Downtown Trolley, Free Ride

Today the occasion arose to take advantage of CARTA's downtown DASH service. I have got to remind myself to do this more often now that the downtown trolley is free! Recent business maneuvers by CARTA (the trolley's owner/manager) have also expanded this free service up to Spring Street, which now makes running around downtown oh so much easier. And so that's where CARTA's Dash bus made this Saturday morning a bit more convenient.

The iMac Mighty Mouse died around 10:00 a.m. in a not-so-timely fashion considering new sites needed attention, emails were drafted to send, and social media work was starting to pile up. The mouse is a vital piece of hardware for any computer user. Even where simple plastic mice come into play, the old saying remains true: you don't know whatcha got until it's gone. And, so, this is where a laid-back Saturday morning turned into a scramble to get to the Apple store.

CARTA's free trolley came to the rescue. No driving, no parking, no money needed, and, hey I got great exercise walking two blocks to hitch the ride down King Street to the nearest Apple location. I hopped onto DASH and noticed the usual collection of Charleston tourists (DASH's primary demographic) hawking over their typical, newly acquired, unfurled downtown maps. The group today was wearing the signature Tommy Bahama shirts, sunglasses and some kind of sandals with socks (it's February, people). They were probably from Ohio, but that's besides the point.  While on DASH the tourists are always busy figuring the city out - studying each landmark, chatting quickly amongst themselves while constantly comparing the map, minute-by-minute, to their current location.

The observation that I live in the middle of "the plan" never fails to humor me. The plan being: that long-ago push to attract tourism in great numbers to downtown Charleston. The bus system seemed to cave to the tourism mantra. Rather than incorporating the DASH system to cater to locals, transporting tourists from famous churches to theatres, the battery, and exceptional dining venues, remains the main function of the bus trolley.

It is true, however, that the old plan is changing. Mayor Joe Riley does adhere to tourism-drawing traditions, but within the last few years there has been more noticeable attention paid by the city to the idea of weaving the needs of Charlestonians into the public systems available to ease our daily lives. So, thanks, city of CHS for making my morning easier by providing me with an extended free dash service...and yeah, I enjoyed that ten-minutes worth of tourist-watching.

So, hats off to the future. Ride DASH, locals! You'll love it. Here's a bus schedule if you want to try it out.

Final Destination Pic: Apple Store on a normal Saturday morning in February, King Street, Charleston, SC.