By David Hall in Vol. 16 / Iss. 17 on 11/18/2009
I can no longer ride the bus, because of Asheville Transit's recently implemented "master plan." For one thing, it concentrates more on taking away/consolidating routes than significantly improving them. For another, it has resulted in the quadrupling of monthly bus fares. I believe these decisions made by the city were not only poorly thought out, but represent yet another blow to the low-income citizens of Asheville.
This would have been a reasonable plan had the city just taken these simple measures: 1) offered monthly fare discounts to low-income citizens, as well as to disabled/seniors; 2) gradually raised monthly bus fare instead of suddenly increasing it by 300 percent; 3) used a smaller bus for route 54 rather than do away with this route entirely.
Considering this abomination, I don't understand how we can refer to Asheville as a "green" city. We spend millions on unnecessary roadwork and expensive parks; yet we do little to address alternative-transportation needs for low-income citizens.
— David Hall
Asheville