COMET Chat with John Andoh, Executive Director/CEO of The COMET – May 2019

While most of us are blessed with the ease and conveniences of mobility, thousands of our friends, neighbors and family are not. Whether that mobility is for work, health, food or the many other necessities and conveniences in life, it is crippling when taken away.

The COMET exists to help make sure no one is without any mobility.

Our core values are to ensure The COMET is safe, reliable, friendly, clean, comfortable and cost effective. Beyond that, The COMET needs to do more to be an effective leader in addressing mobility challenges for all demographic groups.

In 2018, The COMET provided more than 2.8 million trips to citizens in the Midlands. That need will only increase as our population grows and ages, as there is ever growing congestion and limitations on parking and as a younger generation looks for more mobility options. The COMET is working hard to meet those needs, not just today but tomorrow and the future.

However, the Midlands is a large area to cover and the needs will always outstrip the resources. The geography demands that we be efficient in how we operate, creative in how we design the system and proactive in how we form partnerships and strategic alliances.

In the last year, we’ve been focused on that and are excited about the progress that has been made.

• Added more passenger amenities, including shelters, benches and bus stop seating.
• Added libraries on buses to promote literacy
• We sell fresh produce at the Transit Center every Tuesday in partnership with Foodshare
• Soda Cap Connector has been redesigned to better serve entertainment facilities, as well Cayce and West Columbia for purposes of employment access and for visitors
• Expanded the network of schedules to be available at more public locations including West Columbia, Cayce, Amazon, Nephron and Northeast Richland
• Formed partnerships to allow all students, employees and facility to ride The COMET services from Richland One and Richland Two with Lexington Richland Five to join in next school year
• Helped connect low income residents in food-desert areas through partnerships with Lyft and Uber
• Expanded night time transit from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. in partnership with Lyft and Uber to help get people to and from night time jobs
• Worked with Lyft and Uber to help people without smartphones or in a wheelchair access to using Lyft and Uber
• Added police and Sheriff protection on all of The COMET buses, bus stops and transit centers through random rides
• Created door to door services in Denny Terrace and Hopkins
• Building more bikeshare stations and allowing COMET users free access to bicycles
• Created a COMET Academy to teach people on how to understand The COMET better
• Started a vanpool program to connect people to jobs and combat congestion

There is much more that can be done to make The COMET better. We will be implementing a transportation program to get seniors and persons with disabilities to quality of life activities. Starting this summer, we are studying a free transit service for all, and if not feasible, pursuing subsidies for low-income residents to get reduced public transit fares.

We are restudying the 127 year old transit network and will be engaging the ridership to help us determine what is the best, most cost effective and efficient way to provide bus service in the Central Midlands. We are examining cleaner fueled vehicles – perhaps electric or hydrogen and there is a plan to get 15% of the 1,430 bus stops to have a bus shelter in the next three to five years. We hope to start engaging the Central Midlands more so that more and more people will continue to “Catch The COMET!”

Our website is full of information about The COMET, including routes, schedules, trip planner, our comprehensive financial annual report (audit), monthly Board and committee agenda and minutes and various ridership and financial reports available at www.TheCOMETSC.gov or please reach out to me at (803) 255-7087 or via email to [email protected].  My contact information is posted on all the buses.

For any questions, and additional information, please call (803) 255-7100, email [email protected], visit www.CatchTheCOMET.org  or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Google + and YouTube.

About The COMET

The COMET is a service of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority and provides countywide public transit services on 38 fixed routes, two ReFlex services, with a vanpool service, subsidy programs with Lyft and Uber, 10 bikeshare stations in Columbia and DART ADA complementary paratransit service throughout Richland and eastern Lexington Counties. The COMET transports approximately 2.8 million passenger trips a year on a fleet of 81 buses and vans. Transit services are provided under contract with Transdev Service, Inc of Lombard, Illinois. For additional The COMET information, please call (803) 255-7100, TDD/TTY: 711 through the relay service, email: [email protected] or visit www.catchthecomet.org. Catch The COMET…We Will Take You There!

For any questions, and additional information, please call (803) 255-7100, email [email protected], visit www.CatchTheCOMET.org  or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Google + and YouTube.

About The COMET

The COMET is a service of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority and provides countywide public transit services on 38 fixed routes, two ReFlex services, with a vanpool service, subsidy programs with Lyft and Uber, 10 bikeshare stations in Columbia and DART ADA complementary paratransit service throughout Richland and eastern Lexington Counties. The COMET transports approximately 2.8 million passenger trips a year on a fleet of 81 buses and vans. Transit services are provided under contract with Transdev Service, Inc of Lombard, Illinois. For additional The COMET information, please call (803) 255-7100, TDD/TTY: 711 through the relay service, email: [email protected] or visit www.catchthecomet.org. Catch The COMET…We Will Take You There!