Greenville Transit

[ausrutherford]

I don't see any problem. 

It captures Southernside, West Greenville, Greater Sullivan, Nicholtown, and Greenline-Spartanburg.

The only increase in stops is on Main Street...which is a big duh.

[bikeoid]

20 hours ago, gvegascple said:

  I was hoping for something to allow me to use my car less and its a hard sell, walk five blocks, wait for a trolley, hope there is room, then be dependent on same variables on the way home with another five block walk at the end vs just hopping in my car.  For me I think for that reason its still more of a novelty than a utility.

The trolleys are somewhat of a novelty; even the original 2 would be difficult to justify from a scratch pure business point of view.    With hindsight, they serve as an attraction and rolling tourist information center.    The new routes do not yet cover an essential transportation need, considering that they will run only part of 4 days of the week in the summer, but they are something.   

[bikeoid]

Some (very unofficial) trolley observations:

  Augusta trolley - very popular, high utilization.

 Arts District - Lower usage than hoped for, except for special events.

 There's some thought of extending the hours to midnight instead of 11PM, possibly on certain days or only in summer.

[GvilleSC]

1 hour ago, bikeoid said:

Some (very unofficial) trolley observations:

  Augusta trolley - very popular, high utilization.

 Arts District - Lower usage than hoped for, except for special events.

 There's some thought of extending the hours to midnight instead of 11PM, possibly on certain days or only in summer.

That's great news! More residential build up in the arts district would assist in ridership, I would think. Things like the proposed Senior living place on Augusta are good for the future and expansion of this experiment. 

[Jet-set]

Finally, GreenLink has secured funding for 2 Proterra electric buses! 

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2017/09/15/1-45-m-grant-allow-greenville-buy-2-proterra-buses/671661001/

[bikeoid]

Voice and text stop annunciators, and door passenger counters are being installed on the trolleys (as well as all Greenlink buses).

[GvilleSC]

31 minutes ago, bikeoid said:

Voice and text stop annunciators, and door passenger counters are being installed on the trolleys (as well as all Greenlink buses).

Good upgrade! Annunciators help take a lot of stress out of first time rides and figuring out the system.  That's really nice to see! 

[PuppiesandKittens]

Interesting article in today's Greenville News about maybe finally expanding Greenlink to have evening and Sunday service, and expanding frequencies to every 30 minutes---to help provide transportation for the working poor.

First, how about the rest of us, who could take transit by choice; that's a small market in Greenville, but surely having a transit system that might appeal to people besides the poor would have more support, and thus more funding.

Second, I see that the county and city contribute only a few hundred thousand each to Greenlink.  For the tens of millions spent on road construction, that's all they can come up with?

[gman430]

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2018/04/08/downtown-greenville-job-growth-transportation-park-and-ride-greenlink/492498002/

“Employers representing more than 1,000 downtown jobs recently called together leaders of both the county and the city to discuss short-term solutions – mainly the idea of a park-and-ride system subsidized by businesses – but also to send a dire warning that downtown might struggle to attract, or even retain, employers in the future.

“My company will hire 100 new employees this year, and I have no earthly idea how they’re going to get into downtown,” said Jon-Michial Carter, CEO of ChartSpan and organizer of the newly formed Downtown Transportation Coalition, which currently includes the likes of Table 301, the Hyatt Regency, Windsor Aughtry Company and Rick Erwin Dining Group.”

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by gman430

[PuppiesandKittens]

4 hours ago, gman430 said:

“My company will hire 100 new employees this year, and I have no earthly idea how they’re going to get into downtown,” said Jon-Michial Carter, CEO of ChartSpan and organizer of the newly formed Downtown Transportation Coalition, which currently includes the likes of Table 301, the Hyatt Regency, Windsor Aughtry Company and Rick Erwin Dining Group.”

 

I can tell you how, Jon-Michial Carter.  In the near term, you pay them enough so that they can afford to pay for parking.  Duh!

I've always been on the right side of the aisle politically, but I am so tired of CEOs who simply won't pay enough and prefer to impose burdens on others instead.

Edited April 8, 2018 by PuppiesandKittens

[cabelagent]

4 hours ago, gman430 said:

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2018/04/08/downtown-greenville-job-growth-transportation-park-and-ride-greenlink/492498002/

“Employers representing more than 1,000 downtown jobs recently called together leaders of both the county and the city to discuss short-term solutions – mainly the idea of a park-and-ride system subsidized by businesses – but also to send a dire warning that downtown might struggle to attract, or even retain, employers in the future.

“My company will hire 100 new employees this year, and I have no earthly idea how they’re going to get into downtown,” said Jon-Michial Carter, CEO of ChartSpan and organizer of the newly formed Downtown Transportation Coalition, which currently includes the likes of Table 301, the Hyatt Regency, Windsor Aughtry Company and Rick Erwin Dining Group.”

 

Growing pains....happens to all growing progressive cities.

[gman430]

I would support a penny sales tax increase for mass transit.   It has nothing to do with just companies downtown either. The transit system in Greenville is a joke when it comes to comparing it to peer cities. 

Edited April 8, 2018 by gman430

[cabelagent]

53 minutes ago, gman430 said:

I would support a penny sales tax increase for mass transit.   It has nothing to do with just companies downtown either. The transit system in Greenville is a joke when it comes to comparing it to peer cities. 

Me too....believe it will happen eventually. 

[Upstate Guy]

I think park and ride locations feeding in from the Golden Strip, Wade Hampton, Furman, and Easly would be helpful to the system. The thing that strikes me as being very odd is the lack of any connection between routs except in downtown. There needs to be a circular route around the midpoint of each route that runs around the city. This may be the circulator route others have spoken of...I am not an expert or even somewhat informed about this topic. I also think I direct bus link from the Airport to downtown would be useful. 

 

On a side note...can anyone explain to me why the system insists on buying big busses? Would it not make more sense to buy smaller busses and add more as ridership increases thus increasing frequency? I know personnel costs are a big part of the system's budget but its just a thought. 

[motonenterprises]

I'm glad that businesses are working together to try and find a solution to limited transit.

[vicupstate]

Charleston opens new Hospitality Park and Ride service

Charleston's hospitality workers soon will see a far friendlier place to park.

The Hospitality on Peninsula lot at 999 Morrison Drive opens Sunday morning and will operate almost around the clock. Its 175-vehicle lot and dedicated shuttle will run from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.

The cost to park there is $5 a day, far less than using metered spaces — now at $2 per hour — or one of the city's garages.

In addition to the HOP service, commuters also may seek out reduced after-hours rates in city-owned garages and the recently launched Lowcountry Go commuter services program that offers rideshare matches.

[GvilleSC]

4 minutes ago, vicupstate said:

Charleston opens new Hospitality Park and Ride service

Charleston's hospitality workers soon will see a far friendlier place to park.

The Hospitality on Peninsula lot at 999 Morrison Drive opens Sunday morning and will operate almost around the clock. Its 175-vehicle lot and dedicated shuttle will run from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.

The cost to park there is $5 a day, far less than using metered spaces — now at $2 per hour — or one of the city's garages.

In addition to the HOP service, commuters also may seek out reduced after-hours rates in city-owned garages and the recently launched Lowcountry Go commuter services program that offers rideshare matches.

That's an interesting concept-- seems like a great idea for Charleston right now 

[bikeoid]

Park and Ride 'express' service would likely be successful in one or more areas, but since it would require an up front investment before there are enough regular riders to pay for it, it's not likely to happen.

Optimizing bus sizes would require some management data on how full the buses are at all times of day.  That information was not previously available except by manual data collection from a worker riding each route.   Starting this year with the automatic tracking equipment running, they can make informed decisions about whether and when to run smaller buses.

[Upstate Guy]

The upfront cost is something that the city and county are going to have to come to terms with. There are businesses willing to help out with this. Maybe they would be willing to front the cost of park and ride passes for their employees for the first year who wanted to use it. 

 

[SVL]

Transit plan outlines how Greenlink could expand hours, service

Quote

Now, there’s a plan that would roughly double the size of Greenlink — increasing the frequency and number of routes. But it comes at a cost. If everything in the plan is done, the bus system’s annual operating cost would more than triple, and capital costs would exceed $55 million.

 

[gman430]

Greenlink has been awarded a $11 million grant for a new transit facility by the USDOT. Only transit agency in the state to receive a grant. 

[GvilleSC]

58 minutes ago, gman430 said:

Greenlink has been awarded a $11 million grant for a new transit facility by the USDOT. Only transit agency in the state to receive a grant. 

"Transit facility" meaning... maintenance facility to replace the one on Augusta, or a new depot/transfer center?

[gman430]

9 minutes ago, GvilleSC said:

"Transit facility" meaning... maintenance facility to replace the one on Augusta, or a new depot/transfer center?

Not sure. Here is what the Greenville News says: 

According to the federal agency, GTA's grant is for "a new transit facility. The project will help GTA meet maintenance and operational needs as local population and ridership continue to grow."

And the FTA link: https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/fiscal-year-2018-bus-and-bus-facilities-projects

Edited September 25, 2018 by gman430

[gman430]

It's for a new maintenance facility:  https://greenvillejournal.com/2018/09/25/greenvilles-bus-system-gets-11-million-grant-for-new-maintenance-facility/ Total cost is $20-22 million and size is 28,000 square feet. It will be able to accommodate 50 vehicles at one time but will not be built on the current maintenance facility site. That site will instead be put up for sale and proceeds will help pay for the new one. New site is TBD. Completion slated in three years. 

By the way, this grant is tied for the highest amount ($11 million) given to any transit system in the country this funding go around. 

 

And on top of that news from the FTA is the city announcing an extra $1.25 million for Greenlink:  

The $1.25 million for transportation will be leveraged against $2.75 million in federal and state funds to buy two new electric buses from local manufacturer Proterra, buy another two diesel buses and three new cutaway buses and then overhaul 12 current buses to extend their useful lives another five years.

"This is much-needed to improve our decrepit and aged fleet," Greenlink director Gary Sheppard said.

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.greenvilleonline.com/amp/1353978002

Edited September 25, 2018 by gman430

[vicupstate]

Greenville News article has been updated too

Bus System gets $11 million grant