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The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is the agency responsible for public transportation in the Charlotte metropolitan area. CATS operates bus and rail transit services in Mecklenburg County and surrounding areas. Established in 1999, CATS' bus and rail operations carry about 320,000 riders on an average week. CATS is governed by the Metropolitan Transit Commission and is operated as a department of the City of Charlotte. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .

Prior to 1976, public transportation in Charlotte was entirely privatized. Trolleys operated in the city from 1891 until 1938. Privately operated bus routes also ran in Charlotte until 1976. In 1976, the City of Charlotte began operating bus routes under the Charlotte Transit brand, which operated from 1976 until CATS' founding in 2000. (Charlotte Transit and the Charlotte Area Transit System are not to be confused despite the similarity in name.) Charlotte Transit operated almost entirely local bus routes, with the exception of two express routes. As the Charlotte metro area's population grew rapidly, the bus service operated by Charlotte Transit proved to be inadequate. In 1998, a Mecklenburg County referendum was approved by citizens that enacted a 0.5% sales tax increase to improve public transportation in the area. The Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) was created as a result of the vote, leading to the consolidation of Charlotte Transit and the MTC in 2000 as the Charlotte Area Transit System, creating CATS as it is today.

After the founding of CATS, more express routes were added to the edges of Mecklenburg County and local bus service was expanded, especially to the fast growing southern areas of Charlotte. Some commuter/express routes were also initiated outside Mecklenburg County. CATS also expanded bus infrastructure throughout the area during this period. In 2005, CATS built three community transit bus centers to supplement the central Charlotte Transportation Center in Uptown Charlotte. The centers were built in SouthPark (inside the SouthPark Mall parking facility), Eastland (at the old Eastland mall), and at Rosa Parks Place in the Wilson Heights neighborhood north of Uptown. As a result of CATS' expansion during its early years, transit ridership in the Charlotte metropolitan area increased 55 percent, largely due to the expansion of express bus services.

CATS chief Ron Tober began the planning process for what would become the Lynx Blue Line in the early 2000s. Under Tober's leadership, the MTC adopted the 2030 Transit Corridor System Plan in 2006. The initial plan called for the "Red Line" commuter rail with service to Northern Mecklenburg County, the Blue Line, the CityLynx Gold Line streetcar, and a busway along the route of what is now planned to be the Lynx Silver Line. In 2007, the initial portion of the Blue Line opened, connecting the Uptown, South End, Scaleybark, Tyvola, and Arrowood neighborhoods. Shortly after the Blue Line opened, CEO Ron Tober, who had led CATS since its inception, retired. After Tober's departure, CATS hired Carolyn Flowers, who had previously headed the bus system in Los Angeles County. During Flowers' tenure, the transit system pushed ahead with the Gold Line and Blue Line extension projects in the wake of the Great Recession. In 2014, Flowers resigned to take a Federal Transit Administration position. John M. Lewis Jr. was then hired as the new head of the transit system. After the success of the Blue Line, CATS reversed course on its initial plans to expand bus service to Matthews and the airport, instead planning for a second light rail line, the Lynx Silver Line, that would travel southeast to Matthews and west to Charlotte Douglas International Airport and across the Catawba River to Belmont.

In 2015, the first phase of the CityLynx Gold Line streetcar opened. The initial line connected the Charlotte Transportation Center in Uptown to Hawthorne Lane and 5th Street, through the First Ward and Cherry neighborhoods. The first phase of the Gold Line utilized retro trolley streetcars, while future phases will incorporate Siemens S70 streetcar vehicles. The second phase of the Gold Line, construction of which is expected to wrap up in late 2020 or early 2021, will extend the existing line to Sunnyside Avenue in Plaza Midwood and French Street by Johnson C. Smith University. In 2018, the Blue Line extension opened, connecting the existing Blue Line to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, connecting the University City, NoDa, Optimist Park, Plaza Midwood, and Belmont neighborhoods. The Red Line project, an integral piece of the 2030 System Plan, has run into significant headwinds due to disagreements with Norfolk Southern, which owns the tracks the Red Line was planned to operate on, and funding concerns. CATS is currently in the planning and design stages for the Lynx Silver Line, a multibillion dollar east–west light rail line that will run from Matthews through Uptown Charlotte and west to Charlotte Douglas International Airport and across the Catawba River to Belmont. The line, projected to open in 2030, will connect to the Blue Line at 11th Street and the future intermodal Charlotte Gateway Station.

CATS bus service primarily serves Mecklenburg County, with service in Charlotte, Davidson, Huntersville, Cornelius, Matthews, Pineville, and Mint Hill. Limited local and express service operated by CATS also extends to Iredell County, Gaston County, Union County, and York County, South Carolina. CATS operates local routes within the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, with the majority of those multiple stop routes serving the Charlotte Transportation Center in Uptown. Other routes that do not serve Uptown mainly connect directly between Lynx rail stations and outlying neighborhoods. Express buses in the CATS system serve Union County, far northern Mecklenburg County, the Lake Norman area, Gastonia, and Rock Hill, South Carolina. During a typical week, CATS buses carry about 190,000 riders.

CATS operates two rail lines under the "Lynx" (stylized as "LYNX") system umbrella. Announced on February 22, 2006, the name fits in with the city's cat theme (the NFL team is the Carolina Panthers and the NBA team was known as the Charlotte Bobcats when the name was chosen); also, "Lynx" is a homophone of "links", and was mainly chosen because the light rail is about "connectivity." The color scheme of the rail cars is silver, with black and blue accents and gold around the "Lynx" logo to tie in the history of the Charlotte region being home to the first major U. S. Gold Rush. CATS rail service first began on June 28, 2004 with the Charlotte Trolley, operating three Birney style replica streetcars between Atherton Mill and 9th Street. In 2006, the trolley service was suspended to allow the line's conversion to light rail. Resumed on a limited schedule in 2008, the heritage streetcar line was discontinued two years later on June 28, 2010.

The Lynx Blue Line is a 19.3 mile (31 km) light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina. Opened on November 24, 2007 and hailed as the first major rapid rail service of any kind in North Carolina, the line has 15 stations and ran 9.6 mile (15 km) between I 485/South Boulevard, near Pineville, and 7th Street, in Uptown Charlotte; the line was partly shared with the Charlotte Trolley from 2008–2010. On March 16, 2018, a 9.7 mile (16 km) extension was opened that added 11 stations north from 7th Street to UNC Charlotte–Main, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte The line uses the Siemens S70 as rolling stock, which connects its 26 stations.