Summerville to the Sea 5/26- Bus Trip

Summerville to the Sea Bus Trip

Saturday, June 26, 2021 - Juneteenth Plus a Week

For more info contact William Hamilton, Executive Director of Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit at (843) 870-5299.

Summerville, SC- You are invited to join the Dorchester Unit of Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit as they complete their Juneteenth commemoration with an epic Transit demonstration pilgrimage to the beach at the Isle of Palms from downtown Summerville, on Saturday, June 26 starting at 9:30 am. You can join them anywhere along their trip to the sea or follow the entire effort online.

General information on the Reach the Beach shuttle

They’ll begin their pilgrimage on Hutchison Square in downtown Summerville at 9:30 am and carpool 9.3 miles through a stop at Lincolnville Town Hall (where more riders will join) and on to the CARTA park and ride facility at Melnic Dr. in N. Charleston. There, they will board the south bound #10 Rivers Ave. Bus at 10:10 am. They’ll transfer in Downtown Charleston at the Mary Street Transit Center (where anyone who likes is welcome to join the Journey) at 11:15 am to continue on the #40 Mt. Pleasant Bus which will take us out to Mt. Pleasant Town Center/Market Center Drive (where again you can join the ride) to board the Reach the Beach Shuttle at 12:17 pm which will finally arrive at the Ocean at 12:40 pm. See the full trip on Google Transit. https://goo.gl/maps/pH78c9K5G1sDWgQw6  

At the Isle of Palms, we’ll swim, have a picnic, build transit oriented sand castles and enjoy the afternoon before boarding the Beach Shuttle at 4:15 to begin the trip home, which will reach the Melnic Park and Ride at 7:10 pm. See the return trip on Google Transit https://goo.gl/maps/zEAbYzcsJA9uBLMK9

Beach shuttle stop at Mt. Pleasant Town Centre

If you can’t join the trip, you can follow the journey on Social Media through www.bfltransit.com. You can reach the group by telephone at (843) 870-5299. They’ll be turning nearly six hours on a total of six different buses into quality time with games, fun and discussion connecting via the buses free 5g Internet with the national transit equity community as well as the Lowcountry. Our theme song for the day will be selected by a public poll, we’ll be stenciling special T Shirts and at the beach we’ll plant a special flag to mark success in our six year effort to return transit to the Atlantic, Summerville to the Sea. Children who complete the trip will be awarded one of our Polynesian bone fish hook pendants given to participants in our Open the Ocean for Kids effort.

Walkway to Beach from Bus Stop

Total bus fare for an adult will be four dollars round trip, Senior citizens over age 55 will be two dollars, Charleston County Students, children under age 6, CofC Students, MUSC Students and Staff are all free. For those dealing with economic challenges, Best Friends will be providing free bus fare, drinks and lunches for the day. There are free showers and toilets on the Isle of Palms. If you would like to support the effort, tax deductible donations can be made through act blue online at You can contribute to the support of this effort online on Act Blue at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/best-friends-of-lowcountry-transit--inc--1?fbclid=IwAR2LGKxdmMUqJKvcGZGKYPlZKfC0qfcvvk5SyqC0M1FAzs3556LTDvSSEi0 

This effort is sponsored financially partially by the Amalgamated Transit Union and a number of local unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

As our transit system currently exists, this trip is barely possible and still requires a 9.3 mile drive in an automobile because unreliable LINK Transit from Summerville to N. Charleston does not operate on the weekends or holidays when the Reach the Beach Shuttle is available.

The Dorchester Unit of Beast Friends of Lowcountry Transit is campaigning actively with efforts in from Dorchester to Washington, DC to have the original 2015 plan for the Bus Rapid Transit line approved by Charleston County voters in the Nov. 2016 referendum restored which brought rapid trainst all the way to downtown Summerville. The current, deeply compromised plan ends the transit line at the Fairgrounds on Highway 78 in Ladson and ceases to be rapid transit with the end of dedicated busways in N. Charleston just South of Reynolds Ave.

Shuttle stopped at Isle of Palms

Summerville Transit Activist Linda Saylor estimates that even after LCRT is built as currently proposed and operating, this same trip will still take: 68 minutes walking and travel on LINK (based on existing weekday service, assuming it Runs on the weekends then) to reach the Fairgrounds from downtown Summerville; Forty-five minutes on LCRT to Huger Street in Downtown Charleston and One hour and 8 minutes from Huger Street in Downtown Charleston to the Beach, a total of 181 minutes or three hours. Of course, after three hours riders will have to head to the bathroom before they reach the beach, a walk of nine more minutes.

This ride is one of several planned by Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit this summer to help bring transit riders to the beach. Among those joining the rides will be families and children who seldom and sometimes have never seen the sea as part of their Open the Ocean for Kids effort. 

For more information on the effort, see they hyperlinked version of this information release at https://tinyurl.com/sville2sea . You may also call William Hamilton, Executive Director of Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit at (843) 870-5299.

 Make our New Isle of Palms Reach the Beach Bus Fare Free and Open the Ocean for Everyone

From Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit, Inc
To SC Press and Media

Release May 20, 2021

At the May 19th. CARTA Board meeting, Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie announced that the Town of Mount Pleasant was prepared to pay half of the Sixteen Thousand Dollar cost of making the planned Summer CARTA Beach Reach Shuttle between Mt. Pleasant and the Isle of Palms fare free. The City of the Isle of Palms had apparently considered paying the balance, but as of the meeting had either decided not to do so or was still considering it.

Image, above, right Outreach in N. Charleston's "Macon" district helped begin an outreach effort which has already reached 12 thousand potential transit riders with information about the Reach the Beach Shuttle.

On January 31, 2021, the Isle of Palms showed a balance of Two Million, Forty Thousand and Two Hundred and Three Dollars ($2,040,203) in its accommodations tax fund for tourism development on hand, almost all of which was paid by visitors to the beach. See ATAX Agenda for Feb. 2021. https://drive.google.com/file/d/11iQk4jJVWk6zJ4Tf_aQPbTk2HB5nKoW9/view?usp=sharing Making the beach shuttle more successful will improve everyone’s beach experience this summer, even if you drive to and park at the beach. 

During the CARTA board meeting, It was suggested that other municipalities such as the City of Charleston or North Charleston might step up to contribute the balance needed. 

Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit supports the effort to make the beach shuttle fare free. We call upon the City of Isle of Palms and other area governments and business associations to pitch in the additional Eight thousand dollars to make the last leg of the transit trip to the beach fare free. We also believe benches need to be installed at the temporary bus stop on the Island which lacks shade and is two blocks from the town center where shade and seating is available.

Image, Right, Transit Outreach West of the Ashley, May 18.

A family of transit riders traveling from N. Charleston or West Ashley will need an hour or more on the bus to reach Mount Pleasant Town Centre where they can transfer to the Beach shuttle. Since those trips require a transfer from other lines such as the St. Andrews of Rivers Ave. Bus to the Mount Pleasant #40 bus, those riders will have to pay another Two Dollars over the original Two Dollar fare they’ve already paid for the first two legs of their trip just to complete the last, short run out to the Isle of Palms.  In many cases, people using the system for the first time or not fully understanding the fare structure, may discover they lack change to pay and won’t have time to leave the bus to obtain change, meaning an hour wait for the next bus.

This last year has been an incredibly difficult one for our community. Some transit riders worked through the entire pandemic. Other transit riders have been returning to work in our critical tourism and medical sectors.  Bus ridership has already doubled over a year ago. Many of these people work two jobs. On their rare weekend or holiday off, we need to do everything we can to make their family's precious trip to the beach easy. Best Friends is already organizing transit beach outings for these children and families, many of whom have never been to the beach, despite living in the Charleston area for a lifetime.

Full details on the Reach the Beach Shuttle can be found at https://bfltransit.blogspot.com/2021/02/bus-to-beach-2021-unlock-ocean.html

Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit will continue its Open the Ocean effort is support of this new transit service with a multicultural community block party called Sea Island Luau at the Pink House Playa on Saturday, May 22 from 4 to 7 pm at the Pink House Neighborhood Resource Center West of the Ashely and a Bus to the Beach Barn Jam at Awendaw Green on Wednesday. The effort has already reached 12 thousand potential transit riders. 

Our new beach shuttle service is the result of a six year community effort to return transit to the Atlantic and open the ocean. It should be a celebration for better things to come offered to the community in a way which will assure its success.

For more information contact Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit Executive Director William Hamilton at (843) 870-5299 or wjhamilton29464@gmail.com 

 

End End End

Return the Rapid to Summerville May 13

Thur., May 13, 2021 at 6 pm
Council Chambers 200 S. Main St.
Summerville, SC 29483

Facebook event signup

Join the Dorchester Unit of Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit on May 13, 2021 at 6 pm for the regular Summerville Town Council meeting to demand an effort be made to restore Summerville’s connection to the planned rapid transit system to Charleston and to improvements to existing LINK service and the installations of functional bus stops in downtown Summerville. If you can, speak during the public comment period and hand up your written comments to the members of Town Council. Please bring 8 copies of your input, one for each member of council, one for the Mayor and one for the Clerk. We would love to have a copy as well. 

Train service between Summerville and Charleston ended in the early 1960s after operating for nearly 130 years. The station near Hutchison Square was demolished. Planning for a rapid transit system between Summerville and Charleston started in the 1990s. Charleston County voters decided to build a bus rapid transit system between Charleston and Summerville in the 2016 half penny sales tax referendum.

Currently being controlled by the Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester Council of Governments (BCD COG), over 8 million dollars has already been spent on planning and design. Without public notice or a vote by any elected official, a decision was made to end the transit system at the Fairgrounds on Highway 78 a few months ago. Local officials claim they learned about this in an email. There is no record of Summerville Town Council ever voting on this issue.

Large areas of Summerville are in Charleston County

One of the reasons cited for abandoning at transit link to Summerville is that it isn't in Charleston County. This is of course, untrue. Large parts of Summerville are now in Charleston County inhabited by citizens who voted for this Transit system and have been paying sales taxes to build it. See graphic at right. 

We know, from visiting these areas that people there want the rapid transit line to reach their area. 

The transit line can reach Summerville without ever leaving Charleston County, provided it goes as far as Lincolnville and the county line. People will be able to walk to it from downtown Summerville. The loser of course will be the downtown Summerville business district, which could boom by getting more business without more traffic. If the line doesn't reach downtown Summerville, that business district will have to compete with one which will grow up around the end of the line to the South.

The BCD COG is currently pushing for a plan which leaves Summerville, Lincolnville and most of Ladson off the Transit line with the goal of submitting it for federal approval in the next few months. Summerville will miss it's opportunity to have it's rapid transit connection funded by the Trillion dollar Federal Infrastructure stimulus bill and that money will go to other communities.

Summerville is supposed to get improved bus service to the fairgrounds. It currently takes 2.5 to 3 hours to reach Charleston on LINK and CARTA public transit, both currently operated by the BCD COG. Buses do not run on schedule. Buses often do not connect with each other in N. Charleston leaving riders with a half hour or longer wait. Stops on the Summerville to N. Charleston route are unmarked. Read Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit's report on the bus service between Summerville and N. Charleston.  

No service from Summerville to N. Charleston on link will be available to take Summerville and Lincolnville residents to the Beach this summer since LINK doesn’t run those lines on Holidays or Weekends when the CARTA beach service runs to the Isle of Palms.

We've prepared a list of things you can do to try to get the Summerville Transit connection restored. 

Ladson, Lincolnville and the parts of Summerville in Charleston County voted for and are paying for rapid transit. That promise should be kept. 

If you would like to be on our mailing list to get updates on this and other Lowcountry Transit issues use this form.

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HOP #7 Food and Beverage Workers Bus to be Suspended May 8

We were dismayed to hear that the delayed decision to suspend operation of the HOP bus which was designed to help Food and Beverage Workers would go into effect on May 8. 

Community Outreach in N. Chareleston

We never felt the grass roots outreach to the rank and file workers by CARTA was fully effective. We've been doing outreach to F&B workers for years with our Benne Seed Initiative with State. Rep. JA Moore, but the lives of F&B workers leave them little time or energy to engage with the community. We've learned that traditional media such as local television and newspapers are almost useless in reaching this population. 

While the initial lot was adequate and had shelters, the one which replaced it as a building project took over the original lot was small and had no seating. The planned replacement lot is even further North on Mt. Pleasant St, by Joseph Floyd Manor and Santis and that project has been in the works for over a year. 

For people banging out plates of food to demanding customers every two minutes or faster, this pace of progress and quality of service wasn't acceptable. This with a lack of affordable housing, wages inadequate to meet the local cost of living and the general defects in our transit system is why local Restaurants and Hotels can't find the staff they need. Several major restaurant spaces are dark now because they can't find the staff to open.

You have to go talk to Food and Beverage Workers at the right time of the day and week (not when they're busy) and the back door is more important than the front door. Our Corps of Conductor's members called this reaching the grease bin since most restaurant deposit their use fry oil in a container by the back door.

When we were doing outreach downtown we often found workers side by side at the counter, one who had been riding the HOP for months and their coworker bitterly complaining about the cost of parking downtown, who didn't know it existed. With skeleton staffing at so many places now, it's even harder to have the sort of conversations which open up awareness of transit options. These are people living under incredible pressure, working difficult hours. 

Weak Transit is Crippling our Hospitality Sector

Charleston's staffing problems in its hospitality industry, which are aggravated by weak transit service and inadequate affordable housing within reach of work aren't going to be resolved by people who drive big cars to reserved parking spaces from comfortable homes. The city's basic behind the scenes political systems lack of attention to the quality of life of it's workers grows out of historic origins and dark restaurants, early closings and asking guests to make their own hotel beds will be the future unless there is major change.

Crippling the planned rapid transit line with by leaving it running in regular congested traffic below Reynold's Ave. in N. Charleston and turning the railroad line into the city over for dog walking means slow service and for restaurants and hotels, that may mean no service in many cases. 

West Ashely Bus Stop

We've been told the City decided to hand the railroad line over the Lowline greenway (the corridor is more than capable of accommodating both successfully) because they were told the appearance of a bus every 5 minutes would, "Diminish the User Experience." It brings to mind the cramped back passageways which allowed slaves to serve their masters without being seen 175 years ago which you can still see today in Charleston. Here are the details on the Low Line mistake.

The difference now, of course, is that the workers of Charleston are free (sort of) and they can choose other sectors and other places to work if they can't find a decent place to live or a reasonably quick ride home to their families after 8 or 12 hours on their feet serving visitors. We've met dozens of people during this pandemic who had worked for us for better transit and with the coalition of groups we participate in trying to get affordable housing who had simply decided to stop waiting and left to go live somewhere that had these things now.