CARTA Users: More Bus Stops Needed

More than $100 million is being poured into road improvements along Hwy. 17 in Mount Pleasant, but the overhaul has ignored public transit, according to a handful of CARTA users who addressed Mount Pleasant Town Council on Tuesday.

Those riders say CARTA saw steady ridership growth until April when the Johnnie Dodds Boulevard overhaul removed bus stops and made routes too complicated.

The inconvenience is expected, said William Hamilton, an outspoken advocate for public transit, but town leaders shouldn't wait for the construction to be complete to add bus stops.

"We need safe, comfortable places to wait for the bus," Hamilton said. "It will cost everyone more if we wait."

Hamilton said the town should ask the S.C. Department of Transportation to fund bus stops along Hwy. 17. The town should also add covered bus stops to Coleman and McGrath-Darby boulevards.

CARTA users say bus stops without awnings, clear markings or benches are inconvenient. Adding those features will increase ridership, they say, among groups who do not currently use CARTA.

"It's cheaper for me to ride the bus, as a senior citizen," one resident said. "And if you look around, that's who is going to be riding on the bus in the future."

The council will consider the comments, said Mayor Pro-Tem Thomasena Stokes-Marshall.