Most delegates attending the Democratic National Convention are dependent on shuttle buses to take them to and from their hotels, and the shuttle bus system came under heavy criticism late Tuesday night and early Wednesday from some of those delegates.
Following the end of the first convention session at Time Warner Cable Arena, delegates who are staying at hotels outside the uptown area walked several blocks to the Stonewall Street side of the Charlotte Convention Center, where the shuttle buses are stopping.
Many delegates had a long wait.
The night’s session ended a bit after 11 p.m., but some delegates were still standing on Stonewall Street at 2 a.m., waiting for buses.
“This convention has been great -- except for the shuttles,” said Matt Rowe, of Bowling Green, Va. “That’s been a real problem.”
Rowe, along with another man and woman, were waiting for a bus at Shuttle Stop 6. They said buses have been late, and there have been occasional mechanical failures.
“They seem to be having a real problem with the traffic here,” Rowe said.
A woman waiting at Shuttle Stop 1 said she’s losing her patience with the shuttle bus system. The woman, a Gastonia resident and a member of the N.C. delegation, said, “Nobody seems to know anything. And the stops seem to change all the time.”
Convention officials said they have hired 250 from companies across the Southeast to provide shuttle service for 6,000 delegates. They said, before the convention started, that they expected the system to work well.