MOUNTAIN MOBILITY Celebrates 20 Years of Service to the Asheville-Buncombe Community

Proclamation, Week-Long Activities to Mark Mountain Mobility 20th Anniversary

From Lori Hembree, Buncombe County

The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners have issued a proclamation designating March 22-28 as “Mountain Mobility Week,” kicking off Mountain Mobility’s plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the County’s public transportation system.

Activities will begin on Monday with an “Employee Appreciation Day,” followed by Passenger Appreciation Days on Tuesday and Wednesday where Mountain Mobility will promote public transit’s benefits by offering “fare-free” trips on those days. An Open House will follow on Thursday from 2-6 p.m. at Mountain Mobility’s offices on Riverside Drive.

Mountain Mobility also will recognize several passengers as a part of its anniversary week, including its youngest and oldest passengers. The youngest passenger is two weeks old. Its oldest passenger, 105 year-old Ms. Johnnie McCorkle, regularly travels to the senior dining site at the Senior Opportunity Center for a noon meal and programs sponsored by the Council on Aging and Asheville Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services. Three other passengers will be honored as having been served by Mountain Mobility for over 17 years.

Mountain Mobility began operations in 1989-90 with 14 high-mileage vans, only one with a pull-out ramp, and one with a manual wheelchair lift. Today, the system operates 42 vehicles, including 30 fully-automated lift vans and 5 lift-equipped small buses, and provides over 500 passenger trips each day within local towns and communities and between rural and urban areas of the County. The system offers both public transportation in the County and specialized paratransit services to older adults and people with disabilities. Over 25 agencies, organizations, and units of local government contract with the system to coordinate and serve passengers.

“Over the past 20 years, Mountain Mobility has become an integral part of Asheville and Buncombe County’s transportation network, providing a safe and dependable transportation option for seniors, workers, children, and others who use it every day,” stated Jon Creighton, Assistant County Manager. “We are thankful for the support we have received over the years from the County, the State, and our passengers, and we also want to recognize the work of Mountain Mobility employees who provide a great service to our citizens and our community.”

From 1981-1989 informal transportation services were provided through the Council on Aging and American Red Cross. The Council’s transportation was primarily limited to day care and senior center trips, and the Red Cross transported some City residents to dialysis and medical appointments. The County’s 1989 transportation plan called for consolidating human service transportation under one provider, and Buncombe County was designated as the lead transportation provider and recipient for funding through the NCDOT’s Public Transportation Division.

The system completed its first year of operation in 1990, providing 263,260 miles of service the first year. Services continued to grow, and the County renamed the system “Mountain Mobility” in 1998 in response to Governor Hunt’s Transit 2001 Plan and the state’s initiation of the community transportation program, whose mission is “the efficient and effective utilization of all available resources in the provision of safe, convenient, and reliable transportation services to facilitate mobility choices for all individuals.”

The system was operated by several private for-profit companies over the years until mid-2005, when the County brought operations in-house. Over the past three years, driver turnover has decreased by 62%, and its accident rate improved from 1.5 to 0.7 accidents per 100,000 miles, an improvement of 53%. Last year, Mountain Mobility provided almost 1.4 million miles of service. The system has made significant improvements in service levels and has added three Trailblazer routes in recent years to keep up with the increased demand for regular service within communities. Mountain Mobility offers free bus passes to seniors who will use Asheville Transit buses, and also provides funding to support the Council on Aging’s Call-A-Ride Volunteer Transportation Program and volunteer transportation provided by the Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent Programs in the County.

The success of Mountain Mobility has led to major service expansion well beyond what was initially conceived when the system first began. “Mountain Mobility has played a critical role in the County’s quality of life and access to services, especially for older adults and individuals who need special equipment or assistance to meet their transportation needs. Our riders depend on Mountain Mobility for basic and necessary trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, and medical facilities. More seniors are able to continue to live independently, many workers depend on the service to get to jobs so they can support their families, and we gain more and more general public riders on our Trailblazer routes each year” said Lori Hembree, who oversees daily management and operations of the system.

Buncombe County remains persistent in its endeavors to enhance transportation options for citizens in the County. Future plans include transitioning part of its fleet to vehicles using alternative fuels, some compressed natural gas and some liquid propane, which will be purchased with ARRA funds awarded through the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization and the NCDOT. The NCDOT is conducting a study to determine the feasibility of regional coordination or consolidation between Mountain Mobility and Asheville Transit Services, operated by the City of Asheville, and Apple Country Transit, operated by Henderson County.

The Open House on March 25 is open to the public and will include brief presentations on Mountain Mobility’s driver and safety training program and their scheduling and dispatch operations, including a look at their new advanced technology system which uses global positioning technology to transfer vehicle and data communications between drivers on the road and operations staff working onsite. Mountain Mobility will wrap up festivities at a Sunday afternoon reception where employees will be honored with service awards.

For More Info Contact:

Lori Hembree
Phone: 258-0186, Ext. 318
E-mail: lori.hembree@buncombecounty.org