riders will see the first tangible change Oct. 5, when three additional weekday trips bring the route to 12 daily trips, funded by last year's one-cent sales tax referendum. The fare ambassador program is set to roll out the same month.