As Mayor Pat McCrory never tires of pointing out, two-thirds of the $70 million a year the half-cent transit tax raises each year goes to run CATS buses. That is $50 million.

And yet CATS still cannot run a fleet with working air conditioning. WCNC reports that two CATS drivers were overcome by the yesterday’s heat as a result.

That is certainly bad for the drivers, but what about the bus passengers? Don’t they deserve better?

From CATS’ point of view, no. CATS gets paid regardless of the system’s level of customer satisfaction. CATS gets $70-75 million a year even if no buses have AC so long as the half-cent is in place.

Before the half-cent CATS got about 25 percent of its revenue from the farebox. That is now down to around 15 percent. The incentives are all backwards to ensure quality service.

We need a new plan.