Bus routes to benefit commuters
TriCounty Link, CARTA plan will connect 4 towns with Charleston
By Warren Wise
The Post and Courier
Dump the pump
CARTA will offer free bus rides all day Thursday in its Dump the Pump promotion. For more information, call 724-7420 or go to www. ridecarta.com.
By the end of the summer, commuters from Summerville, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner and Ridgeville will have a new way to get to downtown Charleston.
TriCounty Link, the rural bus system based in Berkeley County, will start two new weekday express routes by the end of August that will connect with Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority buses in North Charleston, according to Will Hutto, executive director of the rural bus system.
One route will head from the new Berkeley County Office Building on U.S. Highway 52 in Moncks Corner to the county's satellite office on U.S. 52 in Goose Creek before connecting with a CARTA bus at the Kmart Super Center at Rivers Avenue and Otranto Road in North Charleston. The CARTA bus will continue to downtown Charleston.
The other route will start at Ridgeville Town Hall and go to the old shopping center parking lot at the juncture of U.S. Highway 78 and Berlin Myers Parkway in Summerville before dropping off commuters at the Kmart in North Charleston for the CARTA trip downtown.
The express routes are being paid for through two federal grants totaling $450,000, Hutto said.
As part of the grants, which are specifically designated for rural riders, Berkeley and Dorchester counties must provide in-kind matching support through free park-and-ride centers at stops in Moncks Corner, Goose Creek, Ridgeville and Summerville, Hutto said.
For instance, Dorchester County has contracted to get 350 parking spaces at the old shopping center at U.S. 78 and Berlin G. Myers Parkway, said Larry Hargett, Dor-chester County Council chairman and a TriCounty Link board member.
Four runs will be made in the morning and afternoon on buses that hold from 32 to 40 passengers, Hutto said. The round-trip ticket price tentatively is set at $4.50 to $4.75. Routes will also allow downtown commuters to get to suburban and rural jobs, Hutto said.
Riders inbound will pay $2.25 and transfer for free to a CARTA bus. Riders outbound will pay $2.25 plus 25 cents if they transfer, Hutto said. CARTA charges a transfer fee but TriCounty Link does not.
Routes should take from one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes, Hargett said.
"Between gas and free parking, we think it will be a net savings for people to ride the bus," Hargett said.
Specific details of each route, such as pick-up times, are still being worked out, but they should be finalized at TriCounty Link's board meeting July 16.
The rural bus agency plans a heavy promotional cam-paign when the routes begin, Hutto said.
"It looks like things are starting to roll for some positive transit planning for the Lowcountry," he said.
Reach Warren Wise at 745-5850 or wwise@post andcourier.com.
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Comments
moonpie (anonymous) says...
Get me to the door steps of where I work and I'll ride the freaking bus. But getting me somewhere on Ashley Phosphate ain't happening.
How many people ride the bus from these areas to downtown. I'm sure someone did a study somewhere? I bet they can't fill half a bus on any given day. This assumes everyone works downtown?
June 18, 2008 at 6:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Zod (anonymous) says...
moonpie, the new routes are intended for the commuters you see jammed up in a bottle neck at Ashley Phosphate on I26 every morning. CARTA runs routes throughout Charleston County. The proposal is to get commuters to CARTA at a destination near Berkeley and Dorchester counties.
The 450,000 dollars is a federal grant. I compare that to free money for the lowcountry because if we were not to get the money - you can bet some other locality within the country would. I can't find a fault with the plan until the day Berkeley county asks me to pay for it.
June 18, 2008 at 7:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suec (anonymous) says...
Moonpie, The express buses from Mt Pleasant and N Chuck to D'town carry a lot of riders. SRO on some days.
June 18, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chucktonian (anonymous) says...
the bus system here is so lame. CARTA should run all day long to Moncks Corner, Ridgeville and Summerville.
As congested as the traffic is around here, the buses should go to the outlying areas. and where's the train from summerville to downtown? come on, charleston!!!
June 18, 2008 at 8:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jk_newhard (anonymous) says...
ColdBeer, come to the Super KMart and ride the Express bus some day. You will see that the riders (yes, I am one) are friendly, gainfully employed homeowners trying to save some money, time, and stress by riding the bus.
When public transportation is seen as something for the "poor folks", crime and public transportation are linked as public transport is limited to low-income, high-crime areas.
Yes, Summerville will never be the same. It is already changing. It is transitioning from a small town to a large suburban area - crime is going up and there are active gangs. Keeping public transportation out of the area won't stop the changes.
June 18, 2008 at 8:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MindBath (anonymous) says...
The unwarranted costs are not the bus system, it's the 60,000 cars carrying 60,000 people 20 miles down I-26 and back every day. Gas, parking, wear and tear, time wasted in congested traffic, costly accidents, greenhouse gas emissions...
It's our own fault, we are all too good to ride a bus. We are in for a change, though. Energy costs are still going up. Not too long before we get off our high horse.
June 18, 2008 at 9:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zoomru (anonymous) says...
All commentors......major technology changes will blow us away. Bright minds are at work on this issue for OUR entire state!!! And its NOT coming out of Columbia or anyone in OFFICE ...NOW! Mark my words ...if I have anything to do with it ....this will be a MAJOR issue in the next Governors election in 2010. If no one steps up to lead between now and then.....then I WILL.!!! The fine people in our state who administer and work on behalf of public transportation from what I've witnessed try to do a good job....we just need a statewide vision to get the best valu for the buck!!!
June 18, 2008 at 10:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hardatwork (anonymous) says...
I live in rural Dorchester County and have to drive Downtown to MUSC. You bet I would love to leave the driving up to someone else. I could read a book on my CARTA ride. I think it is a great plan to relieve stress from our roadways.
June 18, 2008 at 11:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scienceguy (anonymous) says...
hardatwork:
A Links bus leaves the Bilo Parking lot on Bacon's Bridge Road in Summerville each morning at 7:00, stops near the corner of Richardson and 17-A at about 7:05, and arrives at the Super K-Mart before 7:40. You can then transfer to the CARTA Express which wil drop you in front of MUSC at about 8:35.
Your roundtrip cost as a MUSC employee is $2.75.
June 18, 2008 at 2:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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