More bus shelters, lighting and more for ART bus system

Asheville -- City of Asheville: More bus shelters, lighting and other enhancements coming to ART bus system, helped by federal grant Posted on October 13, 2020 by Polly McDaniel

The City of Asheville will provide about 45 more bus shelters and enhance lighting and other aspects to 70 more under a $1 million Federal Transit Administration grant City Transportation staff applied for and won.

During their Oct. 13 meeting, Asheville City Council voted to approve a $1.25 million budget amendment,  which includes matching funds from the City for the bus shelter enhancements.

“This is a phased project and we anticipate completing this project within two to three years,” said City Transit Planning Manager Eunice Lovi.

The grant will provide funds for the City to:

        Install bus shelters and/or seating plus trash cans at 45 bus stop locations;
        Install lighting at 71 bus stops and construct 35 ADA pads to make locations ADA accessible;
        Install map holders at 34 bus shelters (for passengers to check route information at these bus stops); and
        Install digital signs at UNC Asheville and Asheville Housing Authority properties.
 Bus stops were selected by their volume of ridership as well as some key locations — UNCA, A-B Tech and Asheville Housing Authority properties.

There is a required local match of 20% and 10% depending on the specific types of improvements implemented. The local match for the grant award will come from multiple sources, including remaining City approved General Obligation (GO) Bond funds for bus stop improvements ($62,000), unspent funds provided via development project conditional approvals ($40,000), and previously budgeted funding in the Transit Capital Fund ($148,000). Staff is also expecting to receive donations from partner associations; these donations would be used to lower the required contribution from the Transit Capital Fund.

This action is in keeping with City Council’s strategic priorities regarding transportation and accessibility.

For more information, see the staff report to Council and resolution at this link.