Transit officials said they expect few commuter-related problems or route changes during the Democratic National Convention.
Charlotte Area Transit System buses will run on their normal schedules, and routes will change only as buses approach the Interstate 277 loop. In uptown Charlottes, some buses will be re-routed to avoid streets blocked off for convention security.
Those and other changes were outlined Wednesday in a CATS media briefing.
Olaf Kinard, the transit system’s director of marketing and communications, estimated that about 30,000 people use CATS each day to commute into uptown. And for most of those riders, he said, the convention will mean few if any inconveniences.
To prepare riders for convention-related changes, CATS workers recently began passing out booklets on buses and trains. The transits system also has revamped its website to include maps showing altered routes.
On Tuesday, Aug. 7, CATS will host a one-hour webinar staring at 10 a.m. to provide additional information. To register, go to www.ridetransit.org and click on the “How to Ride Webinar” link.
Among the convention-related changes announce so far:
• The transit center on Trade Street, which sits across from Time Warner Cable Arena, where most convention events will be held, will be closed temporarily because of security concerns.
• A temporary transit center will be erected on what is now an empty field on South Mint and West Third streets, near the site of the proposed Charlotte Knights baseball stadium and on the same block as a planned exhibit on the presidential experience. The temporary center will have a large air-conditioned tent, bathrooms and food trucks parked outside. City workers will pave parts of the field to make the temporary hub handicapped accessible.
• The Lynx Blue Line will stop running at Stonewall Street for riders who don’t have credentials for the convention. CATs will offer free bus transfers for riders going into uptown.
• Buses will not pick up or drop off passengers in areas that are being rerouted.
For riders wanting to use park-n-ride lots, Kinard said CATS does not anticipate buses or lots being prohibitively crowded.
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Editor’s Note: The Charlotte Observer contributed to this report.
