Jump on this bandwagon. Or bus. Or light rail. Here’s the press release:
ASHEVILLE TRANSIT HOSTS PUBLIC HEARING FOR TRANSIT MASTER PLAN
(ASHEVILLE, NC) – There will be a Transit Master Plan public forum on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009 from 4pm-7pm, in the Asheville Civic Center’s banquet hall. The meeting will be held in an “open house” format with no formal presentation. Instead, attendees will be able to offer in-person feedback to consultants, ask questions of staff, and see preliminary data first-hand.
Interim Transit Manager Mariate Echeverry believes the forum will help determine what kind of public transit system the community wants. “The public’s input will help craft a transit plan that will be responsive to the city’s needs, and suggest sustainable transportation options.”
In 2008 the City of Asheville hired Nebraska-based consulting firm HDR to perform a thorough scientific analysis of the Asheville Transit System and create a comprehensive Transit Master Plan.
A Transit Master Plan is a document that analyzes existing transit services and develops data to support planning and decision making. In the case of Asheville, this will mean studying Asheville’s 24 bus routes and comparing them to long-term trends. The study should be completed by July 2009, and will offer short and long term recommendations on how the city could improve public transit.
To supplement the information for the Transit Master Plan, ATS staff created an online survey to get feedback and suggestions.