The Light Rail Killer Had No Ticket

Charlotte Transit now admits that the homeless man who stabbed a young woman to death on the city’s Light Rail on August 22nd, never paid to ride the train.

CATS acknowledged that passengers are rarely checked for tickets which means trouble makers can easily ride the train for free.

At a meeting Tuesday night, city council woman Dimple Ajmera wondered if CATS had done its job and checked tickets — would Iryna Zarutska still be alive. She said, “he may not have been able to board to begin with…so we would have been able to save Zarutska’s life.”

But transit chief Brent Cagle told the council “with an open system, it will always be impossible to check every passenger, everyday.”

CATS does plan to add some “ticket-checkers” to help screen riders. But it’s not clear how many and Cagle did not say how often they would check passengers on the trains. 

CATS is also working to hire more private security officers.  But Cagle says there will never be a guard on every train.

Former Governor Pat McCrory, who was Charlotte’s mayor when the Light Rail was launched, says there should be a cop on Light Rail car on every route. 

Otherwise, McCrory says that we will have wasted money on a train line that no one wants to ride.