On July 1st, 2024, the City of Gastonia ended public bus operations for its residents and initiated the GoGastonia Microtransit service. This came about when the Gastonia City Council approved a 36-month contract with River North Transit, LLC to provide on-demand transit services to riders, who currently complete approximately 144,000 trips annually. This new delivery system will not displace ADA transportation services.
The City also determined that on-demand microtransit would better address its limited-service area, alleviate hour-long wait times, eliminate an aging fleet of buses, and provide better access to the majority of its users. In the past fiscal year, Gastonia Transit had been operating six fixed bus routes covering nearly 295,000 miles per year while providing service to over 144,000 passengers. The previous system was averaging only seven passengers per vehicle hour across all routes.
Want to learn more? Tomorrow, July 17th from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Gastonia Career Center, 116 Armstrong Street, Gastonia, NC 28054, the City of Gastonia will be holding several information sessions about the new service.