Our friend Piedmont Publius called attention to the fact that Asheville was running city buses to and from the Michelle Obama rally at UNCA not too long ago. At Tuesday’s city council meeting, activist Mike Fryar informed members of council that the two buses, which covered a total of 162 miles, transported a total of 30 people to, and 20 people from the event. He further disclosed that the department head who should have been responsible for the activity had no knowledge of it until the day of the event. In addition, no competitive bids were solicited with private bus companies, and no tax-subsidized city services were provided to transport citizens to see Bill or Hillary Clinton when they came to town. An investigation will now be conducted.

If that isn’t funny enough, this week is Strive Not to Drive Week. To celebrate, the city was allowing citizens to ride the buses for $0.25* rather than $1.00 (transfers are free). This, in spite of the local lampoon’s recommendation, “Next time a Council member wants to let everyone ride city buses for free, maybe don’t do that.” For special icing on the cake, persons electing to ride the buses today would get a free* “special wallet to hold a bus pass.”

*I don’t know exactly who subsidized the free wallets, but this fiscal year, the city budgeted $4,969,837 for transit services. The breakdown for revenues is:

13% User fees
37% Federal/state grants
10% Passthrough funds
26% Local general fund
5% Local parking fund
7% Driver license fees.