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BY THE RECORDASHEVILLE

Streets and transit

How well are Asheville's buses and streets working, and what is the City spending on them?

Asheville Rides Transit (ART) carried 1.42 million rides in FY 2024-25 with 61% of trips on time, and the City's average Pavement Condition Index was 53.9 that year. For FY 2026-27 the Transit Services Fund is budgeted at about $16.1 million, including an $8.43 million General Fund subsidy, and voters approved a $20 million transportation bond in November 2024.

Period
FY 2024-25 through FY 2026-27 (July 2024 to June 2027)
Area
City of Asheville
An ART Route N1 bus on Patton Avenue at Broadway Street.
An ART Route N1 bus on Patton Avenue at Broadway Street, September 2020.Photo: Han Zheng. Source, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Ridership is one measure of how the bus system is doing. For streets, the City reports an average Pavement Condition Index of 53.9 for the same year.

1.42M

ART bus rides in one year (annual ridership)

FY 2024-25 actual (July 2024 to June 2025)Asheville Rides Transit systemThe City estimates 1.5M rides for FY 2025-26 and targets 1.55M for FY 2026-27. On-time performance was 61% in FY 2024-25; the new operator contract sets an 80% monthly goal.

How often streets and transit came up for a voteEach bar is one year of votes on streets and transit in the City Council minutes.
Voted on separatelyRoutine items, passed together

2018 starts in October. 2026 is so far. Only votes this site has read in the minutes are counted.

Why it matters: Each vote is a decision about this issue. Routine items pass together in one vote, so a tall bar does not always mean more debate.

Why it matters: Ridership counts the trips people take on City buses in a year. On-time performance shows how often buses run on schedule.

What we don't know yet

  • Ridership history before FY 2024-25 was not verified from an official source here, so we cannot show a multi-year trend. The National Transit Database could fill this in.
  • The official name is Asheville Rides Transit; City sources do not use "Asheville Redefines Transit."
  • NCDOT City Crash Data counts every reportable crash inside city limits, including crashes on interstates and other state-maintained roads that the City does not control. The data does not show which crashes were on City streets.
  • No adopted City-only Vision Zero plan or crash-reduction target was found in the 2023-2026 minutes. Only the regional Safe Streets for WNC plan was adopted (December 9, 2025).
  • We found no single official total for Helene damage to streets and bridges or for expected federal reimbursement for them. The $1 billion figure covers all City-owned property. FHWA Emergency Relief amounts were not stated in the April 28, 2026 resolution.
  • Minutes for September 8, 22 and 24, 2026 were also reviewed and show no vote on a final ART network. Minutes for October 13, 2026 were not yet posted.
  • Bond project progress after the May 2025 schedule (projected start dates) was not found as a single public status report.
  • Miles of sidewalk built or repaired each year and total sidewalk inventory were not found in the budget documents reviewed.
  • I-26 Connector context: NCDOT lists the project as Project I-2513, funded for about $1.8 billion. It is a state project, not a City Council decision.

Words on this page

ART (Asheville Rides Transit)
The City-owned bus system. A private contractor (RATP Dev) runs daily operations and maintenance under a City contract. The standard one-way fare is $1.
Pavement Condition Index (PCI)
A 0 to 100 score of street pavement condition. Higher is better. The City uses it to choose which streets to resurface.
General Obligation (GO) bond
Borrowing approved by voters and repaid from property taxes. In November 2024, voters approved $80 million in City GO bonds, including $20 million for transportation.
Complete Streets
A design approach that makes room on a street for people walking, biking and taking the bus, as well as for cars.
FEMA Public Assistance
A federal program that pays governments back for eligible disaster repairs to public property, such as the roads and bridges Helene damaged.