Summary: The City of Asheville is conducting a study into how to improve its public transit system and is seeking public input through a survey.

The Facts: In April of this year, the City of Asheville launched a study aimed at developing strategies for improving public transportation. This month they’re seeking public input on two potentially competing priorities: should they offer more frequent service along the most densely populated corridors (by cutting other routes out entirely) or should they continue to offer less frequent service to all the places they currently cover?

The first approach – more frequency, less routes – is called “the Ridership concept” because offering more frequent bus service along more populated routes (while cutting less populated routes) typically leads to an overall increase in how many people ride the bus. Fully implemented, this concept could mean that higher traffic areas like Haywood Road, Patton Avenue, and Merrimon Avenue could have buses running every 15 minutes. The second approach – less frequency, more routes – is called “the Coverage concept” because it offers more routes and covers more neighborhoods. Prioritizing wider coverage, as the system does now, means that buses run every 30-60 minutes but go to more places.

The City is collecting input through a survey that closes October 26th. A final report on transit options is scheduled to be released in Spring 2026.

Our Assessment: We are troubled by the many places in our City that would lose access to bus service if the City were to move toward “the Ridership concept.” According to a recent Citizen-Times article, “The total number of people near any transit service would decrease from 61% to 40%. Examples of places that would lose service include Montford, Shiloh, Emma, Deaverview, New Leicester Highway, Charlotte Street, Kenilworth, the Asheville outlets and Haw Creek.”

The consultants conducting this transit study shared that other cities, such as Knoxville, TN, have seen an increase in overall ridership (18%) in reducing the number of routes offered but increasing the frequency of buses along the remaining high-usage routes. That’s an impressive result. However, we wonder how much of that increase is from people who don’t currently choose to ride the bus, but would if it were more convenient. We think the needs of that population need to be measured against those who are reliant on the bus as their primary or only means of transportation. How many of those folks will be significantly impacted if the bus service into or near their neighborhoods is cut entirely?

Of course, in the larger analysis we shouldn’t have to choose between frequency and coverage. At a forum last week sponsored by Mountain True and Just Economics (among others), an audience member asked the obvious question: Why can’t we have both (more frequency without cutting routes)? The answer offered was that a budget increase would be necessary for that to happen, and that isn’t on the table at this point. We think it should be on the table, and will be monitoring this issue as it moves forward to ensure that it is.

In the meantime, we are extending the City’s invitation for folks to participate in the survey. In your answers, we encourage you to lift up the importance of prioritizing the needs of those who rely on bus service over those who have other transportation options but who might choose to ride the bus if it were more convenient. We don’t think those options should be pitted against one another, but if they are, those with the greatest need for public transportation should be prioritized.

Things to do: Take (and share) the City survey on setting public transportation priorities. We especially encourage you to share this survey with people you know who ride the bus with some regularity. The survey is available through October 26th.