Carta reports ridership and efficiency gains, lays out hub, redesign and TOD plans

Charles Fraser, chief executive officer of Carta, told the Chattanooga City Council on Dec. 23 that the agency’s focused outreach and recent technology rollouts produced measurable ridership and efficiency gains, and that Carta is moving forward with a multi‑year plan of network redesigns and capital projects.

Fraser said Carta activated routing technology for its door‑to‑door Caravan service last October and since then has reduced miles driven from roughly 70,000 to about 45,000 while growing ridership. “Because of this efficiency work, [we saw] an increase of ridership of 54% and a decrease in the mileage driven,” he said.

The gains come alongside other operational improvements, Fraser said: average weekday fixed‑route ridership was up about 9% year‑over‑year in October and student ridership under the “Read and Ride” program now counts about 1,700 registered students and roughly 300–400 weekday student trips. He also highlighted parking pilots that expanded a free first hour at two garages; those pilots produced large increases in short‑term use and an overall parking revenue increase Council members were told was about 46% year‑over‑year.

Why it matters: Fraser argued the improvements make the system more reliable and thereby more useful as an economic tool. “We’ve opened up freedom. We’ve opened up access to opportunity,” he said, linking transit access to job connections in outlying districts where Caravan trips are heavily used for employment access.

Grants and capital plans: Fraser said Carta used a $2.9 million local match to leverage about $25.5 million in grants in 2024–25, describing roughly $15 million as formula grants and $10 million as competitive awards. He listed near‑term capital allocations described to council as about $4 million for vehicle replacement, about $2 million for infrastructure (shelters, sidewalks, real‑time info), and roughly three‑quarters of $1,000,000 for preliminary engineering on a potential downtown transit center. Fraser also identified an approximately $800,000 transit‑oriented development study focused on Route 4 (Brainerd Road) intended to help secure additional infrastructure grant dollars.

Planned network work: Carta previewed a Park‑Once shuttle network redesign with a public interactive survey, a fixed‑route restructuring toward a frequent network and mobility hubs (31 hubs identified in Plan Chattanooga), micro‑transit zones, expanded Caravan, and bus stop design guidelines. Fraser said the board has approved service performance standards that will be published to measure progress.

Board perspective and economics: Johan Denesen, chairman of the Carta board, framed transit as an economic enabler and stressed constraints on mobility that limit workers’ access to jobs. “When people cannot have access to education and training, they limit their marketability for jobs,” Denesen said, arguing for strategic long‑term investment rather than transactional short‑term fixes.

Council questions and follow‑ups: Council members asked about partnerships with autonomous providers, the location and cost of transfer hubs, the agency’s authority to issue bonds and how efficiency savings are reinvested. Fraser said Carta is pursuing smart‑grant and technology partnerships and confirmed Carta can issue bonds. He committed to return to council in February with heat maps and more detailed cost and reinvestment numbers.

The council thanked the Carta delegation for the briefing and for emergency service support cited by members. Carta’s next formal presentation to the full council on Plan Chattanooga and the long‑term transit plan was scheduled for February.