Asheville to Begin Bus Improvement Project

The Asheville City Council has approved a $6 million bus improvement project. "The purchase of seven new buses, the overhaul of the Asheville Redefines Transit Station and the amending of a management contract come after City Council named transit a top priority in early 2019," Joel Burgess reports for the Asheville Citizen Times.

This project represents a scaled-down version of what the city had laid out in a master plan, which called for a ten million dollar upgrade to bus services. The difference, in part, is a decision to buy hybrid and diesel buses rather than electric as the plan had initially called for. The council elected to move away from electric buses when it was decided that the city would be better served by shorter 30-foot buses than by the 50-foot buses made by Proterra, Asheville's previous supplier (thought 30-foot electric buses are available from other suppliers).