Memo sent to CATS drivers threatens reduced routes, job cuts unless service improves
Charlotte bus service — and operator jobs — could face cuts if CATS doesn’t fix an attendance problem, according to a memo sent to drivers from a manager.
“In the days since the ratification of your new Collective Bargaining Agreement on Feb. 4, 2023, that now makes (Transit Management of Charlotte or TMOC) operators the second highest paid bus operators on the East Coast, I am extremely disturbed by the attendance, absenteeism and missed trip information I see,” wrote Steve Hamelin, a general manager for RATP Dev USA, which employs CATS bus drivers.
The memo, dated April 7, was obtained by The Charlotte Observer.
Charlotte City Councilman Ed Driggs made the public aware of the letter at Monday night’s council meeting. He said he learned about it earlier in the day by a reporter with Queen City News, who first reported on the memo.
While he reassured the public that driver attendance has improved, thanks to the decrease of COVID-19 spreading, he still expressed concerns about the situation.
“We have seen a somewhat disturbing trend in terms of those performance numbers not being as good as they were, which CATS is addressing with TMOC,” he said. TMOC is the subsidiary of RATP Dev USA, which is represented by SMART Union.
The memo says 23 employees are in “point trouble” for attendance, creating “hundreds, if not thousands, of missed trips in a week” that could result in service cuts this fall if the issue isn’t fixed. CATS is still recovering from service cuts in August 2022.
Driggs, who chairs the council’s transportation committee, also said there is an RFP process underway to “create new terms for our relationship” with RATP DEV USA.
“We’ll share with you some numbers around what exactly is going on there and with the public,” Driggs said. “At this point I just want to make you aware of it, I don’t want another big story about CATS to find out exactly what’s going on.”
CATS is facing myriad challenges after a previously disclosed light rail derailment came to light in March. Since then, CATS interim CEO Brent Cagle said the agency also missed federally required inspections for bridges and parking garages.
Memo threatens cutting jobs
In Hamelin’s memo, he wrote that he is “concerned and mystified” by the poor attendance, despite a union bargaining agreement passed in February that increases employee salaries, lowers healthcare expenses, increases the pension cap and adds a holiday.
RATP Dev USA did not immediately respond to the Observer’s request for comment Monday night.
“Imagine your family member standing at a bus stop in the heat or cold, early morning or late at night, waiting for a bus that never comes because somebody did not show up for work or left early,” the memo says. “Imagine the effect on other operators that lose time off with their family and loved ones because they step up and cover shifts for those that don’t show up, or worse, get terminated unnecessarily.”
Hamelin also threatened the operators’ jobs if CATS did not eliminate missed trips. At least 40 operator positions could be cut if there are service cuts, he wrote.
“Understand that this is a serious situation that each of you are able to determine the outcome of,” the memo says. “It is my responsibility to keep employees informed of situations that will have an effect on them – this communication is that notice.”
Following recent reports about issues facing the agency, City Manager Marcus Jones said he has requested the Federal Transit Administration to review CATS and is suspending the search for a new CEO for six months so the organization will have time to “stabilize.”
