Asheville Redefineing Transit (NC)

[Buzz2kb]

Asheville Redefining Transit (ART) is the new brand name of Asheville Transit System, and is the lone user of Orions in Western North Carolina. 30ft. Orion V's of 1996 vintage are long the backbone of its fleet, as exemplified by buses 9613 and 9615. Because of their imminent retirement due to the receipt of 2010 and 2012 Gillig's, they did not receive any revised branding.

The 2006 Orion VII 30ft. buses, represented by 0601 and 0604, have turned out to be their last Orion's. I

n 2010, they were supposed to receive four Orion VII NG's. For reasons not well known, they switched the order to five 29ft. Gillig LF hybrids represented by bus 1024. The main differences in their liveries is that the Orion VII's receive only the green graphic lower body wrap, supplemented by a blue waistline towards the rear of the buses; and the Orions have the horizontal wrap compared to the wavy wrap on the Gilligs's. The Blue roof with a green lining is also unique to the Gillig's.

The latest I've heard for this agency is that they've received 9 more new buses in 2012, presumably more Gillig's (Refer to http://www.government-fleet.com/channel/green-fleet/news/story/2012/12/asheville-gets-nine-new-buses-including-two-hybrids-and-seven-diesels.aspx). This should eliminate most if not all Orion V's from daily service.

All pictures were taken near Asheville's downtown transit center in September 2012.

This concludes my series of threads profiling New Flyer/Orion operators in Georgia and the Carolinas. While the Orion VI CNG bus with Gastonia Transit west of Charlotte is believed to be retired, I hope to eventually cover the Orion VII operations at Hi-Tran (High Point), PART (regional agency at the Triad), Tar River Transit (Rocky Mount) and the New Flyers at Wolfline (NC State University shuttle at Raleigh); as well as the Nova LFS's (including the artics) at Duke University at Durham.

Thanks for viewing and hope you all enjoy my pictures!

[busfreak99]

They received 9 Gillig BRT 29ft. http://www.government-fleet.com/channel/green-fleet/news/story/2012/12/asheville-gets-nine-new-buses-including-two-hybrids-and-seven-diesels.aspx?prestitial=1

[Buzz2kb]

What a change a year can make, as Asheville Redefining Transit (ART) has transformed from a Orion-dominated fleet in September 2012 to a Gillig-dominated one by my September 2013 visit. But first I will mention some side notes on the Orion fleet and a unique Gillig bus first.

While I thought all Orion V's were retired on my September 2013 visit, I somehow spotted bus 9604 with its striped repainted to incorporate elements of ART's current livery. This 17-year old bus is the only Orion V I've spotted on that visit.

Meanwhile, as ART's operations become dominated by Gillig's, buses 0601 and 0604 were the only Orion VII's I spotted in my 2-day stay there.

The rarest gem in ART's fleet, however, must be bus 0407, as this is the only pre-EPA 2010 Gillig Low Floor and the only 35ft. bus in its fleet. Apparently, it was purchased from Gastonia Transit like the two AppalCART buses I've mentioned in an earlier post. It is dedicated to service S3 linking downtown with the airport.

While the retirement of the Orion V's started with the 2010 Gillig LF 29ft. hybrid buses, they were hastened by 9 more new buses delivered in 2012, 2 hybrid buses and 7 clean diesel buses. This time, the buses are 30ft. Gillig BRT's as exemplified by hybrid's 1225 and 1226; and by diesel buses 1227, 1229 and 1233. All pictures except 1227 were taken at/near the downtown ART station.

My ART gallery is available here . Hope you'll enjoy this hearty dose of update!

 

[MAX BRT]

Asheville is giong to be a good place to see Proterra buses.

https://www.ashevillenc.gov/departments/transit/zero_emission_electric_buses.htm

In January 2018, the voted to buy five electric buses for the City’s transit system, Asheville Redefines Transit (ART).

Greenville, S.C.-based Proterra, a leader in the design and manufacture of zero-emission electric buses, delivered the first three electric buses to the City of Asheville in December. Two more are scheduled to arrive in February. They will go into service in late winter/early spring (2019) following testing and training.