Bus Be Best Way to Beach

We celebrate the return of our Bus to the Beach Memorial weekend. Last year, in part to our Pirates on the Bus project, ridership increased by 90%. There are still empty seats on nearly every run.

Schedule and route map - can be viewed on the CARTA website.

Right- Bus Pirate Day at the beach, June 2023

Isle of Pirates Day 2024 will be Saturday, July 13. Read the details and sign up on Facebook. 

Service Begins with a Boom- The Beach Reach Shuttle began running Memorial Weekend and carried twice as many passengers as it did on the same weekend a year ago. All available parking on the Isle of Palms was evidently occupied for most of the weekend. Many people drove out to the beach, searched for parking, failed to find any and ended up driving back to the mainland an hour or more later, never having seen the beach. Some found our bus and some, with disappointed children, gave up and returned home. If you have to search for parking the bus will always be faster. Your kids won't be bored in the car. They'll be having the adventure of a trip on the bus. 

#40 Mount Pleasant Bus connects the Beach  Reach Shuttle to the rest of the CARTA system, leaving the Mary Street Transit Center downtown once an hour where it connects to eight other bus routes running to other parts of downtown, North Charleston, West Ashley and James Island. Find a link to maps of this route on the Ride Carta fixed routes page. 

Pirates vs. Barbie/Kenergy- Our pirates will return to the beach this summer, probably on July 4, but this year they'll have rivals, the crowd from Barbieland, ready to beach under the leadership of Ken and the living doll herself. Doing something like this on a major holiday is always a space shot. If you would like to help, let us know. It's pink vs. black, so choose  your clothing to show your sympathies. The pirate crew seems pretty committed, so we'll need the Barbies and the Bros to come of the bench and out to the beach. We'll be burying treasure on the beach, doing some pirate games with the public. Ken and his friends will "beach." Pirates will challenge the Island's rum supply again while the folks from Barbie Land have specialty cocktails of their own. The bartenders of IOP have never failed us yet and the bus assures a safe trip home for everyone. 

We may also have another bus to the  beach party at Container Bar on the #20 Route downtown. Last year's Pirate Party at Container Bar was a blast with sword fights, drama and  an exceptional effort from the food truck and the bar, 

Free Fair, Free Parking, Free Beach- Free parking is available near the stop in Mt. Pleasant Town Center on Market Center drive. However you can also take the #40 Mt. Pleasant bus from the Mary Street Transit Center in downtown Charleston for regular fare. The schedules for the beach reach shuttle and #40 are synchronized so you shouldn't have a wait at Mt. Pleasant Town Center. 

Electronic Wayfinding- The Beach Reach Shuttle is represented on the Transit App which will allow you to track it's location and get ETAs in real time. You can also use the Transit App and Google Maps / Transit to plan your transit trip to the beach from anywhere in the Lowcountry which has transit service, however since the shuttle only works on Summer weekends and holidays these services will report no service to IOP unless you have set the time and date for your trip when the service is running. Here is a Google Maps trip plan for Memorial Day from downtown Charleston to the beach.   You should download the transit app now if you don't already have it on your phone. 

left - Pitching our banner at the entrance to folly beach on Memorial weekend, 2018

Your Tax Dollars at Work- The shuttle is free thanks to contributions from the Tourism Tax funds of the City of Isle of Palms and Town of Mt. Pleasant. We've encouraged the support of IOP by awarding them the Key to the Sea, which resides in a wooden case at IOP City Hall. It's companion key was tossed into the waves last year to open the ocean and celebrate the restart of service on a cold, wet memorial day. 

You Have a Place at the Beach- The shuttle lets you off at the Charleston County Park on the front beach IOP. Since you don't have to pay for parking, use of the park is also free. That includes indoor, flush toilets in their air conditioned building, outdoor showers and changing rooms. 

IOP has City Bathrooms and Showers- In the middle of the commercial strip, the City of the Isle of Palms maintains it's own free shower and toilet facility. It's closer to many locations if you decide to beach west of the pier. 

Veteran Visits- If you are a veteran or active duty military, the VFW Post on the Coast will welcome you to their extraordinary beachfront location. Located next to the Windjammer, up a small walkway you'll find veterans enjoying a wonderful beachfront deck with a bonus view of the adjacent Windjammer stage where there is often music. The Post has toilets, a bar and sometimes food. There are events there throughout the summer. The VFW has been a strong supporter of the Beach Reach Shuttle since their members don't have to look for parking. 

IOP Front Beach Businesses- IOP has a wonderful, small beachfront business district with places to eat and shop. Let them know that you came on the bus since it's their tourism taxes helping pay for it. Here is a list of IOP restaurants. The ones near the bus stop are in the center of the island. 

Image right- A Bus Driver drink concocted by Coconut Joes on IOP as part of our July 2015 March to the Sea to help return Transit to the Atlantic. Has gold rum, red cherry and green lime (they ran out of limes that day) for the colors of the Best Friend train. 

Wonderful Wait- On your way home, the waiting area outside the park where the bus stops is shaded and has plentiful benches. With the sea breeze, it's probably the most comfortable bus stop in the Lowcountry on a hot summer day. 

Stopover on your way home. The #40 bus runs later than the Beach Shuttle so you can stop over on your way home at Mount Pleasant Town Centre. There's a Lowes, a movie theater, over 13 restaurants and many other shops and businesses. If you shower and change at the beach, you'll be OK to enjoy some time there. 

Not finished until we get to Folly. We still want a bus out to Folly Beach, where parking is now over $20 in their downtown area. Folly is a much tougher place to reach, but we were able to push the Folly Road bus further out to Sol Legare road at the Harris Teeter where it's an easy bike ride out to folly or a challenging walk, side walked all the way. Almost  there. We were also able to get frequency of service on the Folly Road bus increased. Bus ride to end of the Folly Road Bus line on Google Maps

The late Mary Smith appearing as Sylphide, our Transit Fairy

Nothing is Easy and even a Free Bus Isn't Free- It took seven long, hard years of grassroots advocacy aimed at both the East Cooper area and Folly Beach to get this shuttle running and we've put a lot of work into getting people to ride. All you need to do to make that effort worthwhile is to ride the shuttle and bring your friends. Several members of the team which fought to get the bus back out to the beach did not live to ride it. Julia Hamilton and Mary Smith (Our transit fairy) included. The struggle for better transit in the Lowcountry has been a long, hard one but we have progress to be proud of. There are hundreds of new shelters standing or planned for our exisiting bus lines. Service has been increase on the Northbridge and Dorchester Road routes. Ridership, though still below what it was before the pandemic is building. The LCRT, though reduced in scope, slowly advances towards construction and CARTA has stuck to it's guns in the controversy over the fairgrounds. There is a massive, now funded project to build affordable housing and walkable communties along and near Rivers Ave. Every inch of this progress was fought for and six of our core advocates have already taken their last ride. 

We hope when you crest across the dunes at IOP and you feel the cool, fresh breeze of the ocean that you will remember our departed friends. You can do that by scratching our symbol, taken from the Best Friend of Charleston into the sand, awaiting the return of the ocean to wipe it away. If you are there on a lucky day, you might be able to dig up some of our pirate treasure. 

Support our Work, More Information - To support the work of Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit you can contribute on Act Blue. For information or assistance contact William Hamilton at wjhamilton29464@gmail.com or 843-870-5299.