Posts Tagged ‘Wando High School’

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.

Everybody wants it better, faster, safer and more often. (We’re talking about transit here.)

Materials for the May 1, 2012 Stop the CARTA Cuts Demonstration provided by www.supporttransit.org

In November 2012 Bus Transit Riders East of the Cooper will have a major opportunity to improve the quality of their experience for themselves and the growing number of riders in our area, which has increased about 74% on the 40 in the past five years as of August, 2012.  As road work is completed and a national election is held, we’re at an inflection point on policy and investment when it pays to speak up.  East Cooper needs a  safe, accessible stops on routes which run on time and ways to cross our new roads which don’t get riders killed.  We cannot accept a 140 million dollar road improvement projects which degrades bus service in our community.

Speak up for Better Routes & Stops on Nov. 13

In response to ridership trends, including disappointing results on the  402 Island Flex and parts of the 401 East Cooper Connector Route, CARTA has begun a process of redeploying transit capacity East of the Cooper.  Linda Page was successful in making sure we retained all the capacity we have now, but the Islands will probably lose their Flex Bus service and the 401 route will be changed.  The 40 will probably be adjusted in response to changes in the road system.  The Express may continue unchanged, but needs better support infrastructure. Four different options are being considered.  See the consultant’s CARTA East Cooper Analysis report (PDF).

We need to be sure that quality of operation issues don’t get ignored and that the new routes and stops are designed to serve riders safely, which includes being sure that crossings at the massive, new intersections on Johnnie Dodds Blvd. are as safe as possible and can be avoided to the extent possible.  We expect a public hearing this winter, probably during or near the holidays when participating may be low.  Lets make sure riders, the real experts, get heard so we get stops and routes which really work.

What we’re going to do in November

1.  Help us spread this and other information to community leaders.  We’ve already presented our Fall Report to the CARTA Board, which we also made available to the media. Read and help distribute our Fall 2012 Report to the CARTA Board.
2. Speak to members of the Charleston County Legislative Delegation, Charleston County Council (some running for reelection) and Mount Pleasant Town Council.
3.   Please sign our online petition for Better Routes and Stops East of the Cooper (available soon).
4. Join us at Mount Pleasant Town Council on Nov. 13 for the public comment period.
5. Email us at wjhamilton29464@gmail.com or call 843 870-5299 with your input or feedback.  Interact on our Hungryneck Straphangers Facebook Page.  Unfortunately the comments at the bottom of this page don’t work properly due to a flood of spam.

Speak out at Mount Pleasant Town Council on Nov. 13

We’re asking everyone who can to join us on Tuesday, November 13 at 6 pm during the public comment period at Mount Pleasant Town Council to make sure that public attention is focused on making sure we have safe, accessible bus stops on the new Johnnie Dodds Blvd.  Town Hall is located at 100 Ann Edwards Lane, off Houston Northcutt Blvd.  in Mount Pleasant.  You can sign up to join us Nov. 13 on Facebook.

Thanks to the millions of people who talke to candidates and participated in the votetransit.org effort in this election.  We distributed over 1000 information cards here in Charleston and assisted a successful transit referendum effort in Richland County and Columbia, SC in partnership with the SC Progressive Network, Amalgamated Transit Union and Americans for Transit.   Hungryneck Straphangers was the first pro transit organization to start activity on the ground in Columbia after the massive transit cuts there last Spring.

Lets make sure that seven years of promises about a transit enabled Johnnie Dodds Blvd. here in Mount Pleasant get kept before the work is over, the concrete is hard and the money is gone.

An impressive array of display boards at February 28^th. Coleman Blvd. Revitalization drop in meeting at Moultrie Middle school showed years of community effort coming together to create a main street for Mount Pleasant which will be transit enabled, complete with carefully planned bus stop locations.

CARTA #401 Crossing Shem Creek Bridge

The two hour drop in drew dozens of participants and community stakeholders from nearby neighborhoods, the business community and civic sector. Several members of the East Cooper Carta Riders attended to continue their support for a planning process which will shape a community where public transportation can work better, building on the successful effort of the past year which has put thousands of new rides per month on board the community’s new route system.

East Cooper CARTA Riders handed in a written statement with illustrations of existing stops in the area for the Planning Department’s consideration at the hearing.  For more information on East Cooper Public Transit, including the new ability to use Google Transit to plan trips on the CARTA system automatically, see their website at www.eastccrider.com.

An illustrated map of most existing East Cooper Bus Stops https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/albumMap?uname=wjhamilton29464&aid=5595773187925954337#map

Trips nearly everywhere on the CARTA bus system can now be planned automatically using Google Transit.

The text of the handout provided at last night’s meeting is below.

Better Bus Stops on Coleman Blvd.

From              East Cooper CARTA Riders
To                   Town of Mt. Pleasant
Date               February 28, 2012

Coleman Blvd. is an important section of our community’s new CARTA #401 East Cooper Connector Bus Route.   The Coleman Blvd. section of this route is one of the most productive areas for generating ridership.  Appropriate bus stops should be planned as part of the Boulevard improvement project.

This route is working towards reaching its ridership goal of 10 passengers per hour. During its first full month of operation in May 2011, the #40 had 800 Riders.  It reached 1100 in August and 1400 in December.  Elsewhere on the East Cooper CARTA system, huge increases of over 30% have been seen on the #40 Trans Mount Pleasant route, which is connected to the #401 East Cooper Connector.  The walkable sidewalk network extending into the Old Village area helps support ridership generation in this area.  The University School of the Lowcountry has actively supported development of this route, including production of a You Tube Video and door to door distribution of schedule information.

Coleman Blvd. has several nice stops now.  There is a shelter at Sea Island Shopping Center.  The park adjacent to Moultrie Middle School provides an attractive stop with benches, a swing, and its various amenities.  There is a b Read the rest of this entry »