Bridge Emergency Mt. Pleasant Transit Outreach Begins Today - Wed. May 23

Real public transit has come to Mount Pleasant after years of service cuts as the result of the failure of the Westbound Wando River Bridge and bus service on some routes has been tripled. Ferries now link Mount Pleasant to Charleston. Now is the time to get the community on board, build ridership and hold on to this service into the future when the 29 year old bridge may need to be replaced.

Wednesday's outreach effort will begin before dawn with a special action to get Mt. Pleasant's attention. Watch our facebook feed and twitter, hashtag #chstransit for updates.

We'll be available to spek to the media all day at Mount Pleasant Town Hall. We need printing, plastic door hanger bags and meals for our crew and volunteers.

On Wednesday, May 23, Best Friends of Lowcountry Tranist has mobilized the entire Corps of Conductors to get the word out about these expended transit options. Starting at 9 am at Mount Pleasant Town Hall, we'll begin outreach across the town on a scale never before attempted by our organization with the goal of reaching over 1000 households and over 2000 potential tranist riders in a single day.

We've prepared our own outreach materials to improve upon the online materials released by CARTA. Due to the backup of East Cooper Print Shops, we need to crowd source making copies from offices and private individuals. Print shops appear to be the only businesses in Mt. Pleasant making more money at the moment, but their staff can't reliably get to work from where they live across the river. People in Mt. Pleasnat can't easily travel to N. Charleston to pick up printing. This means places like Staples are slammed with orders while staff to finish them can't get to work on time.

Except for acute moments, the mammoth traffic snarls of last week have vanished East of the Cooper. However that is because people aren't driving, moving or spending money. Local businesses have seen drastic reductions in business. The car economy has failed Mt. Pleasant and transit is needed to help get our community moving and save our local, family owned businesses. Unless you are a copy shop or a business attempting to replace goods or services traditionally purchased across the river, you aren't making money in Mt. Pleasant right now. With Spoleto and a critical tourism weekend ahead. The community has to act today.

Please go to our Facebook Feed, download the most recent version of the two page flyer, make copies and bring them to Mount Pleasant Town Hall Wednesday. Updates and corrections are expected. We requested printed materials from CARTA, but we don't know what, if anything, will actually arrive.

This is the version of the Flyer we had at the time this blog was published. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WbFZKpPEaEk86CWM4sGDPL5wsIFpk-YT/view?usp=sharing

We'll be working out of Mount Pleasant Town Hall all day, improving outreach materials and sending teams out to reach the community before the holiday weekend.  If we reach people now, they'll talk about it over the holiday and be ready to ride next week. If these new transit services aren't used, CARTA will cancel them.

Come by Mount Pleasant Town Hall at or after 9 am. Wear comfortable walking shoes, bring a bag to hold literature, a water bottle and a hat.  This is a make it up as you go along, do anything which might work effort under emergency conditions, so expect a bumpy ride. For immediate information call Best Friends Executive Director William Hamilton at (843) 870-5299.

Together, we'll go forward.