Proposed Changes Will Improve Asheville’s Bus System – Tell Council the Draft Network is Better for Asheville

The City of Asheville is actively considering making some big changes to our bus system. These changes would improve the timing of connections between buses, increase service to South Asheville which riders have been pushing for for years, and in exchange, some of the least used routes would be cut. We at MountainTrue see both positives and trade offs in these proposed changes and while we advocate for more funds to avoid any cuts, the reality of our continued sprawling land development patterns in addition to currently available funds mean that it is impossible to improve the effectiveness of our system without such trade offs.

We are asking City Council to adopt the new draft network plan in order to increase service where there are already more people, jobs, and opportunities. The new proposed network represents improvements that would move our city in the right direction: it would increase bus service along the corridors that have the most homes combined with the most jobs. We encourage you to join us in telling council this draft network is a step in the right direction and ask them to adopt the new plan.

Here are a few specific highlights we appreciate the most about the proposed network:

• A total of 37% of residents would be near stops with service every 30-minutes or less, a 10% gain over the existing network.
• The proposed network would improve connections such that riders would only have to wait 5-10 minutes to change buses, rather than waiting up to 59 minutes for a transfer.
• South Asheville, which is already serving the most riders and also experiencing the greatest growth, would see the greatest improvement in service.
• Research shows that doubling the frequency of service to an area doubles the frequency of ridership for a variety of reasons. This draft network proposes to increase frequency on our most busy commercial corridors which supports our vision for the city’s future where we increase residential development along our transit supported corridors to reduce sprawl.

To learn more about the draft network and read a helpful summary of the proposed changes visit The Asheville Rides Transit (ART) Draft Network Explained page.