No, that does not pertain to the Broadway musical, but the name of the new ridesharing service in Charlotte, North Carolina, saying their rides are way cheaper than Uber and Lyft – at around $3! It’s the Charlotte Area Transit System.
Well, they have a point. While ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft are in demand, that does not mean they offer reasonable rates for some rides. But if you are in Charlotte and you need the same quality of ride as those, then you can use CATS Mirco.
CATS Micro is a ridesharing program, particularly a “micro-transit, " which launched earlier this month in a pilot program in northern Mecklenburg County.
Promising, right? Officially, CATS Micro attributes itself as an on-demand, shared-ride service that takes you to your destination for the same fare as that of your local bus or rail trip. It operates point-to-point, like point-to-point buses, but within a designated zone, though. The vehicles are from CATS Micro’s very own brand.
CATS Micro officially describes “on-demand trips” as where you can access transportation services whenever needed but within the service hours. However, the wait times are longer and traffic delays may happen. Also, the service is only available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time on weekdays, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends, local time, too. To address these, it is important to always check your CATS-Pass app throughout your experience for the most updated information.
This app is also where you will schedule the CATS Micro trips. Otherwise, you may call the CATS customer support team on the day you need to be transported. You cannot simply hail a ride from CATS Micro right from the curb.
The idea here is that those who need public transport but do not have access to buses or trains in the areas CATS Micro’s cars serve and might not have enough money to pay for Uber or Lyft can choose these on-demand trips.
A trip usually costs around $2.20 for each passenger for a one-way trip. Kids under 12 years old and under should be accompanied by an adult to ride. For those with kids eight years old and under, you must provide a car seat or booster seat. Pets are allowed, but only service animals. Lastly, you cannot load a bicycle on all microtransit vehicles of CATS Micro.
Huntersville’s mayor, Christy Clark, is delighted of this, saying, “It’ll allow people to get from point A to point B with ease, the app will be super easy to use and it will be much more affordable than the traditional, you know, rideshare apps.”