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College Looks at Buses to Town
by Katie Powell
The higher the gas, the better it looks
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Instructor of Business, J. Ryan Pickens is pushing for bus service to Mars Hill to transport students and community people to and from Asheville.
He hopes that this service could provide a better means of transportation so that students spend less money on gas and can get downtown and back on the weekends without having to get behind the wheel.
A meeting of school administrators was held on campus recently to discuss how Mars Hill College might contribute financially and what the advantages to the college might be.
Another meeting will be held on June 7th in Pittman Dining Hall to discuss the issue further with officials from the towns of Mars Hill and Marshall, the county government, and other potential beneficiaries.
At the first meeting, UNC Asheville's transportation planner, Yuri Koslen presented the issue to Vice President of Administration, Robert G. McLendon, Associate Professor of Business and Economics, Grainger Caudle, Dean of Students Craig Goforth and Pickens.
Pickens conceived the idea while serving as a volunteer member of the Asheville Transit Commission. He is trying to get participation from Mars Hill College and the community and is exploring the availability of state or federal grants.
As of now, the Asheville Transit makes its way to Weaverville. Pickens hopes that service can be extended to Mars Hill and possibly Marshall. Otherwise, an independent Madison County line could pick up people from Mars Hill and Marshall and take them to a transfer stop in Weaverville.
UNC-A currently has four bus routes that service their campus. Two routes run downtown weekdays between 6am and 7pm, once every hour. Another goes to Weaverville. The fair is seventy-five cents one way. Friday and Saturday nights another bus runs between the campus and downtown until 12:30 in the morning. This "Bulldog" bus is free for anyone with a UNC-A ID.
Warren Wilson College also contributes to a bus service that runs from campus to Asheville. It, too, is free for students on Friday and Saturday nights.
Koslen touched several important points as to why a bus service would be beneficial to the Mars Hill community.
He said that by implementing a bus service we could save money that would be spent on gas. With gas prices as high as they are now it would be much more economical for people to take advantage of a bus service. Even a $5.00 round trip ticket competes well against $10 for gas plus parking.
Environmentally, a bus service would cut air pollution because fewer cars would be on the roadways. This also saves trees and money by reducing the demand for expensive parking decks in the city and on campus (an issue at UNC-A)
"Personally I am a very big advocate of saving green space", says Ryan Pickens.
Highway safety is always an issue for college students who go to Asheville for entertainment. By eliminating having to drive home from Asheville late at night, the bus service could save lives.
Madison County's state representative Ray Rapp, who directs the college's adult education program and was himself the previous mayor of Mars Hill said about the concept of a bus service to Mars Hill, "It's a wonderful idea. Its time has come, as we are looking at $3.00 a gallon for gas. I couldn't support anything more enthusiastically than that."
Reader Comment
Caron Henz, parent, 7/11/2006, 9:13 p.m.
Please, please, please, consider this. Providing safe and affordable transportation to Asheville is very important to all students. They need a chance to get off campus and break up their days a little. They can sightsee, learn, and have a chance to learn something new.
Cassie Robinson, staff, 9/4/2006, 9:38 a.m.
I, too, think this is a great idea. Though I drive a hybrid, I still feel the crunch in my daily commute from West Asheville. I am sure that others feel it even deeper in their pockets, and would love the opportunity to save a little through using the bus. Even the transfer to Weaverville would be a great improvement. It'd be a little more complicated than a car, but there's so many things one could do on the bus. Sudoku, for example...
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