CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Area Transit System buses are still running throughout Mecklenburg County but that could change in a few weeks.
Drivers voted to approve a strike last weekend, but it would not start for at least 30 days.
Channel 9′s Glenn Counts spoke with CATS officials Thursday about their plan for a worst-case scenario.
Under the worst-case scenario, most passengers won’t be riding the bus and normal operations would cease.
Members of the Transit Services Advisory Committee met Thursday and had a long discussion about the possibility that drivers could strike.
“In any strike scenario, we would expect pretty serious, negative impacts to daily bus service,” said Brent Cagle, the interim director at CATS.
In the event of a strike, Cagle said most routes would be suspended including express routes.
The services that would not be affected are paratransit, rail operators and vanpool services.
“Unfortunately, if we go into a scenario like that, we will really have to make operational decisions daily,” he said.
The main decision is how many buses can run daily.
In the worst case, only 13 core routes would be served, and the buses would not operate on a normal schedule.
Once they get to a stop, they may be full and must keep going because there is not enough room to pick up additional passengers.
The bus drivers said management is threatening their pensions and health insurance, so they may have no choice but to strike.
However, they hope it doesn’t get to that point.
Many depend on buses to live their daily lives.
“I take him to school Monday through Friday on a bus,” CATS passenger Kadijah Young said.
Young and her four-year-old son are praying there is not a strike because she uses CATS to take him to school.
“It’s going to be hard to get him back and forth to school because he needs education,” Young said.
VIDEO: CATS bus driver union votes to strike after no deal reached
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