Bus service needs to be fast, frequent, reliable, and walkable to fully meet the mobility needs of riders. Unfortunately, Charlotte Area Transit System bus service has recently been anything but frequent and reliable for riders. As the Charlotte City Council’s Transportation and Planning Committee members learned this week, CATS has been short an average of 23 bus operators per day since May 1, with a daily deficit regularly approaching 40-50 operators. Continue reading

Mecklenburg County commissioners' decision last month to earmark $50 million to buy land for greenways, parks, and nature preserves this fiscal year has been a hot topic in the news this week — along with Sustain Charlotte's advocacy for that funding. Continue reading

Last night, Charlotte City Council held a public hearing on the second draft of the Unified Development Ordinance, a set of regulations designed to set the groundwork for planned development in our community in alignment with the vision of the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan and other adopted city policies. Sustain Charlotte's urban design specialist, Eric Zaverl, addressed council members to support some aspects of the ordinance while asking for changes to others.  Continue reading

It has been a while since we wrote about the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO, not to be confused with UFO), a 600-plus page document that the city of Charlotte has been working on for almost a year. On June 3, the city released a new draft of the UDO following the public comment period from earlier this year.  On Monday, July 11, Charlotte City Council will hold a public hearing on the second draft. Here’s what you need to know about what changed — and how you can still weigh in.  Continue reading

Sustain Charlotte has two new interns for summer 2022, Mia Jammal and Daisy Hoover. Both of them are local college students, and we asked them to share a bit about their experiences here. Continue reading

In June, Mecklenburg County launched a weeklong incentive encouraging people in the Charlotte area to move around without using cars.  That's something we love to see at Sustain Charlotte. Reducing our area's over-reliance on cars is vital to creating a safer, healthier, more equitable, and more environmentally friendly future. That's why we promoted the challenge — and offered tickets to Biketoberfest as one of the prizes. Matt Parker won those tickets in a drawing on Day 4 of the challenge. We asked Matt about the experience.   Continue reading

Sustain Charlotte applauds Charlotte City Council for passing the Strategic Mobility Plan on Monday night, a significant step toward creating a community with safe and equitable mobility choices.  Continue reading

Charlotte City Council is set to vote on the Strategic Mobility Plan on Mondy, June 27. We support the plan and consider it a crucial step in creating safe and equitable mobility choices for everyone in our city. This is Part 2 in a series highlighting how the Strategic Mobility Plan will impact your experience here in Charlotte. Here is how your experience might change if you are a transit rider. Continue reading

Mecklenburg County commissioners on Wednesday approved a $2.2 billion budget for fiscal year 2023 that includes $50 million to acquire land for expanding parks, greenways, and nature preserves. This is an important step in growing a greenway network that is critical to the mental and physical health of our residents, the environmental wellbeing of our county, and the economic mobility and equality of everyone in our community. Continue reading

  Charlotte City Council is set to vote on the Strategic Mobility Plan on June 27. We support the plan and consider it a crucial step in creating safe and equitable mobility choices for everyone in our city. This is Part 1 in a series highlighting how the Strategic Mobility Plan will transform the ways people can safely and efficiently get around Charlotte. To kick things off, we’ll take a look at the plan’s benefits for cyclists. Continue reading