In Asheville, those without a car rely on a limited bus system. The city has no train or any other form of public transportation. Asheville Rides Transit routes (ART) those that connect neighborhoods to the city center, hospitals, supermarkets and workplaces.
And for thousands of residents, workers, immigrants, and senior citizens, the bus is their only means of transportation. This is especially true for those who live in areas far from the city center.
Now that system is under discussion. The City presented a proposal to reorganize the ART routes that would increase bus frequency on some main corridors. But to achieve this, it would eliminate service at several stops currently used by those same passengers. .
“When we talk about transportation, we think about routes or maps, but in reality we are talking about people,” said Seimy Mendoza, a community organizer with Just Economics.
“We’re talking about someone who needs to get to work on time or an elderly person who needs to go to the doctor.”
Just Economics sees positive aspects in the proposal, especially the increased frequency. But both Mendoza and his colleague Mike Holmes told Enlace Latino NC that Improvements should not come at the expense of those who depend most on the system.
The proposal
The draft network is part of the Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA)This is a process that the City initiated in 2025 together with the consulting firm Jarrett Walker and Associates.
The goal was to resolve the strain on Asheville's transit system with limited resources and without increasing the budget. This meant either having buses run more frequently on fewer routes, or serving more destinations but less frequently.
“Ultimately, this study focuses on the community’s investment in transportation, and on making sure we’re making the most of it by improving the experience for people who rely on this service to get around the city,” said Ashley Haire, the city’s Director of Transportation, in the official statement.
Before arriving at this plan, The city conducted two stages of community consultation throughout 2025The result is a network with fewer routes overall. However, there are more frequent buses on the busiest routes, according to the municipality.
In practice, this means that:
- Some corridors would have service every 15 minutes. , such as Biltmore Avenue towards Biltmore Village and the northern corridor towards Hillcrest Apartments.
- Connections at the central station would be faster. Today a passenger can wait up to 59 minutes to change buses; with the new design, that wait would be reduced to between 5 and 10 minutes.
- Access to jobs would increase. The city estimates that an average resident could reach 9,000 jobs in 45 minutes by combining walking and bus travel, 10 percent more than today.
Furthermore, he argues that the communities most dependent on transportation would benefit. According to their calculations, 11 percent of low-income residents and 10 percent of residents of color would gain access to 15-minute routes, above the overall average of 8 percent.
But these improvements come at a cost. To free up resources, the plan would eliminate service in several areas:
- In the south Buses would no longer enter MAHEC's main campus on Hendersonville Road.
- In the East The stop at the Social Security Office on Chunns Cove Road and the service to the Kenilworth neighborhood would be eliminated.
- In the West A section of service on Haywood Road, between Brevard Road and Patton Avenue, and the stop at the Tanger outlets would disappear.
Overall, the proportion of residents with a nearby bus stop would drop from 61 to 58 percent. The city describes these cuts as low-ride zones, where residents rely less on the bus than in other parts of the system.
Related: Asheville Rides Transit launches platform offering real-time information for bus riders
Who will feel the change
To Just EconomicsThe problem isn't the proposal itself. Rather, they question who will bear the cost of the improvements. The organization has been gathering feedback from passengers who use the system daily for some time. And it warns that the cuts hit those with fewer alternatives the hardest.
“We are concerned about any changes that could make it more difficult for people to get where they need to go,” Mendoza said, adding that improvements in frequency should not come at the expense of the users who depend most on the system.
One of the cuts that illustrates this concern is the elimination of the stop on the main campus of MAHECThis is a network of clinics that serves patients of all ages in family medicine services. mental healthDentistry, gynecology, and community pharmacy.
For many patients without health insurance Or without a car, the bus is the way to get to those appointments.
Consulted by Enlace Latino NC The clinic did not openly oppose the proposal. However, it emphasized that transportation is one of the barriers to access to health which seeks to reduce.
“Barriers to accessing care take many forms, including lack of insurance, housing instability, staff shortages, bureaucratic complexity, and transportation. We support each and every strategy to reduce those barriers“William R. Hathaway, CEO, said in an email to this publication.
The institution said it is confident that a solution will be found that works for both its patients and employees, as well as for the city.
“We are aware of the financial challenges facing the City of Asheville, with limited resources and the task of solving virtually unlimited problems,” he added.
More frequent service without cuts: the solution that is not being considered for now
The proposal on the table is based on one premise: the budget remains unchanged. The city can only redistribute its existing resources, and therefore improving some routes means cutting others.
The same report, however, describes a different scenario that the city calls the “growth network”.
This network would provide more frequent service without cutting off service to any neighborhood, and would allow the average resident to reach 69 percent more jobs in 45 minutes. Achieving this would require 60 percent more funding than ART currently has.
The city clarifies that this is not a proposal, but rather an example of what would be possible with greater investment in public transportation. It is not included in the current consultation.
That idea coincides with what Just Economics proposes. “Our communities shouldn’t be forced to choose between reliability and coverage,” Mendoza said. “We shouldn’t have to choose between improving some routes and maintaining others.”
“Building a stronger transportation system will require sustained public investment,” he said.
Related>> Higher taxes and fewer resources: this is how Asheville's new budget would impact the city.
How to participate
The public consultation on the proposal is open until June 28th. The most direct way to give your opinion is to complete the online survey, available at publicinput.com
The city reported that, in addition to the survey, its staff and consulting team will be speaking with passengers at the ART central station. At the same time, Just Economics is also conducting outreach activities at the station to inform users about the changes and encourage their participation.
After the consultation closes, city staff will present the City Council with a summary of the comments received. If the Council decides to proceed, the changes would not take effect before the summer of 2027.
The full report is available on the City of Asheville website. The document is in English and can be downloaded/read here: Draft Network Report – Comprehensive Operational Analysis
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