Since 1973, Hamilton County’s public transportation has been operated by CARTA, an acronym for Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority. But over the past several years, the authority largely hasn’t served the area or the region as fixed route bus transit is limited to Chattanooga’s city limits.
That’s because beyond limited funding from Red Bank and East Ridge for CARTA’s paratransit service for riders with disabilities, Chattanooga is the only local government, at $6.3 million for the next fiscal year, to fund CARTA’s fixed bus routes.
Due in part to limited funding from local governments and a lapse in federal pandemic aid coming in 2026, Johan de Nysschen, the chair of the CARTA board of directors, has told the Chattanooga Times Free Press the transit agency faces an existential threat.
Since 2009, Hamilton County had given CARTA $105,200 each year, but County Mayor Weston Wamp’s administration decided to cut all funding for the authority in the upcoming fiscal year budget.
In an interview concerning the city’s decision to increase its CARTA subsidy by half a million dollars, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said the city can’t be the only local government that supports CARTA.