Last night I attended a
Dirt Diva's meeting in the southern end of Charlotte. Since the girlfriend was picking me up at work I decided to leave my bike there and we would car pool home from the meeting. In the morning she would drop me off a few miles from home at the Davidson Park & Ride, I would catch the bus into the
bike shop and ride my bike home from there.
No such luck. It should of been a sign that the bus was picking up the other side of the strip mall then it normally did when I rode the bus daily a couple months back. The bus then started back south on a route that was very obscure... not the normal either.
As we are on the highway my stomach started dropping, they changed the route. We pass the exit for the Trek Store. Inquiring with the bus driver he tells me that many routes have changed and some routes have been completely deleted from the system due to the economy and ridership falling.
Once we arrive to Uptown (downtown) Charlotte I ask for a transfer pass and walk over to the information desk to figure out what my best plan or bus to get back to the bike shop would be. By now it is 9:55am. I'm supposed to open the shop at 10am! The route I once took from Uptown to the exit for the shop is severly cut back and the last bus left at 8am. The only option was to wait for a bus that ran every 30 minutes, which is also a city bus and stops every 2 blocks.
Finally I called in my back up car ride. The one I tried to avoid first thing this morning. If I would of originally gone for the car this morning I could of laid in bed for another 30 minutes.
Screw you Charlotte Transportation.
Edit : It is not Charlotte Transportation that is in charge of the bus system, it is CATS.
