How to take the bus to downtown on the weekend

I have found the best possible place for you to park your car when you go to downtown Asheville on the weekend. It's 100% free, and best of all, no matter how many tourists descend on our city, you'll have access to it.

Lean forward toward the screen, 'cause I'm going to whisper the secret location. I don't want those other people to know where this parking spot is.

The location of the super-secret down parking spot is:

Your house.

When you go to downtown on the weekend, don't drive. Take the bus.

To prove this can be done painlessly, retired professor and public-transit supporter David Peacock invited me to come along with his family to take in a performance of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. Rather than fight crowds searching for a parking spot, we took the bus.

These pictures were taken on the evening of Saturday, February 17th.

Behold how Professor Peacock & Company school you on how it's done:

(above) David and I partake of wine and eat cheese to warm up. You can tell we are sophisticated because our pinkies are in the air when we toast.

I'm not much of a drinker, but in this case I felt it was my duty to get a healthy buzz going - for research purposes on behalf of the Brainshrub Bus Project, of course.

(above) Deanne, David's wife, was originally planning to come with us - but she got into an accident earlier in the week and had to stay home. The attractive woman on the right is her daughter, May, who drove up from Charlotte to take care of her mom.

All together now: "Awwwwww."

(above) Since Deanne was incapacitated, Marcia, a family-friend, came along. The young man on the right is David's son, Fletcher.

(above) Our party walked about three blocks to this sheltered bus-stop on the corner of Merrimon and Lakeshore.

It's a good idea to get to the bus stop a few minutes before the expected arrival time. I've observed this is the hardest aspect of public transit; not because of time constraints, but because many Americans, myself included, don't know what to do with themselves for five minutes without a television or computer.

Here's what our group did to pass the time: We discovered an analog method of communication called a "conversation."

Try it when you wait with other people at the bus stop. It's lots of fun.

The #2 came by to pick us up. Note the complete lack of pain or discomfort from anyone in our party.

It's almost as if taking the bus is just like driving a car... except it's safer, cheaper, and cleaner.

Sadly, this band-new bus that still smells like new-car, which goes straight to downtown, is empty on a Friday night. Please remember this when you see the last picture in this series.

We got to downtown Asheville in less than 12 minutes. While other people were driving around fighting for parking outside - we settled into The Early Girl Eatery for food and beer.

Okay, David and I did most of the drinking. And why shouldn't we? No one had to drive.

After the concert, David, Fletcher and Marcia took the #52 bus home. They were safe-and-snug back at the house before most cars were able to get out of the parking deck.

Thank you to David Peacock and family for volunteering for this demonstration. David even paid for my dinner!

Get well soon Deanne.

Tags: Bus - Asheville Symphony Orchestra - Parking - The smart way to get to downtown

For the explanation behind the Brainshrub Bus Project, click here.

To see all posts for the Brainshrub Bus Project, click here.

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