Asheville Rides Transit

In 2009, the City of Asheville commissioned a plan for an overhaul of the transit system. The consulting team, HDR, conducted rider surveys and held several public input events. The final report recommended many changes, including adding Sunday service on the most popular routes, removing Saturday service on some routes, and ending the practice of renumbering evening routes.^[3]

Route changes began to occur in conjunction with the annual "Strive Not to Drive" week, in late May 2012.^[8] The plan also recommended purchasing a few new buses at a time so as to stagger the retirement dates of older buses.^[3] In early 2011, several new hybrid buses entered the fleet as the first implementation of this recommendation.^[9] As part of the plan, the name of ART was changed from Asheville Redefines Transit to Asheville Rides Transit.^[10]

In 2026, RATP Dev was awarded the contract to manage ART.^[11]

Schedule and route changes were made in January 2015.^[2]

For FY 2012-2013, ART's operating budget was $5 million.^[12] The entire Transit Fund revenue is derived from three primary sources: federal and state grant funding ($2.8 million), local tax support ($1.2 million), and passenger charges.^[13]

Asheville contracts with Mountain Mobility to provide paratransit service. This service is provided within 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) of fixed ART routes and within the City of Asheville. This service is mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.^[14]

Strive Not To Drive is a week-long program in the City of Asheville that promotes multimodal transit and the environment. In 2014, it included such events as a Ride of Silence, a Leadership Ride and a reduced fare promotion.

ART operates a fleet of buses powered by diesel, hybrid diesel-electric, and fully electric buses made by Gillig and Proterra. In 2019, ART purchased five electric buses from Proterra, with the intention of purchasing more in the future. In 2020, they purchased electric buses from Vicinity Motor Corp.