Audit: Beleaguered Charlotte transit system given another damning report

Totaled, it’s a roughly $10 million boondoggle uncovered in part because of the stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska. It has led to national attention including from second-term Republican President Donald Trump; extraordinary pressure on a magistrate from congressional representatives; political posturing in the 2026 midterms from U.S. Senate candidates Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley; and elimination of both cashless bail and the unwritten moratorium on the death penalty through the Legislature’s enacted Iryna’s Law.

In response, the CATS told the auditor’s office fare evasion citations dropped because bus drivers were instructed not to enforce fares to protect them from altercations.

“The city of Charlotte, CATS, and the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority need to take decisive action on public transportation security,” said first-term Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek. “CATS estimates almost half of all riders aren’t paying for a ticket. Up to $6.5 million may be lost annually to fare evasion, but only $550 in fare evasion fines for the light rail system were collected in state fiscal year 2025. The taxpayers of Charlotte pay the bill for CATS, and they’re asked to buy tickets to ride the bus or light rail. Moving forward, CATS and the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority should implement effective measures to stop fare evasion.”

The light rail was the scene of a deadly video that went viral nearly a year ago. DeCarlos Brown Jr. is the Charlottean suspect charged in the stabbing death of Zarutska aboard the light rail on Aug. 22, 2025.

City taxpayers are spending a minimum of $3.4 million and possibly more for a Washington public relations firm’s aim of “enhancing the public’s perception and use of public transit in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.” Nine Democrats and two Republicans on the City Council delivered a unanimous vote to climax the Sept. 11 issuance of request for proposals.

That was six days after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released the video footage. And it was four days after another stabbing on a Charlotte light rail train. That victim was critically injured, and federal authorities said the suspect charged with first-degree murder came illegally into America.

In response the beleaguered transit system woes, Boliek’s office last fall completed a quick study and found a 55% reduction in armed security staff, 211% increase in contract value, and ties to diversity, equity and inclusion in a damning analysis released Sept. 30.

Armed security personnel for CATS were between 68 and 88 in a 2018 contract with G4S Secure Solutions. September’s detail was 39.

PSS has the contract today. The pact was for $5.9 million in 2022 and $18.4 million in the fiscal year ending June 30.

When the audit was released, the contract allowed up to 219 personnel. That means 82.1% of the available jobs were vacant in an agreement allowing armed guards on all 48 train cars at once.

The audit said CATS had ridership of 14.9 million in fiscal year 2024 in a 675-square-mile service area. There are 48 train cars in two rail services; more than 330 buses on 67 routes and more than 3,000 stops; and four transit centers.

Charlotte’s estimated population is 944,742, growing by 70,055 since the COVID-19 outbreak. The Queen City is 14th largest in the nation, second among the eight South Atlantic states, and 7th in the 16-state South as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.