CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport are risking their safety and time just to get home from work.
While there are buses to shuttle employees to and from the employee lot, many choose to walk on the busy parkway due to long wait times.
Employees run into issues with long wait times during shift changes in the mornings and afternoons, but they told WCNC Charlotte reporter Julia Kauffman that nights are the worst.
One person said they sometimes wait nearly an hour to be picked up at the terminal and taken to their car.
"I’m doing a double, I do two jobs," a worker who was waiting for the bus said. "I’m trying to get out of here and go to my wife and relax and come back again and do the same thing all over."
Employees shared that their wait times for the shuttle were around 30 minutes on Friday afternoon.
WCNC Charlotte watched one worker try to get on the bus with a crowd of others, but he was forced to wait for the next one when there was no room left.
"They closed the door on me," he said. "It still had more space, and this is what they do."
The airport workers' union, CWA Local 3645, says it’s been complaining about the wait times for months.
"The city of Charlotte needs to do better," president Donielle Prophete said.
She added that the shuttles are making people late to work.
"I have members getting dependability points because they can’t get here on time, and they’re arriving to the employee deck an hour prior," she said.
A spokesperson for the airport said employee buses operate 24 hours a day. However, crowds of workers struggle to get on during shift changes when there are too many people to fit.
"Sometimes I walk because it’s better to walk," one anonymous worker admitted.
The airport advises against walking on the parkway to the employee lot, but some employees feel they have no choice.
"They’re walking with their backs to the cars and risking their lives trying to get home," Prophete said.
When asked what is causing the lack of buses or long wait times, an airport spokesperson wrote this response:
Due to record-breaking passenger traffic this summer, there may be a few timeframes where the demand for employee shuttles significantly outpaces the capacity in our shuttle system, which results in wait times increasing slightly above the usual +/- 15 minutes. CLT is actively engaged in optimizing the bus fleet, staffing and scheduling."
Prophete said the union will continue to push for the airport to get more employee buses and bus drivers. The anonymous worker suggested that the airport should send two buses at a time to pick up employees, instead of one.
Prophete also noted on Friday that there were way more employee buses than she has ever seen before. She thinks it’s likely because of WCNC Charlotte's inquiry into the issue and she hopes they keep it up.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.