If I were mayor, I would invest heavily in public transportation infrastructure, which could raise the quality of life for Charleston’s residents by alleviating traffic and the time miserably spent behind the wheel in traffic; make streets safer for children, pedestrians and bikers; mitigate the pressure to widen scenic roads and mitigate the need for additional parking downtown; and lessen drunk driving.
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I totally agree. My personal experience with the bus was once when my car broke down and I could not reach family. I saw a bus stop and decided to try it. The bus was clean and since I had no time constraints I was free to enjoy a relaxed ride. But it took quite a while to go from the Citadel Mall to James Island. Currently there are two people who occasionally work for me who live just off Ashley Phosphate Rd. There is a bus line that can bring them to James Island but the ride is almost two hours. That seems ridiculous. So I pick them up when I can. Even though they both prefer working in our yard and house (and fishing off our dock afterwards) to washing dishes in downtown restaurants, the whole transportation thing is such a drag that it's hard to keep it going.
Reply • Follow • 1/25/2015
Totally agree. I live about 10 minutes from downtown on James Island, and there is a bus stop in front of my house. I would love to take the bus downtown and avoid garages and traffic, but it would take roughly 1 hour and 35 minutes for me to get downtown, and then I'd be dropped at the Visitors' Center. For me, not a viable option. It would be a little less time coming home because the route is more direct. Getting somewhere like Citadel Mall is roughly the same. We need to spend more money on public transport and add routes and shorten transit times in order to get people to be willing to take the bus. Additionally, there should be shelter at every stop.
Reply • Follow • 1/19/2015
Great idea Chris. I was just reading about how dedicated, high quality bus loading shelters, where riders pre-pay for rides has increased ridership and sped up bus service in other cities. I think more people would be willing to take the bus if the ride time was brought down and the infrastructure was updated.
Reply • Follow • 1/9/2015