AppalCART Comprehensive Transit Service Review. Watauga County, North Carolina.

The Comprehensive Transit Service Review included 12 fare-free fixed routes as well as 10 dial-a-ride routes serving rural Watauga County. AppalCART has provided university, small town and human service transit. The system’s funding comes from multiple sources including state and federal funds, university parking fees, student fees, Town of Boone and Watauga County and fees from Medicaid and other human services programs.

WRA’s work included a review of Watauga County’s demographics and development patterns, ASU’s Master Plan and evaluation of the individual transit services.

To gather public and community input, a survey was conducted with 1,130 on-board responses and 228 Survey Monkey responses. The evaluation mapped each route by segment showing ridership per stop and average riders per revenue hour. A notable result of WRA’s evaluation was a ridership growth of 19% immediately prior to the pandemic.