AppalCART established a new ridership record for the fiscal year completed June 30, 2004 with 676,808 passenger trips in 503,606 miles of service.  The public transportation provider for Watauga County had a 7.5% increase in ridership over the prior fiscal year with a 5.5% increase in miles of service and a 3.5% increase in hours of service.  The figures for trips and miles set new records for the authority.

 Figures for AppalCART’s bus service in the Boone area parallel those for the system as a whole with  557,685 passenger trips in 285,573 miles of service which represented a 7.5% increase in trips and a 5.7% increase in miles.  Hours of service for fixed routes increased 3.3%.

 Ridership on the Sugar Mountain Ski Shuttles set a new record of 83,500 trips in 7,800 miles of service and 997 hours of service.  AppalCART’s transportation director, Chris Turner said that above average snowfall for the winter helped both the fixed route bus ridership and the ski resorts.  Unfortunately, it had the opposite affect on rural routes which usually cancel when public schools do for reasons of adverse weather.

 AppalCART recorded 14,744 passenger trips in 132,062 miles of service on its van routes which cover the county and also provide out of county trips for medical appointments.  Other contracted routes made up the balance of trips.  They included after school athletic transportation for 8 elementary schools, trips for Watauga County Parks and Recreation, and transportation to the general public to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games.