Archive for the ‘activities’ Category

Bus stop for 40 on Hungryneck adjacent to BI-LO near Town Centre.  This may not be an official stop, but it is one of the most actively used in Mount Pleasant.

Everyone interested in building a better bus stop for the CARTA 40 bus which stops between the CVS Pharmacy and Bank, near the BI-LO is asked to attend a drop in meeting at Collective Coffee on Wednesday, May 22 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Jessica Jurs will be here to make coffee and espresso drinks for anyone who would like to order. Collective Coffee is located in the BI-LO Plaza at 766 S Shelmore Blvd Mt Pleasant, SC 29464.

We’ll try for some structured, open group discussion about 6 pm, when hopefully we’ll have a group on hand.

We’ve been gathering community support for this effort for several months and are happy to announce we have Architects, Engineers, Masonry Suppliers, Construction Foremen, Artists and Craftsman ready to build a shelter which will be Americans with Disabilities Act Compliant, Hurricane Resistant, Durable and a comfortable waiting are for six people. It will be lit off the grid and enabled with features which will allow you to use your smart phone or internet connected device to plan your bus trip or tell when the bus is coming using CARTA’s new bus tracker system.

If you have ideas or have seen something you like, bring pictures printed off the internet.  It will really help advance the process.  If we have more good ideas than we need, there are places all over Mount Pleasant where better bus stops are needed and other communities interested in working on bus stop improvements.

We don’t have a design yet.  When we do, several stakeholders and government agencies will have to approve it. We’re hoping for an effort which not only produces a wonderful place to wait, but a model which can be replicated across the East Cooper Community. For full updates, check back here or call William Hamilton at 843-870-5299.

You can download a printable flyer for this May 22 meeting to help engage the community.

Welcome aboard, Transit Riders going somewhere together in 2013!

CAARTA #401 Bus at Mount Pleasant Waterfront Memorial Park

Five Million trips will be made on Charleston County Public Transit this year.  Auto is optional for a new generation & economy evolving new priorities.  The urban, elderly, tourists, disabled, students and people too busy to drive are experiencing smarter, more connected mobility. Transit builds a stronger America and protects the Earth’s environment. Hungryneck Straphangers is organizing an East Cooper community ready to ride!

Image, right- CARTA (Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority) opreates public transit services in the urban core of Charleston County, including most of Mount Pleasant, including Tel-A-Ride Services for the Disabled, Express Bus Commuter Service, The #40 Trans Mount Pleasant Route, #401 East Cooper Connector and the Free Downtown DASH Bus system.

Improved Service Starts in late February

This year East Cooper will get service ever 40 minutes on the #40 Trans Mount Pleasant bus, new #401 East Cooper Connector Service along Coleman Blvd. directly to Downtown and real time uplinked GPS data on bus locations and speed so online Google Transit trip planning moves from when the bus is supposed to come to when it is going to arrive.  Unfortunately regular bus service on the Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island provided by the #402 Island Flex will end, however Tel-A-Ride service for disabled persons living on the Islands will continue.  There is some discussion of operating a seasonal bus service on the Islands in the warmer months and Hungryneck Straphangers will work actively in support of such a plan.

Empower East Cooper Public Transit, Help Hungryneck move ahead!

Ride Smart and Connected- Plan trips online using Google Transit (Video at left), your smart phone, or from the www.ridecarta.com website (Main page, left hand side, top). Assist others by printing out, emailing or posting links showing trips they can make (with real time arrival information transmitted from the buses coming soon). Contract for a discounted trip with CARTA for your school, church or community group.  Buy a discount multiride pass at Kmart, Sea Island Piggly Wiggly or online.

Park Pleasantly, play downtown! Park near home and use transit to reach the free DASH bus system, fun and shopping downtown. Help visitors save hundreds of dollars staying at hotels East of the Cooper while taking the bus to Charleston.

Show the Way– Get your business, school or other group bus schedules and maps for you area.  Request a few from your bus driver while on board, pick up some up at the Mount Pleasant Kmart or Sea Island Piggly Wiggly  or request a larger supply from the CARTA and Tri County Link administrative offices.  Promote available bus routes when you’re hiring employees, advertising, renting or selling real estate to increase your response.  Employers can participate in a new federal program to provide payment for transit use as a tax free benefit.

Improve Everyone’s ride!  Greet your driver. Say hello to other passengers. Thank the driver when you get off the bus.

Get on Board- Join our mailing list or Hungryneck Straphangers Facebook Group for updates on public hearings and advocacy opportunities to improve our routes and stops.  Follow Hungryneck Staphangers on Twitter  or check for our route focused has codes for the #40 Trans Mount Pleasant Route #CARTA40

Start with Stops- Work with your community, government or businesses to get stop shelters erected.  Make walkable and bikable routes to stops available.  See our Start with the Stops Page.

Let’s Talk- Invite us to speak to your group about East Cooper expanding transit system with CARTA and Tri County Link Service reaching Mount Pleasant, Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Awendaw and McClellenville.  Contact Hungryneck Straphangers  for a presentation.

Image, Right- Tri County Link,  runs public transit to McClellenville and Awendaw, Connecting with CARTA at Oakland Shopping Village (Super Walmart) and Wando HS.  It also operates other routes in rural Charelston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties.

The Bus is up to U.S.- Get on the mailing list for American’s for Transit, to protect and improve service across the nation, making America more secure and protecting our environment.  Try transit on vacation. Bring the good ideas you discover home to share.

Ride Proud & Loud- Let the people who represent you in government, the businesses you patronize and the organizations you work with know you ride.  Vote for transit and engage candidates about our issues during their campaigns.  See candidates package for SC-1 Congressional Election.  You’re empowered to make transit work for everyone East of the Cooper.  Attend public hearings. Speak up for transit! Make East Cooper transit enabled, not auto dependent!  See our Straphangers Calendar for upcoming events.

Stand Up and Grab a Strap- For full information on all the things your neighbors are doing to improve mobility for everyone East of the Cooper (including those of you still fighting the traffic in your cars) see the main page for Hungryneck Straphangers.

Special National Day of Service Outreach Event, Sat. Jan. 19

Mount Pleasant, SC-  Helping the Mount Pleasant community take advantage of improved public transit services coming to the Johnnie Dodds Corridor later this winter will be the focus of a National Day of Service effort connected to the Presidential Inauguration & Martin Luther King Holiday on Saturday, January 19 sponsored by the Hungryneck Straphangers.

Volunteers will gather at the Starbucks near the intersection of Highway 17 and 41 at 9:30 am and then move out to surrounding residential communities and businesses with information about improvements to the CARTA 40 bus service, which will be going from running once an hour to running once every 40 minutes a few weeks later.  Soon this service will also be supported by real time bus location and travel data updates through Google Transit transmitted from the buses, allowing riders to obtain updated arrival times for their bus online.  They also be distributing information on locally proven transit strategies to make businesses more successful at hiring employees and getting costomers and information on the Tri County Link Bus route running from that area to McClellenville and Awendaw.

You can sign up to participate in the event and learn more about the national effort at https://donate.2013pic.org/page/event/detail/wf2 online.  For more information call (843) 870-5299.

You can reach the event location on the CARTA #40 route (Directions from Charleston)  and the Tri County Link Bus from McClelleville/Awendaw.

Charleston, SC- Lowcountry public transit advocates affiliated with the Hungryneck Straphangers and local off duty bus drivers will join the nationwide votetransit.org campaign, on Tuesday, October 23, handing out literature and obtaining voting commitments from Bus riders at Express Bus stops along Calhoun Street in Downtown Charleston, SC from 3:30 to 5:30.

Transit supporters will be at express bus stops on Calhoun near MUSC and the College of Charleston. Materials to be distributed will include a “Thank You, Transit is Patriotic information card” which includes a photograph of and quote from wounded warrior Major Tammy Duckworth, and former Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, now running for the US Congress, who points out that transit reduces our dependence on the foreign oil which funds attacks on our troops overseas and encourages riders to vote.

This week’s national effort will inform and empower over a million transit riders in battleground states and others throughout the country to use their power as voters to help sustain and continue the progress public transit is making in the United States. Locally, that includes an 11% increase in ridership on the CARTA system this year. The following day, transit advocates and drivers from Charleston will travel to Columbia, SC to assist the referendum campaign to restore the transit system there which lost almost half its capacity to budget cuts last spring.

Candidates for public office who are supportive of Public Transit are welcome to participate. Participants will meet at 3 pm at the columns at Cannon Park 131 Rutledge Ave, Charleston, SC 29401 (former site of the Charleston Museum, across the street from MUSC), distribute materials and then walk to the Express Bus stops, which are nearby

Persons needing to reach the area can use any Express Bus, the Lockwood/Calhoun Dash or the North Beltline CARTA bus routes and plan their trip online using Google Transit by going to the CARTA webiste www.ridecarta.com or using the maps app on their Android Smart phone.

For More information see the website www.busec.org or contact William Hamilton, wjhamilton29464@gmail.com or 843 870-5299.