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Columbia Bus Barn


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From the Editorial apge of The State:

Midlands residents, officials must help RTA meet its needs

THE CENTRAL MIDLANDS Regional Transit Authority needs the help of citizens, community leaders and elected officials to meet its toughest challenges since gaining control of the public bus system more than two years ago.

Without community support, the RTA, which manages the buses that take many workers to jobs at hospitals, restaurants, hotels and retail outlets, can’t survive.

The authority has two long-term needs that must be met: permanent funding to operate the bus system and a new location for its headquarters and bus barn.

• RTA officials are studying ways to solidify the system financially. A trust fund established by SCANA when it turned control of the bus system over to the authority in 2002 will run out by about 2008 at the current service level. SCANA gave $15 million and promised an additional $2.4 million each year for seven years.

Among other things, the RTA is considering raising the bus fare and changing or eliminating less-profitable routes. Some members of the authority said it needs to decrease bus service by about 25 percent and increase the $1 fare to about $1.25. That might be enough to keep the system afloat until 2009 or 2010.

But that is a short-term fix. Even if the changes are implemented, officials said they still need to pursue voters’ approval of a half-cent sales tax increase. The system, like other public transit systems, is not a moneymaker and needs dedicated public funding.

The authority hopes to convince Lexington and Richland counties to put a half-cent local option sales tax on the ballot in 2006. If that referendum doesn’t win approval, the authority would have time to give it another try in 2008, before the trust fund runs dry.

A half-cent sales tax would generate about $33 million a year in Richland County and $17 million a year in Lexington County. Only a portion of the revenue from the sales tax increase would go toward the transit system. Officials have estimated the system would need $8 million to $9 million a year.

Some officials said remaining funds could be used for property tax rollbacks, road repairs or other projects. We’re wary of this part of the proposal. Local governments don’t need another slush fund. Officials must identify what the money will be used for and make sure the ballot question clearly states their intent.

• The RTA is under the gun to find a new location for its bus barn. It must relocate the garage from Huger Street within the next three years under a five-year agreement the city signed with SCANA to transfer the bus system to the authority. SCANA agreed to pay for environmental cleanup of the Huger Street site if the deadline is met. Otherwise, the city must pay for it.

The first attempt to move the facility, to Sunset Drive, failed because of neighbors’ opposition. So the RTA, which has reviewed nearly 50 sites, is considering moving its barn and headquarters from Huger Street to Lucius Road off River Drive in Earlewood.

Residents in adjacent areas, which include the Laurel Heights, Hyde Park and Earlewood neighborhoods, said they are concerned the bus barn would affect property values, air quality and quality of life.

With proper communication and open minds, the RTA and residents should be able to make this location work. This project would put this vacant property to a better use and fill an important need for the Midlands.

The RTA has done a credible job since taking over the bus system. It deserves community support as it attempts to develop this regional asset.

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^^The Barn location issue is the first of two big hurdles that have to be cleared before CMRTA will be stablized. The Barn location will be minor in comparison to the funding issue. The vast majority of the taxpayers do not use RTA ever. Getting them to approve funding will be difficult. Charleston just went through the same thing, and put funding in place just in the nick of time. They approved a sales tax increase (.5 cent, I believe)that pays for transit, road improvements and open space preservation.

Something similiar will be needed in Columbia as well. The Mayor and city council will need to push hard for it's passage, as will Lexington and Richland County officials. It's gut check time, and these guys will need to step up and take the heat. That is something they have seldom done. We shall soon see if Columbia in fact has a "strong mayor".

The barn location issue must be solved soon or the monetary consequences to the city will be huge. Maybe the city should agree to fund some improvements in Earlewood in order to offset the potential negative impact. Stay tuned.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

A little blurb from the Free Times. I figured it's okay to post the whole thing since it's nothing more than just a blurb anyway. Any news like this is good news...

The prospects look better that South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., rather than the public, will shoulder the cost of decontaminating the headquarters of the Midlands

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I think that's a good spot for it. I just don't see what else is going to go down there in the near term. The new Laurel Hill homes that are being built down there may suffer, but that's about all.

I think the 20+ acres on Sunset/N. Main that was also in consideration has the potential for commercial/residential development because it is near a major intersection. The Lucius site is more suited for light industrial activity.

I just hope the bus traffic along Broad River won't be affected *too* much.

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  • 5 months later...

I think that's a good spot for it. I just don't see what else is going to go down there in the near term. The new Laurel Hill homes that are being built down there may suffer, but that's about all.

I think the 20+ acres on Sunset/N. Main that was also in consideration has the potential for commercial/residential development because it is near a major intersection. The Lucius site is more suited for light industrial activity.

I just hope the bus traffic along Broad River won't be affected *too* much.

i agree, i think that the bus headquarters needs sprusing up .the current one seems so small and so unkept. i think we should have a main bus system how charlotte had there's before they reach a pop. to start negoitaing a subway system. i think the setup would be for effiecient with the needs of citizens here in columbia

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  • 5 months later...

I think that's a good spot for it. I just don't see what else is going to go down there in the near term. The new Laurel Hill homes that are being built down there may suffer, but that's about all.

I think the 20+ acres on Sunset/N. Main that was also in consideration has the potential for commercial/residential development because it is near a major intersection. The Lucius site is more suited for light industrial activity.

I just hope the bus traffic along Broad River won't be affected *too* much.

Anybody know anything about the status of this project??

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Anybody know anything about the status of this project??

I know that the man leading the effort to beat a deadline to get it moved (in order to get funding) died. His name was Butch Spires. I haven't kept up with this issue. Maybe I'll drive over right now and try to find the site (to the west of Eau Claire, north of Sunset, near the railroad tracks) that they decided on after the site on Sunset Drive near Richland Memorial Hospital fell through.

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yeah... i know we've gone round and round about this but i just hate the new location. they are still talking about lucius rd. right?? it's so close to the river and is going to handicap any riverfront redevelopment along there. on the other hand... at least it'll be easy to develop when the time comes -- however many years down the road that is -- since it'll be one big government owned tract.

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I know that the man leading the effort to beat a deadline to get it moved (in order to get funding) died. His name was Butch Spires. I haven't kept up with this issue. Maybe I'll drive over right now and try to find the site (to the west of Eau Claire, north of Sunset, near the railroad tracks) that they decided on after the site on Sunset Drive near Richland Memorial Hospital fell through.

Well, I drove over there. I got twisted around and lost and ended up on Monticello Road, then went back over there and tried it again, but I never did see anything that looked like the site. Maybe they've dropped the ball and let the time expire. The bus barn might indeed stay where it is for some time to come. The obvious people to call would be the bus system or city planning.

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I found it today. I take back what I said earlier. There's really nothing else they could possibly do with that property. It is directly adjacent to what is probably the largest power station in Columbia. Crazy big. I was really surprised how close the back of the new Laurel Hill phase comes to the place -- talk about a cancer cluster waiting to happen. Anyway... I think I've decided that's a good place for the new bus facility. I just wonder if they're gonna try and stick that area with the homeless care facilities also???

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 month later...

SCANA is going to begin demolition and cleanup today of the bus barn site. The $5 million to $6 million cleanup will take up to 10 months to complete, said SCANA project manager Bob Apple. Workers will tear down all the buildings, and remove soil to a depth of 25 feet. The 5.8 acres then will be turned over to the city of Columbia as part of 2002

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SCANA is going to begin demolition and cleanup today of the bus barn site. The $5 million to $6 million cleanup will take up to 10 months to complete, said SCANA project manager Bob Apple. Workers will tear down all the buildings, and remove soil to a depth of 25 feet. The 5.8 acres then will be turned over to the city of Columbia as part of 2002
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^This might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Who knows, once the property is cleaned up, there may be signs that the economy is improving and Jerry Kline may want to purchase the bus barn property and do an even bigger project, or someone else may purchase it and build a complementing project.

Here's an aerial of the site from 1940. Hard to believe Huger was a dirt road back then:

977-bus_bar_site_huger_street_072308.standalone.prod_affiliate.74.jpg

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SCANA is going to begin demolition and cleanup today of the bus barn site. The $5 million to $6 million cleanup will take up to 10 months to complete, said SCANA project manager Bob Apple. Workers will tear down all the buildings, and remove soil to a depth of 25 feet. The 5.8 acres then will be turned over to the city of Columbia as part of 2002's $71 million deal to transfer the bus system from the utility to a regional transit authority. The land, estimated at a value of $4 million or so by senior city manager Steve Gantt, will be sold to developers.

Combined with the adjacent Kline Iron and Steel property, the clearing of the bus lot opens up 13

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With county council killing the transportation penny, the city should pledge all revenues from the sale of this property to continue operations of the CMRTA. They were the ones who negotiated the takeover of the system from SCANA, so they shouldn't profit from the sale of this property.
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SCANA is going to begin demolition and cleanup today of the bus barn site. The $5 million to $6 million cleanup will take up to 10 months to complete, said SCANA project manager Bob Apple. Workers will tear down all the buildings, and remove soil to a depth of 25 feet. The 5.8 acres then will be turned over to the city of Columbia as part of 2002
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I wouldn't mind seeing Washington St go away and replaced by a new Lady Street connection across Huger Street. I don't think the Kline Steel site proposals I saw had anything like that on there, but IMO it would be worth looking into... that way we'd have a direct pedestrian connection to the State Museum along Lady, and you'd have a more functional grid. OR rebuild Lady Street and restore Washington in its correct location within the grid system, then you have 3 new blocks and a decent block structure in that area.

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