CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — One month after Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on Charlotte’s light rail, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) launched an investigation into the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS).
Charlotte city leaders to meet with FTA amid probe into CATS safety
On Monday, February 2, the FTA issued the report, which describes CATS as having “system failures.” An audit of CATS found several performance issues, including how the system assesses risk, tracks system fixes, and conducts de-escalation training for staff.
In the report (attached below), the FTA identified 18 areas where CATS has failed to meet federally mandated safety requirements:
- CATS is not implementing the safety risk assessment processes established in its ASP when assessing the risk of assaults on transit workers, as required by § 673.25(c).
- CATS is not implementing the process established in its ASP to monitor its operations to identify any safety risk mitigations that were not implemented as intended, as required by § 673.27(b)(2).
- CATS has not established or implemented a process to monitor its operations to identify any safety risk mitigations that may be ineffective, as required at § 673.27(b)(2).
- CATS has not met the requirements at § 673.11(a)(3) regarding general PTASP safety performance targets.
- CATS has not established a process to assess its safety performance annually, as required at § 673.27(d)(1).
- CATS has not developed or carried out, under the direction of the Accountable Executive, a plan to address any deficiencies identified through the annual safety performance assessment, as required at § 673.27(d)(4).
- CATS is not compliant with requirements related to establishment of the joint labor-management safety committee at § 673.19(a).
- CATS is not compliant with § 673.19(b), which requires the joint labor-management safety committee to consist of an equal number of frontline transit worker representatives and management representatives.
- CATS has not addressed the requirements for joint labor-management safety committee procedures established at § 673.19(c).
- CATS has not met the requirement for the joint labor-management safety committee to review and approve the CATS ASP, as required at §§ 673.11(a)(1)(i) and 673.19(d)(1).
- CATS has not met requirements for the joint labor-management safety committee to identify and recommend safety risk mitigations as required at § 673.19(d)(3)(i).
- CATS has not met requirements for the joint labor-management safety committee to identify safety risk mitigations that may be ineffective, inappropriate, or were not implemented as intended, as required at § 673.19(d)(3)(ii).
- CATS has not met requirements for the joint labor-management safety committee to identify safety deficiencies for purposes of continuous improvement, as required at § 673.19(d)(3)(iii).
- CATS has not established a safety risk reduction program required at § 673.11(a)(7) for its bus transit services.
- CATS has not met requirements at §§ 673.11(a)(7)(iii) and 673.19(d)(2) for the joint labor-management safety committee to set safety performance targets for the safety risk reduction program.
- CATS has not met the requirement for the safety risk reduction program safety performance targets to be set for all modes of public transportation, as required by § 673.11(a)(7)(iii)(B).
- CATS has not met the requirement for the safety risk reduction program to include safety performance targets for both the rates and counts of events, collisions, and injuries as required by §§ 673.11(a)(3) and (a)(7), and defined through the National Safety Plan.
- CATS has not met the requirement for the de-escalation training established at § 673.29(a).
“FTA is determined to do its part to address the systemic failures within Charlotte’s transit system that led to Iryna Zarutska’s tragic death,” said FTA Administrator Marc Molinaro. “We look forward to seeing these 18 points fixed immediately to bolster safety for both transit workers and passengers.”
The FTA says CATS must develop and submit corrective action plans that address all findings listed in the report within 30 days. The FTA will review and approve (with revisions as necessary) CATS’s action plans and will monitor their progress…