Charleston's Talking Public Transit

Before the Memorial Day weekend holiday, we were cruising through our feed reader and noticed a post on Go Green Charleston's blog referencing CARTA, Charleston's public transportation system. Go Green was experimenting with a few bus rides. Since we have given up our car and have taken to full dependency on CARTA, we commented on Go Green's site to give our fellow bloggers an attaboy. Our comments naturally invited the thoughts of another local opinionator, Joshua, as he jumped in to express disappointment with local public transportation. BTW, Josh and his family are also using bio-diesel (see way below)Click here for original comments at Gogreencharleston.org.

Joshua's disatisfaction with CARTA is important. He says simply, "fix CARTA." So after receiving the appropriate permissions, we've copied the greater portion of the discussion here for anyone interested in this issue. We get thoroughly into the limitations and difficulties facing cities like ours where public transit has been largely ignored in an age of cheap, cheap oil. Ultimately, it's time to transition, so please enjoy! Joshua's comments are italicized. He can be found at jdm843@gmail.com or www.citizencollaboration.org

“Y’all, I have to chime in to this! I think it’s great you’re riding CARTA. I think it’s great to fantasize what CARTA could be like. But don’t you think it could be better? Don’t you think it should be better? Shouldn’t the City be trying to make CARTA better every single day; more rideable, more transparent, better advertised? With our traffic problems getting worse by the day, gas prices skyrocketing (and proving they’re here to stay), and climate change showing its face now more than ever, shouldn’t the City be using public transit to save the day? It’s an easy fix to so many problems!! I know it’s not a cure-all, but boosting rider levels and expanding CARTA encourages sustainability, stimulates the economy, generates revenue for the City, reduces traffic problems, and just plain makes for a higher quality of life!”

Josh – although you make a lot of excellent points, getting people to change as quickly as we would like is a challenge. A lot of people don’t think like you, us and the GoGreen folks. We are a society of people raised up in the OIL AGE. The car is pushed in our faces day in and day out (via our friend, the Tellie) as not only a modern convenience, but a status symbol; an extension of the self. Large numbers have never even heard of peak oil, may not believe global warming is real and cannot even begin to understand the benefits of not keeping a car. The mass car market is so engrained in the average American’s head that things like standing at the gas pump once a week, running around to maintain services, i.e. buying tires, waiting for the oil changes, shopping for insurance, etc. are viewed as inherent parts of life. Rarely does anyone question that “lifestyle” or sit down to take a full accounting of the true costs of driving, including the value of one’s own time. Americans are now spending so much of their personal income, time and energy taking care of big pieces of metal and wiring that it is no wonder the auto becomes something the ego identifies with. And egos don’t like giving up their identities.

The City should save the day, should encourage sustainability, and should stimulate the economy, etc., etc., however, everything is connected to money and the making thereof. The half cent sales tax hardly passed a few years back when CARTA was in the red. Money was then, and still is today, the main issue behind CARTA’s failures. A necessary part of infrastructure has been largely ignored in Charleston. Now, when it is needed due to the price of gas, public transportation in the city is sub-par and inefficient. Financially challenged CARTA just didn’t get much community love in a world dominated by a personal auto mindset. When we consider that oil was super cheap a few years back when finances came to a head for CARTA, it is evident that we got the system we already demanded.

“I can’t help but complain about CARTA as I’ve experienced it so far. The services are confusing, the routes are inadequate, the pickup times are infrequent, and information on CARTA is hard to find. I demand better. We should demand better as a community. I’m sorry to sound like a Negative Nancy amidst y’all’s praise, positivity, and optimism, but I just can’t help but feel like there is a better way. I know no one in my life who sees CARTA as a viable option for getting to work, school, or the store as a primary means.”

Again, all good points. Service routes must be increased while connections are refigured and better coordinated to reduce wait time. Sub-routes must be established to move users from neighborhood pick-up/drop-off points and connected to main routes. CARTA will have extreme challenges attempting to overcome our city’s sprawling, secluded neighborhoods. The entire planning process must now be rethought. Maps and routes could be re-tooled for greater ease in personal trip planning, and last, improvements of the call in and nighttime bus services must be made. Again, much of the problem is that too few use the service, have the means to make demands, or even view the service as an essential part of a community’s ability to function. Without a lot of investment, CARTA can only do so much with what they can collect.

“Jennifer, you take the bus occasionally as a novelty on the weekends, right? Harry/Stacey, you live downtown, right? Can you honestly tell me y’all would be riding CARTA to work/school every morning and home every evening if you had to get on and off the peninsula?”

Yes, we can honestly tell you that. One of us rides to work every day off of the Peninsula to Mt. Pleasant while the other takes the bus about three times weekly into North Charleston in the pursuit of higher education. Even though we live downtown, we work and study off of the peninsula. Living downtown, though, means all the periphery services are within walking distance (grocery stores, hardware stores, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, museums, cultural events, farmers market, etc.). Thinking about oil supply and demand in advance, we wanted our home to be in the center of things regardless of where we worked. When we gave up our Jaguar to make a real attempt at a car-free life, we really took the plunge! We have no car, none, zip, zilch, nada. We walk, bike, car-pool and ride the bus. That’s it.

“Or if you had to get from Mt. P to W. Ash, or if you had some other sililar commute?”

Yeah, one of our doctors is in West Ashley….but we got the route down after two tries

“Think about how early would you have to leave you home in the morning to get to work/school. I live on James Island. I have to be downtown at 8:45AM on weekdays. I’d have to bike/walk 3 miles from my house, leaving at 6:30AM to get to my closest stop by 7:01AM. The next bus doesn’t arrive for another 90 minutes. To get home, I get out of work at 5PM, my bus picks me up at 6:26PM (almost 90 minutes to kill in b/t), I get to my closest stop at 7:16PM, I walk/bike 3 miles home by 8PM. I have 2-3 hours to spend with my wife (my newborn would be asleep already) until I have to go to bed to get enough rest to spend 13.5 hours away from home the next day. Think about that! If I want to take the bus, it adds 5.5 hours to my work day! That sounds miserable to me.”

Understood – see sub-route idea above. In my case, my commute off and back onto the peninsula adds an extra 15 minutes each way. However, I read a lot and sometimes take extra work on the bus as well.

“Can you rely on CARTA to get you home after a night on the town? The latest I can get back to James Island on a Saturday night is 8:46PM! Then I’d have to walk/bike 3 miles home! Not to mention I’d have to be picked up downtown no later than 7:56PM–before the sun even sets in the summer! Kinda takes the fun out of getting dressed up with your wife and going out to eat, ya know? I’d have to leave my home at 3:45ishPM to be make dinner reservations downtown by 5:30. We’d have exactly 2 hours downtown. YAY! Once you consider the extra hours we’d haveto pay the baby sitter, that $1.25 oneway fare doesn’t seem so inexpensive anymore.”

Although it may not solve every problem it might be worthwhile for you to look into CARTA at night and the call-in service for special trips. CARTA offers these as supplemental services to the regular, limited routes.

“Once again, I hate to complain. I know y’all are focusing on the positive sides of all this. I don’t want to offend anyone–lease don’t see it that way. But let’s really look at things. There has got to be a better way. How do we speak up for this? How do we demand meaningful change? Any ideas?”

No, you haven’t offended anyone. I don’t think either GoGreen or we are avoiding the negatives of CARTAs services. CARTA has been ignored until now by the middle classes and deserves deep attention before the service will meet the needs of the majority. Opening discussions and looking at the positives might help people appreciate CARTA as a service they are willing to use a few times per week to offset fuel costs, cut consumption or reduce greenhouse gases. More riders equals more voices to set CARTA finally on a better path.

You asked what we could do. We can attract the attention of the Post & Courier, write to our Mayors, attend council meetings, call on Congress and such, but honestly, this country requires MAJOR investment in its internal infrastructure to impart real change. We need like a New Deal kind of structure and REAL LEADERSHIP to advocate change via federal and state structured funding. Our infrastructure is old, becoming dangerous due to ill maintenance and so overly oil dependent that we are now at a critical juncture as a country. We speak up by not daring to put another President in office that wastes trillions chasing foolish ideologies. We speak up by getting serious about creating jobs for the production and maintenance of alternative energy systems. We speak up by spreading the word among friends and neighbors, forming community solution groups and holding ourselves to a higher standard of excellence. We speak up by acting.

With no national energy policy and guidance to rely upon at this moment we will probably see a few communities (or entire states for that matter) move forward achieving some sense of self-reliance and sustainability, while others bump continuously into walls and slowly go broke as they stubbornly resist change. Which one will Charleston be?

A few thinkers, city planners and analysts suggest user fees to fund road and highway expenses and re-development funding initiatives to energize infill development, fund connectivity programs and incentivize reductions in consumption. User fees, for instance, would add up the ACTUAL cost of highway and road use by formulating true expense as derived by the size of the vehicle driven to length of commute, to a driver’s number of trips, fuel economy rating, time of day traveled and more. Users would be charged according to actual cost with higher fees charged to those who fail to shift their driving habits.

At any rate, Americans may be forced to deal with an aging, dangerous, and highly subsidized transportation infrastructure in 2009 when the Department of Transportation’s coffers run dry requiring refunding by Congress. Considering our nation is essentially bankrupt while oil has hit a new record of $127/bl, it is doubtful there will be a lot of money for road expansion in the near future. Some planners are saying the entire system is going to be turned upside down. We will all need to pay vigilant attention to the proposals and recommendations made for DOT funding next year as it will be an important time to make your voice heard.

Personally, we are also beginning to get involved with organizations like the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) to advance support for public transportation initiatives. Admitting that we too grew up in the oil age we’re mostly trying to educate ourselves at this point to gain a better understanding of how to adapt to the coming challenges. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of sure fire major solutions just yet. Fixing our systems will take bundling of solutions where development and energy production become an eventual mashup. We’re predicting some turbulent times, so opening the platform for discussion is important because we have to start somewhere.

CARTA’s board will have to figure out where to draw funding for any potential expansion. This will take time and the involvement of a lot of different players. CARTA’s gonna need some good marketing a few big public events, for sure!

Hope this thoroughly addresses your very thoughtful, honest comments.

Harry and Stacey

Joshua Mueller wrote
May 19th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Harry and Stacey–

Thanks for the response! I love to hear you guys have truly taken the plunge into no carville. I cannot say I’ve done that–but my wife and child and I have committed to no fossil fuels. We own two vehicles–a benz that drives on 100% waste veggie oil and a VW that runs on a 50veg/50biodiesel blend. I’d love to hear more about your personal efforts more sometime!

You are right on so many levels! We need monumental change. It’s not gonna happen unless people take ownership of their lives, their local communities, and their country. I, too predict turbulent times, I just hope that doesn’t involve global poverty, and a third World War! I often grow pessimistic, but I usually just need a little R&R boost–then I’m reminded that I just have to keep kicking and screaming! I kinda feel like society’s on a giant bus heading for the brick wall of global economic and environmental collapse, and we just step on the gas pedal (unsustainable economic growth) instead of turning the wheel to avoid the wreck!

OOF!

Keep up the Good Work!!!

Josh

My Grandma Owned A Car - Melbourne Backcasting Future Planning

Backcasting can be thought of as the opposite of forecasting. Backcasting also happens to be one of several methods employed by the people of Melbourne, Australia to establish a new city model. As the Australians face the converging realities of peaking oil, the sustainability of population growth and climate change they have put together some impressive efforts to initiate the successful transition of their city to accommodate these rising challenges.

With a seriously participatory website behind them, FutureMelbourne.com, the city invites direct public contribution through the site's Wiki platform. They describe the site to be the first of its kind, and groundbreaking for the future of city planning. Melbournians can log on, follow progress of planning, participate in on-line discussion forums, contribute ideas and offer insight adapted to specific needs.

On the site, the city has posted the intense backcasting exercises entitled, My Grandma Owned a Car. In it they take a bold look at their current growth model compared to the needs of the city in the year 2030. It's growth forecasting Back To The Future style, and is so far one of the most honest and forward thinking group planning sessions we've seen to date.

My Grandma Owned a Car, is a documentary showcasing how leading transport and urban development thinkers envisage we might be living and working in a post- peak oil and climate change future.

Where will we live when petrol is too expensive for average income earners to buy? Will the electric car mean business as usual? Will our nature strips be filled with vegetable patches?

Will we just have to travel less? More working from home? Will we all be living in dense suburbs or apartments and relying on our feet, pedals and telecommuting to transport us?

Will our future grandchildren laugh at the absurdity of us having once owned a car?

The Australians are clearly getting it that oil costs are not going to come down and that continuing to attempt to run the city on the current model of simple road expansion is neither sustainable nor sane thinking. We post this for you as a clue to the kinds of conversations that must begin to happen here in the US before it's too late. We're hitting a wall at 4 bucks a gallon. It's time to get real.

As a side note - it's Memorial Day weekend. Lately, as the bus lumbers up the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to present the grande vista of Charleston's breathtaking harbour, it's become a favorite pasttime to count boats as an economic indicator before being delivered on the opposite side of the Cooper River. As gas prices have risen, you can imagine the number of personal watercraft has proportionately diminished (the good news is, maybe there will now be less trash in our waterways). Two years ago, the harbour was packed with all walks of life enjoying their personal pleasure craft to welcome summer's arrival. Up to forty or fifty boats could be within eyeshot. Yesterday afternoon? Exactly four, yes four, boats in the harbour! One giant Mersk ship was rounding the jeddies rolling toward open seas (this one really doesn't even count because we're talking personal craft, really), two SAILBOATS occupied the waters under the bridge and one small, lone outboard was way up the river headed toward us. That was obviously the one guy who decided to ditch his moral compass, syphon gas from his neighbor's Hummer and pay his personal Memorial Day weekend hommage to summer come hell or high water.

Around the world from Australia, Charleston will most likely have to revisit the uses of wind power in future shipping. Where we see boats now, they are typically of the wind sailing type, but the idea on a mass-scale is hardly yet a thought in the public mind. We feel it may become sheer necessity over the next fifty years as diesel fuel prices and availability will force economic contraction. Open forums such as exemplified by the Australians on the Future Melbourne project will probably help inspire further solution-based thinking plotted along a new model based not upon economic growth, but rather the ability to move people and goods for the sustainability, survival and prosperity of the city. There are certainly some great ideas wrapped into these sessions. Watch out for mention of the bike tube - we liked that one ;)

Biking to a Business Event? Former Glamour Girl Surprised by Own Behavior.

The Girlscouts Women of Distinction benefit dinner, a very worthy charity event, commanded The Belle's attendance. Here is her account of events that night arriving via bicycle.

So, a few Friday nights ago an interesting and funny chain of events occured. I was invited to attend The Girlscouts of America Women of Distinction dinner in Charleston. The event was held at the Marriott on Lockwood Boulevard(approx. 1.3 mi. from our home). The Girl Scouts dinner was such an inspiring and honorable event. It's been a long time since I've thought of my own little "Brownie" days. I had forgotten what wonderful, strong, enterprising women give their support to this noble clan of sisters.

Considering, however, that our bus system, CARTA, only runs once an hour, the bus was not headed my way until much later than needed. Instead of flaunting an evening gown and arriving considerably late (part of my previous life back when I wasn't hopping busses and rocketing down King Street on pedal power) I sported a plain white shirt and sensible grey pants with sturdy, black, wide-wedged heels. Yes, you can wear heels on a bike. Although I broke a slight sweat biking and almost got my semi-fancy pant leg stuck in the chain, my arrival and departure were priceless, making the whole wet brow thing well worth it.

You'd think I'd talk more about the girlscouts - BUT I CAN'T - because pulling a bike up to the valet was just too damn funny. It occurred to me that it was obsurd too at the same time (yeah, well, conforming has always been a bit of a problem). Pulling up I expected to find a bike rack of some sort. Nothing. Nowhere. Hello? Aren't more people biking these days? Don't any of the bellboys bike? Where exactly does a gentlewoman park her bike up in here?

At the valet stand, under a large stuccoed overhang welcoming guests in pseudo archway fashion, the bellboys stood at attention. There were two of them in their perfect, crisp marroon coats. With no sign of a bike rack, I decided to ask if there was an appropriate spot where I could park my ride so as not to disturb the comings and goings of the hotels' guests. Every spot I saw seemed to be reserved for something other than a bike. There existed a luggage spot, a smoking spot, a pool towel pick-up spot and gigantic planters with sprawling green palms occupying the perfect spot for a bike rack. In abundant naiivete, I inquired. "Hi, there. Is there an appropriate place to lock up my bike?" Both bellboys stared at me quizically as if I had just spoken to them in some Vulcan space language. The suave, blonde, nineteenish guy volunteered his service to "watch the bike" if I was just running in for a minute. That scenario must have made sense to him. I thanked him and explained that I was attending an event. The noir-haired boy cocked his head to the side to interject with, "well, no one has ever pulled up on a bike before," as he exchanged a fast glance with his co-worker right as he whipped out a charming smile to smooth over his hasty situational assessment. I countered. "Well, that's unfortunate! I thought more people were biking these days." He swiftly offered to put the bike in the luggage room where he assured me it would be the only bike, "therefore I should have no problem picking it up" when needed upon the event's end. No ticket required.

It was all laughs as the accommodating young man returned after checking, but not checking, in the bike upon which (to my surprise) the two pups tagged along behind me through the glass doors and into the lobby firing questions moi rapido. I could not fathom the rationale behind my sudden commodity-like popularity. One asked, "where are you from?" I responded indifferently. "Here. Just across town." The other practically cut me short with, "what event are you going to?" I thought to myself, geez, these guys clearly need some more stimulation at work as I answered as quickly as possible the rapid-fire question spree. I hastily thanked them, gave a small tip (I hadn't planned on having to tip bellhops, yo) and got out of the lobby to meet my LADY friends who were loitering about the auction room where elegant attendees bid up items for the Girl Scouts' benefit.

My departure was equally fantastic. Of course, there had been a regime change under the valet overhang. I walked out the glass hotel doors and asked the new guy for the bike. I told him where to find my vehicle back in the luggage room. He promptly disappeared to retrieve the little blue bandit. One minute later, he rolled it out through the side door toward me. But before handing it over, he too, suddenly became a modern day Sherlock Homes! WTF is going on at this Marriott, anyway? The new guy literally withheld the bike for a moment, pulling it back toward him to confirm my apparent lunacy with...."So, you want to ride this now?" Sure, he could have been concerned for my safetly since dusk was turning rapidly to dark, but I think he was just being nosy. Responding, "yes, well I have to get home somehow," he gave up the bike, leaning it toward me then like an offering. However, Shirlock was not satisfied and persisted. "Well, where's your car?" Then he mumbled something about it possibly being in the shop under his breath. I laughed and cliff-noted the effort to cut oil consumption. After a brief half second of confusion (the majority of woman are certainly not riding in on bikes yet), Holmes swaggered back and forth rocking to an unheard beat that suggested he kinda "got it." He tilted backward to balance for a moment on his heels as if he was about to make some profound proclamation. He was slightly more seasoned than the earlier crew and did collect himself as I secured my heeled foot on the pedal for takeoff. "Ahhhh- uh huh. That's cool, that's cool," he said. "Yeah....thanks for doing your part."

THANKS FOR DOING YOUR PART?!? What? I wasn't expecting that one. I have no idea what the guy knew about global warming, earth cycles, oil, pollution or the relativity of all of them, if anything. But, whatever. It was nice to hear someone just say thanks for our efforts to pollute a little bit less.

The night watch's apros-pos one liner made dressing down a little more bearable for a girl who has loved to dress UP from about the time she was able to hold a girlscout cookie on her own! In myself I saw a bit of a residual egoic sense of concern for vanity, but upon summing up the entire evening, any sense of discomfort I felt was just a temporary illusion of my own making that ended up overshadowed by dividends paid out in laughter and the small sense of pride I gained for actually making it across town both ways without breaking a heel, my own neck or marring an expensive pant leg in an oily bike chain.

After all, many a strong woman took the podium that Friday evening and not one of them talked of a particular dress or suit that contributed to achieving their newly gained positions of honor. No, the dress certainly does not make the woman.

I hope the Marriott gets a bike rack.

Whose Economy Shall We Stimulate?

Thanks to The Column Reloaded (Ericsomething's Blog)we now know exactly what we can do with the tax rebate checks we await. Eric, a fellow Charleston blogger, got the following e-mail from his brother:

Our Note - they forgot guns :)
----------

Your Tax Rebate:

The federal government is sending each and everyone of us a $600 rebate.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China.

If we spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs.

If we purchase a computer it will go to India.

If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car it will go to Japan.

If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan ...

...and none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to buy prostitutes, weed, beer, and tattoos, since these are the only products still produced in the USA.

Thank you for your help & please support the US.