Kannapolis leaders to pull back on plans to cut public transit routes

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — City officials in Kannapolis are pulling back on plans to cut some bus services.

The decision comes after an outcry from the community.

Channel 9 spoke with some riders ahead of Monday night’s meeting who were worried drastically reducing routes could impact some of the community’s most vulnerable.

Concord-Kannapolis Public Transit is a lifeline for a lot of people.

“My prescriptions that I get are from the Walmart in Kannapolis,” said Mike Schooley, a resident.

On Monday night, concerned commuters spoke out at the Kannapolis City Council meeting, pushing back on proposals to drastically reduce transit service in the city.

“It’s a lot of businesses along these routes that people work at,” said Schooley.

Anthony Morris was really worried.

Officials initially proposed eliminating the Brown Route, which serves the west side of Kannapolis.

“It hurt me some way,” Morris said. “I gotta be on foot a whole lot more going places.”

Schooley told us cuts would likely leave him stranded.

“I don’t know exactly, on the weekends I wouldn’t be able to go,” Schooley said.

Kannapolis officials have said some sort of reduction in service is needed to significantly reduce costs while also providing a reasonable level of service to passengers.

“I want them to tell Kannapolis, ”yo, people with disabilities, et cetera, they need this route. Leave it alone,’" said Morris.

City Manager Wilmer Melton says after hearing all the outcry, officials pulled back on eliminating routes, and instead are now discussing modifying routes and eliminating some stops.

“We heard loud and clear that we wanted to maintain service to critical areas and that’s what we’re waiting on and working through right now,” Melton said.

Passengers just hope any changes come with the same reliability.

“There’s a lot of friends I know that work at Walmart, and along the route,” Schooley said. “They need to get there.”

The city council did approve a resolution to implement the overall strategic plan, which includes public transit changes.

Kannapolis officials say they will continue to work on finalizing the route changes, which will go into effect in July.

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