CARTA unveils business contestQuoteMore people are boarding the area bus service, but the trend must continue to help the region grow, reduce traffic and lessen pollution, officials said Tuesday.
"Bigger and better roads isn't always the answer," said Elliott Summey, chairman of the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority. "If we are going to take that next step forward, it's going to have to be mass transit."
Summey called for a "true partnership" between the business community and CARTA that will help spur new jobs and a better quality of life. Flourishing mass transit is a key to recruiting companies, he said.
A contest unveiled in a lot at the CARTA maintenance facility on Leeds Avenue is intended to spur a deeper relationship between private enterprise and local mass transit.
"It's a challenge. It's a dare," said North Charleston Mayor Pro-Tem Michael Brown.
The business that purchases the most CARTA passes with the greatest percentage of employee participation by Feb. 29 will win free advertising on select buses.
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and College of Charleston President George Benson support the effort. Riley said 10 percent of city employees get to work for free on CARTA.
Benson said the college has been able to relocate 20 percent of its parking permit holders to the vicinity of the S.C. Aquarium because of the free downtown area shuttle. "CARTA makes life better for all of us," he said.
About 500 Medical University of South Carolina employees use the CARTA express bus service to get to work, said Stewart Mixon, the school's chief operations officer.
CARTA has about 7,000 bus passengers daily. Riders in 2011 were up 5 percent, which means 4.3 million people took the bus. Last year, use of the free downtown area shuttle service doubled to about 80,000 monthly passengers, said Christine Wilkinson, CARTA executive director.
"That kind of clearly illustrates what free mass transit can do," she said.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/jan/11/carta-unveils-business-contest/
Hope it works.
Yeah, but buses? I always wonder why a town like Charleston doesn't push for getting some of their vintage streetcars back (like Savannah is doing). That town & its grid just begs for them. Buses rolling through there always looks ridiculous. And the fake "trolly bus" even more so.
^Long term, they're working on commuter rail:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/specialreports/traindebate/
However, short term, they're searching for affordable easy to implement ideas that increase local transit ridership.
That's good. I suspect that town (and many like it) that are limited on land mass (they are on a peninsula after all) & how much more road they can cram in are starting to reach critical condition.
It's not an easy town to get around in. Even living there a decade ago, I remember several times on 526 (which is supposed to be a "freeway") almost getting into an accident because cars would be backed up so far off their exits that it would drive the freeway traffic to a sudden & abrupt standstill. And those small streets downtown can be a real clusterf*ck too. Obviously they weren't built for today's car-centric society (and they'll never be that), but that's what they've got.
I'm just kinda surprised their still twiddling their thumbs on rail, because buses won't do much to alleviate it. It'll help, but they still use roads.
Interesting, but there will be more fallout if they go with the newer bus tech. A Gillig Hybrid weighs in at 39,000 pounds or nearly 20,000 pounds per axle. This is interesting because in California, a 2 axle dump truck, is limited to 40,000 pounds or 20,000 pounds per axle. So with new bus equipment, the city is ramping up wear and tear on the ancient roadways.
Believe it or not, this tends to bode well for either a BRT type rebuild of some streets, or usage of fixed rail. Another possibility is using a former streetcar route, as the below surface grade is likely to be a bit firmer then a road without a rail line. Its the same old thing, solve one problem and cause 2 new ones.