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JT Boy

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Gateway station? i might have to look into that. they are trying to get this to Go all the way down to the Central Transit Station in Charlotte.

By "Central Transit Station" are you talking about the one across from Time Warner Cable Arena? Gateway Station will be built on West Trade, a couple of blocks from BAC Stadium. All passenger rail (Amtrak, NCRR, SEHSR etc....) will come into this station, the other station is for CATS Bus services and the Lynx Light Rail Service. There is a section on the station at ridetransit.org under transit planning, facilities. It would be nice to see train service to Cola and onto Charleston from Charlotte.

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By "Central Transit Station" are you talking about the one across from Time Warner Cable Arena? Gateway Station will be built on West Trade, a couple of blocks from BAC Stadium. All passenger rail (Amtrak, NCRR, SEHSR etc....) will come into this station, the other station is for CATS Bus services and the Lynx Light Rail Service. There is a section on the station at ridetransit.org under transit planning, facilities. It would be nice to see train service to Cola and onto Charleston from Charlotte.

ah ok.

and yeah A Cola-CHAr an Char-Cola-Charle would be nice also.

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So here's the latest with CMRTA and funding:

Columbia residents likely will subsidize a nearly bankrupt bus system by an increase in their utility bills.

Mayor Steve Benjamin says raising SCE&G’s franchise fee by 2 percentage points would produce $3.6 million a year from its Columbia customers — about half of what the bus system ultimately needs to keep running without cuts in service.

City Council is expected to take up the issue Tuesday. Benjamin said it will pass.

That would put the onus on Richland County to come up with the second half of the money needed, possibly by extending an unpopular vehicle tax that county officials had promised to end.

The city utility fee would add $1.61 a month, or less than $20 a year, to the average city resident's monthly electric bill of $82.79, Benjamin's office said.

It would be paid by all 75,000 utility customers in Columbia, including state agencies, churches and other nonprofit groups that don’t pay property taxes. That makes it a fair way for the entire community to share in the cost of a service that otherwise faces drastic cuts or elimination, Benjamin and others say.

The comments section is something else, to say the least.

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i think its time for the City to look into BRT and Offer more Park N Ride! and also Lexington County needs to look into that also and pay there part for BRT to run throw There county also. look at areas thats in serious need to offer Park n ride to ease the traffic problems.

Edited by growingup15
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This is my Concept design for BRT in Columbia. just a little something that i thought of.

I see it as something that can start a better form of transportation in Columbia the the surrounding areas. giving the people a bus every 5-10 minutes in the most busiest spots in Columbia and around the metro. Also with BRT this can possibly spark more economic growth around areas that has reliable transportation where the BRT Lines runs. also to make it better for people offer Park N Ride. also something that should be done for the Current bus system.

I don't see this plan going anywhere in the next few years. but it can be something that can be looked at and planned. for the future

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So here's the latest with CMRTA and funding:

I'm glad that Columbia sees the need for transit and is willing to fork up the cash for it. You can't argue against the economic impact of transit andy more than you can argue against the economic impact of roads.

i think its time for the City to look into BRT and Offer more Park N Ride! and also Lexington County needs to look into that also and pay there part for BRT to run throw There county also. look at areas thats in serious need to offer Park n ride to ease the traffic problems.

BRT isn't the ideal option, but I'm starting to think that it may be the only option for rapid transit in the next 10 years. Just so everyone is on the same page, when in comes to any transit investment, you have to have serious funding levels in place to pay for it. You also have to have a robust non-rapid transit (ie: standard buses) to get you around when you exit the 'rapid' system.

One thing the CMRTA could do, aside from re-branding, is look at other types of 'enhanced' bus service. For example, the route to the airport could have signal prioritization that would reduce the waiting time at traffic signals, if not eliminate it in most cases, thus making the trip faster. This just requires money :)

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I'm glad that Columbia sees the need for transit and is willing to fork up the cash for it. You can't argue against the economic impact of transit andy more than you can argue against the economic impact of roads.

BRT isn't the ideal option, but I'm starting to think that it may be the only option for rapid transit in the next 10 years. Just so everyone is on the same page, when in comes to any transit investment, you have to have serious funding levels in place to pay for it. You also have to have a robust non-rapid transit (ie: standard buses) to get you around when you exit the 'rapid' system.

One thing the CMRTA could do, aside from re-branding, is look at other types of 'enhanced' bus service. For example, the route to the airport could have signal prioritization that would reduce the waiting time at traffic signals, if not eliminate it in most cases, thus making the trip faster. This just requires money :)

hmmm make sense. i think the airport-downtown route should be more rapid. as Columbia gets busier. I really think BRT will be best for Columbia in the near future Since rail transit is not looking likely for columbia in the next 20 years

I bet once BRT be establish in Columbia we can see a increase in economic growth.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is the type of attitude I like to see. Mayor Benjamin is asking some tough questions about transit. Most importantly, it's not an issue of whether or not it should be there... it's about how Columbia and work with CMRTA and other partners to ensure that the maximum amount of funding possible is being recieved (particularly from the Federal Government).

The State

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like Mayor Benjamin wants to bring back the trolleys and make them free this time. The mayor's plan is to spend $40,000 fixing up each trolley, with the city covering 20% of the costs and federal transportation grants taking care of the rest. The city would then turn the trolleys over to the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism – the same group that operates the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. It’s unclear how much it would cost to operate the trolleys. The merchants have expressed interest. Five years ago, it cost the transit authority $600,000 a year to run them.

But what could Columbia’s tourism authority do with the trolleys that the transit authority couldn’t do five years ago? Simpler routes, better marketing and package deals, said Ric Luber, president and CEO of Columbia’s tourism authority. The trolleys would never have to leave Gervais Street to connect the Vista, Main Street and Five Points. And the convention center could offer trolley packages to take convention-goers to restaurants and other Columbia attractions. But most of those ideas have been tried before. The trolleys had a Gervais Street route. They gave away free rides as a marketing tool. And they offered to provide shuttle service to the convention center through an hourly rate – an offer the convention center turned down because they thought it was too expensive.

Personally, I think the timing is all wrong with this. It really doesn't look good for the city to be spending money to refurbish trolleys that were sparsely used a few years ago while it's also wanting to increase residents' power bills to keep the bus system afloat. I say wait until a long-term funding source is found for the buses and until more momentum comes to Main Street, which would translate to more potential riders. Also, I'd rather the city focus first on actually connecting Main Street and the Vista via an overhaul of Assembly instead of relying on the trolleys to do the trick. I know it will be expensive and people get tired of dealing with streetscape projects (particularly merchants and especially when they go over schedule), but they definitely do pay off in the long run.

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I see the trolleys as a part of a comprehensive bus transit system. With more efficient routes and more frequent looping they would be a complement to a more efficient and rerouted metro bus system. I always felt that the only reason the trolleys didn't work the first time was that the routes were too long for them to be in your face often enough for you to realize they were a viable way to get around. And no one carries cash on them anymore and they didn't take debit cards. They should catch on if they're frequent and free.

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I see the trolleys as a part of a comprehensive bus transit system. With more efficient routes and more frequent looping they would be a complement to a more efficient and rerouted metro bus system.

But the issue is that the "more efficient and rerouted metro bus system" isn't in place yet. The trolleys should be brought back once this happens; then they can truly be called a "complement." And like I said, it just doesn't look right for the city to be thinking about bringing the trolleys back using public money when residents' power bills are going to go up to help fund the regular bus system. Get the fundamental issues right first; then focus on things like this.

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They should catch on if they're frequent and free.

I guess the question is... how much do they have to "catch on" in order to be deemed worthy of operating past an initial phase? Two trolley flops in such a short time period could kill the option for the future. The only thing I wonder about is this: with so many parking lots directly off of Gervais, and many more parking options located in close proximity via the perpendicular streets, what is this REALLY connecting? It'll be great to connect to Main Street, BUT will this operate when Main Street is populated (aka: during the day)? No one should really take this from one destination in the Vista to another, it's not that spread out...

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The Vista and Five Points aren't going anywhere once Main Street becomes another draw. My statement about the trolleys being a complement to a rerouted metro bus system was made under the assumption that the trolleys' return and the metro buses' rerouting would be done simultaneously. The article states the city can use federal funds to run the trolleys for free, but apparently they can't do so to save the metro buses, or at least not any more federal funds than they're already using for that system, or surely they would have included that possibility their discussions.

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I Think the city should run the Trolleys on a BRT Style route. with frequent stops in the most busiest part of downtown running ever 15-30 minutes. during the pike hours of the day when its most busy. and the routes should connect with main buses. kinda offer the people a way to other places so they will be willing to pay to ride a bus to another destination. kinda like a draw in. free trolleys save money the peopel will be willing ot pay for buses to other places around town and the metro. Know what i mean

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I Couldn't make it to the State of the City address this time but........ i got some updates afterwards. and i heard that Benjamin is planning to try something to attract riders by adding WiFi to the Buses.

I'm not sure if any other city has this. from Information I heard that Denver,CO has been doing this for 8 Years now and people said that its been working. Would it work for Columbia? we don't know we will just have to see

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You have to have better headways before transit will work effectively. Gimmicks like that will not work on regular transit routes. Maybe express routes... but generally speaking unless you have frequent service it will be inconsequential to the total number of users in the end.

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USC, which runs its own campus bus service, said Monday it wants to coordinate with CMRTA so students may switch rides interchangeably between the university’s shuttle and public buses. It hopes to have the new service in place by the fall semester to make it easier for students to move around campus and to off-campus housing. USC is in the early stages of devising the new plan, which would allow students to pay to ride through the fees they provide the university. Students would not pay the $1.50 fare that other riders do.

Columbia City Council is moving toward a 2 percentage point increase in monthly utility bills, an increase that would supply $3.6 million yearly for buses. Richland County Council last week came up with a $1.7 million one-year fix until a longer-term solution is found. Lexington has chipped in $100,000 through June 30.

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