Bus Route 40
Posted by Jennifer Norman April 29th, 2008 .It’s official. After living in Mt. Pleasant for almost eleven years, I had yet to use a form of public transportation. No longer - I introduced myself to CARTA via bus route 40. I am officially becoming a bus rider.
I consulted the website for CARTA, and was dismayed by the lack of working information concerning bus stops. I studied the map, then departed on Saturday morning to find the bus stop at Towne Centre. I missed the bus, but I saw it pass the stop: An unmarked bench baking in the sun by Hungryneck Boulevard. Good thing I had book, sunscreen, and tunes.
I boarded the next bus, paid $1.25, and rode the bus to Meeting and Mary Streets, near The Charleston Visitor Center. There were many stops along the way, even in front of Whole Foods. Some stops were clearly marked with the green CARTA sign, while some had benches and a litter bin. Other stops had little indication, like the one by the Goodwill on Highway 17 where there was just a man standing there signaling bus.
The bus itself was clean. The temperature was pleasant, the seats were comfortable, and the company was quiet. It was nice to sit back and watch the scenery. It had been too long since I had ridden a bus.
My son Graham loves to venture downtown. There are so many wonderful places for a child, and adult, to explore. Round trip mileage cut would be 12 miles. We generally drive downtown twice a week. Mass transit is an answer to lessening my impact. I’ll let you know how my littlest guy likes his first bus ride downtown.
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Way to go, Jennifer. Kudos to you for becoming a CARTA patron despite its deficiencies. After hearing your description of the stops along the way downtown, you reminded me of my similar frustrations with CARTA on my side of town, James Island. It’s almost like they DON”T want you to ride the bus. I don’t know how it is in Mt. Pleasant, but the stops in James Island are inconvenient and inadequate. Plus, a bus to Folly from downtown would be nice! It’s a real disappointment for a city growing so rapidly not to provide a practical means to get around. I just don’t get it. We are modeling our highway (I526) off of other cities–we should at least strive to support our citizens with public transportation like other cities. It seems like the only thing you can do as an individual is support the current system and ride the bus. Since the last tax hike (2004 1/2 cent sales tax) went straight to I526 construction–what can we do as citizens to tell our representatives we demand a better CARTA? Anyone got any ideas?
Hey Jennifer,
Nice work! I recently started taking the CARTA Express bus in Mount Pleasant from the new super-WalMart past Highway 41, which lives up to it’s name: the trip from way out in Mount P to my stop downtown is usually under 30 minutes since there’s only one stop (at the Kmart).
The great thing: the bus is consistently packed. I’m guessing some of it is due to the high gas prices, and lack of parking for MUSC workers (who seem to be the majority of riders), but regardless, it’s nice to see them so full.
The Express bus is also very clean and always has a free newspaper on hand. Not sure if that’s a result of fewer stops, but I haven’t had any complaints so far.
Give it a try if you get a chance.
We appreciate you riding. CARTA is always working to improve the services we offer so thank you for the feedback.
We agree that some of the signage in Mount Pleasant could be improved. We also are forwarding your comments to the Town of Mount Pleasant, who is in charge of signage in the area.
For future trips, you can always call the CARTA office at (843) 724-7420. The dispatcher phone number is a good one to have saved in your phone too - (843) 747-0922.
Erin Watson
On Behalf of CARTA
Glad you joined the ranks! This is our eighth month riding CARTA full time. One of us rides the 40 and the other rides the 10. We made the bold (or crazy - LOL) choice to completely give up our car when the lease expired last year. Living downtown makes it very do-able.
Choosing public transportation is a long run benefit to all. Not only does it reduce pollution, it relieves road rage, offers educational time via reading (free papers too), saves a bundle of money and allows greater social interaction among many other benefits (like weight loss). But our true motivation is a world view that doesn’t easily tolerate unjustified war. Regardless of what anyone thinks, we took a stand in our personal lives mainly because we feel this country is totally on the wrong track. And the deeper story of America’s oil dependency is just now beginning to heat up.
To Josh who said: “It’s a real disappointment for a city growing so rapidly not to provide a practical means to get around. I just don’t get it.” Here is an excellent article on the many reasons the South is behind in adapting to the idea of public transportation.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KXG/is_3_7/ai_n15762679/pg_1
Despite a few limitations on occassion we can truly say we’ve enjoyed the shift to public transportation. Our CARTA adventures started the day we gave up our car and got on the Savannah Highway bus
http://www.onlyincharleston.com/2007/09/curing-oil-addiction-converting-to.html
Good luck with your journeys. We enjoy your posts and will be watching out now for anything CARTA related. And maybe one day soon our compost will look as good as yours!
Harry & Stacey
Thanks for posting that Harry and Stacey…that made my morning!