September 01, 2026 – Public Comment
In this public comment to the Buncombe County Commissioners, Better Together Transportation highlights driver shortages at Mountain Mobility and Asheville transit and urges the County to put a quarter-cent transit referendum before voters to fund more service.
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Good evening Commissioners,
My name is Gino, and I run Better Together Transportation. We provide rides for seniors and people with disabilities across Buncombe County.
Last week we got a call. A woman and her husband, who lives with dementia, were scheduled to attend a support meeting together. Mountain Mobility called them and cancelled their trip, citing a lack of drivers.
Another woman called us. She’d waited nearly three hours after her appointment and thought she’d been abandoned at the doctor’s office. Mountain Mobility gave her the same reason: a lack of drivers.
We hear this again and again. And Mountain Mobility’s own numbers confirm the shortage is real.
In March of this year, Mountain Mobility reported 12 vacancies. By June, 15.
Last fiscal year, Mountain Mobility aimed to provide over 36,000 medical trips. It delivered fewer than 23,000.
That’s about 63 percent of its target.
That shortfall does not look like a demand problem; it looks like a labor problem. Without a driver, a van helps no one.
Asheville is facing a similar problem with its bus system. It wants more frequent buses without losing coverage, and it lacks the capacity to do both.
The City needs capacity. The County needs capacity. So instead of asking two strained systems to split what little exists, let’s build capacity for both.
Put a quarter-cent transit referendum before Buncombe County voters. Let voters decide whether to fund the drivers that both systems need.