Bus riders like John Rowe illustrate the tension between building ridership and providing broad coverage that all transit networks must address — and that has stymied the Asheville City Council.
It was set to vote Tuesday on a plan aimed at boosting the efficiency of Asheville Rides Transit (ART), which costs three times as much to run as it did in 2018 while carrying far fewer riders. Without council consensus, the vote has been delayed indefinitely.
Autism and post-traumatic stress disorder qualify Rowe, 44, for federal disability benefits and prevent him from driving, he said, and he can’t walk long distances because “I have a metal rod in my back.”
“I’ll have to depend on buses basically for the rest of my life,” Rowe, 44, said Monday evening while riding with a half-dozen other passengers on a bus rolling north on Hendersonville Road…