 Off-campus students take the AppalCart to and from campus. Due to an ever-growing student body, AppalCart ridership is on the rise. Photo by Zack Wilson | The Appalachian “The ridership we’ve recorded since school started seems to be heavier than last year,” said Chris Turner, AppalCart transportation director. “We are very tight on the number of busses we have.”
Turner is hoping to expand service in the coming years with construction progressing on a new headquarters and bus depot on the N.C. Highway 105 by-pass that, when complete, will allow space for AppalCart to double its current 16-bus capacity.
AppalCart has also ordered a new $575,000 diesel/electric hybrid bus from a company in California and is waiting on a federal grant to order a second. Both would arrive for use next year.
“It’s supposed to use less diesel fuel which gives it less of a carbon footprint,” Turner said about the hybrid bus. “That’s the main thing, we’re trying to save on the amount of fossil fuels we are using.”
AppalCart’s 16-bus fleet currently has eight busses that run on biodiesel fuel, making them more fuel efficient and better for the environment than traditional busses, both of which are issues of concern to the service that carried nearly 1.2 million riders last year.
Turner hopes to add more hybrid busses in the future to expand service and take more cars off the streets and highways around Boone.
“The city of Durham has 22 of these busses and have had success so far,” Turner said. “Drivers and passengers both seem to like them, so that was a factor we took into consideration.”
Appalachian State University students such as Paul Wyatt, junior computer science major, are always ready to offer ideas and opinions on the bus system in Boone.
“I think it would be good if they had a system to track late busses online,” Wyatt said. “[North Carolina State University] has a system like that, I bet you could get some of the [computer science] majors to work something out.”
Many students like Emily White, senior English major and three-year veteran AppalCart rider, wait at the College Street Circle for the numerous bus routes that stop there.
“For a free bus route [AppalCart] is pretty good,” said White. “But we need more busses running day to day so we don’t have to sit here for 15 or 20 minutes.”
Story: CHRISTOPHER CLARK, News Reporter
Photo: ZACK WILSON, Intern Photographer
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