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I posted this in the Columbia Forum.. but thought I would pose it in the Statewide Forum as well... have at at it......
So another but certainly less sexy option for SC to explore would be Regional Bus Service. Before everyone vomits and hits "delete" on my post hear me out.
SC DOT could contract with the likes of Southeastern Stage and create an intra state regional commuter bus service that would run from Greenville to Charleston... Myrtle Beach to Augusta... and pick up the major cities and towns in between. Because it would be a contracted service between Southeastern Stages and SC DOT the schedules could be developed in a manner that make it more conducive for commuters, day time travels, etc whose destinations are within the state. Right now.. if you are going from many of these locations.. the buses are coming from long distances thus are over crowded, notoriously late, and come in at odd hours.. late at night/early in the morning. By coordinating with SE Stages you could augment these long distance buses with the intrastate buses and capture SC residents looking for more affordable and reliable transportation within the state. You could also add in stops at places like CHS, CAE, GSP on certain routes an serve as that "airport connector" for those travelers that want or need that service especially in places like Sumter, Orangeburg, Gaffney, Greenwood that are looking to get to a major airport that may be along these routes. The buses having TV, WiFi, restrooms...clean and only going intermediate distances may make them more appealing. In all cases the buses terminate in a major SC, NC or GA City to allow for connections to long distance buses or even local buses (ie. Intermodal Centers)
Sample Routes
Charlotte- Gaffney, Spartanburg,(GSP), Greenville, Anderson
Charlotte-Columbia, Orangeburg, Summerville, North Charleston , Charleston
Charlotte-Rock Hill, Lancaster, Cheraw, Hartsville, Darlington, Florence, Myrtle Beach
Greenville, Laurens, Newberry, Columbia, (CAE), Sumter, Moncks Corner, North Charleston ,(CHS), Charleston
Myrtle Beach, Florence, Camden, Columbia, Greenwood, Aiken/North Augusta, Augusta
The best example that I can think of would be NJ Transit.. which has buses that crisscross the state serving town and cities of all sizes.. Of course NJ is way denser than SC and in between two major and congested metro areas.. The concept however could still work in a place like SC though.. we just wouldn't need the frequency of service like they have up there.
Maryland also has a system that covers the urbanized portion of the state and carries riders from suburbs/cities and towns into Baltimore, Washington, and Annapolis.. This system is not quite as extensive as NJT because there are a variety of County operated bus systems in addition to commuter rail that provide a variety of alternatives.
If a statewide bus system is realized, I could see initial routes involve Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville. Additional routes to Florence, Myrtle Beach, and Rock Hill can be added upon demand and increased ridership.
A statewide bus system should collaborate with local transit systems, not replace them.
Here are all the intermodals that I could find in SC. Charleston may have one as well but I couldn't find it. Ironically only Sumter and Spartanburg have true intermodals where you have both interstate and local bus service. Columbia and Greenville are just local buses with Megabus being the exception in Columbia as well.
I think this could be a good idea, at least for weekend getaways, not business travel. I took a Megabus (?) from DC to New York City, and I'd say it was better than a plane. Sure we got stuck in Friday traffic, but I also avoided the hour train ride from JFK to Midtown, and airport security. The tickets are also cheap.
But that's also a much denser and more populated region with better transit infrastructure. It'd also be hard to get people out of the "I can just take my car and go 80 on 26" mentality.
I think this would be have to be regional, rather than just SC. Add Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Charlotte, Wilmington, Asheville, and the Triad and Triangle, etc. And it'd have to collaborate with ridesharing/carsharing/transit services to get people around once they get off the bus as none of our cities are the most walkable around, and having to pay for Uber/Lyft for a few trips would eventually cost more than the bus ticket.
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