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Columbia Transit


JT Boy

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You're right, Spartan. Maybe I'll run for mayor as a supporter of mass transit to take Columbia to the next level.

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Two points:

1) I love mass transit and would love to see it embraced throughout the country and especially the Deep South. However, I know the trolley service in Columbia has had difficulties in the past. Has it gained widespread acceptance more recently? I thought the primary users were the lawyers in training at USC's FBI training center. Also, has it expanded beyond the Vista and 5 points routes?

2) You should run for Mayor waccamatt, a new mayor is the one thing Columbia needs most.

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  • 4 months later...

columbialightrail3yg.jpg

My vision would have 6 lines, with 5 of those extending from the center city out into the suburbs. A central line would form a partial loop around the center city area and a subway line (running 3 miles) would be built to connect to Forest Acres. The lines would connect 27 stations scattered throughout the metro area. I could also picture another subway that would be an extension of the Northeast line that would run Southeast under USC, into Shandon and ending at Midlands Tech.

Central (Red) Line - West Devine, *Whaley, USC/Rice Street, Five Points, Bull Street Campus

West (Gray) Line - Olympia, Cayce, *Tri-City, Lexington

Southwest (Navy) Line - Columbia Metro Airport

Northwest (Green) Line - Riverfront Park, Riverbanks Zoo, Bush River Mall, Harbison, Irmo

East (Burgundy) Line - *Vista, Main/Downtown, *Laurens/Richland, Allen/Benedict, Richland Mall/Forest Acres

Northeast (Blue) Line - Finlay Park, *Earlewood, Eau Claire, North Columbia, Columbia Place/Dentsville, Spring Valley, Village at Sandhill

*Stations that would operate as hubs or transfer points.

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429f06a2f2094.jpg

My vision would have 6 lines, with 5 of those extending from the center city out into the suburbs. A central line would form a partial loop around the center city area and a subway line (running 3 miles) would be built to connect to Forest Acres. The lines would connect 27 stations scattered throughout the metro area. I could also picture another subway that would be an extension of the Northeast line that would run Southeast under USC, into Shandon and ending at Midlands Tech.

Central (Red) Line - West Devine, *Whaley, USC/Rice Street, Five Points, Bull Street Campus

West (Gray) Line - Olympia, Cayce, *Tri-City, Lexington

Southwest (Navy) Line - Columbia Metro Airport

Northwest (Green) Line - Riverfront Park, Riverbanks Zoo, Bush River Mall, Harbison, Irmo

East (Burgundy) Line - *Vista, Main/Downtown, *Laurens/Richland, Allen/Benedict, Richland Mall/Forest Acres

Northeast (Blue) Line - Finlay Park, *Earlewood, Eau Claire, North Columbia, Columbia Place/Dentsville, Spring Valley, Village at Sandhill

*Stations that would operate as hubs or transfer points.

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Nice stuff, HybridONE! That would be pretty sweet. You know... We should save all of these things and charge the city a consulting fee! :)

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  • 5 months later...

I was also thinking in terms of Irmo and Lexington. If you coudl successfully funnel commuters along a rail line it could potentially help to ease traffic problems. The only way that will work, however, is if Columbia densifies its downtown workforce more, and implements frequent stops for people to use.

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Columbia is the only city (out of the big 3) in SC that is not actively considering rail as a future transit option. I know that there is some talk about it, but nothing is concrete- that is as much as I have heard.

Charleston and Greenville both have plans for it and seem to be actively persuing it. I suspect that Columbia will tag along soon.

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I used to think that density was a requirement for LRT/ mass transit, however now with the announcement for a serious study in the Greenville area I don't think that it is necessary anymore. Another thing that changed my mind about LRT working in Columbia was a very recent trip to Portland, OR (October). DT Portland was very dense and walkable, realistically you can pretty much see all of DT on foot b/c they have half blocks. However with their LRT system much of the city looked like many southern cities ie CLT, ATL, & Cola in the "burb" areas. Infact much of Portland's LRT provided service to outlying town in the metro such as Beaverton, and Gresham.

Maybe the town & country act could be used in conjunction with LRT building stations at already existing points of intrest, and at developements yet to come creating density along mass transit routes encouraging future growth, so on and so on!

Infact the model above for Columbia looks similar to Portland's LRT map.

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Light rail would go well with Columbia. I can't believe Columbia hasn't taken a more serious approach on light rail usage. Especially when their goal by 2025 is to have a pop. over 600,000. And they think the traffic is out of control now. We should atleast have someone doing reasearch for future usage.

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Light rail would go well with Columbia. I can't believe Columbia hasn't taken a more serious approach on light rail usage. Especially when their goal by 2025 is to have a pop. over 600,000. And they think the traffic is out of control now. We should atleast have someone doing reasearch for future usage.

At least the some of private sector has it in mind. Aren't the Bull Street Campus developers leaving the rail in place for future mass transit? Maybe the private sector can give Columbia rapid-rail transit and force the City/State to buy it back once it's successful.

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Light rail would go well with Columbia. I can't believe Columbia hasn't taken a more serious approach on light rail usage. Especially when their goal by 2025 is to have a pop. over 600,000. And they think the traffic is out of control now. We should atleast have someone doing reasearch for future usage.

As far as that population is concerned, do you mean the city and outlying areas (urbanized area) or metropolitan population? The metropolitan population right now is quite close to 700,000 (2004 est 679,456 ). But I agree; this issue needs to be considered seriously in greater Columbia.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This was discussed in the Columbia area developments thread but thought it would be appropriate here as well.

The area is studying the possibility of bringing commuter rail in 15-20 years, using existing lines from Cola to Newberry, Batesburg-Leesville, and Camden. I think it should be extended to Florence, Sumter, Orangeburg (SC State), and Aiken as well. My pop's works with quite a few guys who commute from Florence to Cola.

Commuter Rail Study

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As far as that population is concerned, do you mean the city and outlying areas (urbanized area) or metropolitan population? The metropolitan population right now is quite close to 700,000 (2004 est 679,456 ). But I agree; this issue needs to be considered seriously in greater Columbia.

Just out of curiosity, what is considered the metro region of Columbia? Would it be the counties surrounding Columbia (Sumter, Newberry, Lexington, etc.)?

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Just out of curiosity, what is considered the metro region of Columbia? Would it be the counties surrounding Columbia (Sumter, Newberry, Lexington, etc.)?

Columbia's MSA includes Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, Fairfield, Calhoun and Saluda Counties. Newberry County is added for the CSA and I expect Sumter and Orangeburg Counties to be added to the CSA in 2010.

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Columbia's MSA includes Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, Fairfield, Calhoun and Saluda Counties. Newberry County is added for the CSA and I expect Sumter and Orangeburg Counties to be added to the CSA in 2010.

Thanks. With the addition of Orangeburg and Sumter the population should soar to over 1 million

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