Asheville is at a critical crossroads for its public transit system, and the choice between a coverage model and a ridership model will shape our city for decades. These terms sound technical, but the distinction is simple: Coverage spreads thin service to as many places as possible, resulting in long waits and unreliable buses; ridership concentrates service where the most people live, work and travel, delivering frequent, dependable buses that people can actually use. One model maximizes a map. The other maximizes mobility.
A coverage-first approach is a vote for the status quo — and for permanently low performance. A bus that comes every 30 or 60 minutes is not a real mobility option for most people. It preserves access for a small number of current riders while locking out the far larger group of potential riders who cannot depend on such infrequent service.
Worse, this model harms the very people our transit system should serve most. By stretching service so thin, it denies fast and reliable access to low-income households and zero-car families concentrated in Asheville’s core. It isolates them from jobs, education and essential services…