CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With March Madness in full swing, thousands flocked to Uptown Charlotte to take in the action. A lot of those folks utilized public transit like the light rail or street car. With more people, that means more tickets sold -- right?
WCNC Charlotte's Austin Walker spoke to some Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) riders and asked if they paid for a ticket. He spoke to 12 people. Out of the 12 public transit riders, two of them did not pay for a ticket. We did the math.
According to our brief sampling, let's say every time the train gets to the station at least two are not paying.
Over 7 hours, 25 trains came and it cost $4.40 for two tickets.
If you multiply the two tickets by the 25 trains, that means the City of Charlotte would not get $110 in transit fares. In a week with the same sample, that is $770. In a month with the same sample, that is a $3,080 loss.
CATS told WCNC Charlotte on days with mass events, it operates under special event service. This means that more trains are running and there's extra staff assigned to check tickets.
We asked riders if they had their tickets checked. A handful told WCNC Charlotte that no one checked their tickets. Some said they have in the past and others said they did that day.
CATS added that fare evasion is a crime that could result in a $50 citation and a class three misdemeanor charge.
Contact Austin Walker at awalker@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.