COMET Chat with John Andoh – March 2020

By John C. Andoh
Executive Director/CEO
Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority

Things are full swing at The COMET!  Lately our focus has been to keep the riding public safe to fight COVID-19.  We transport about 9,000 passenger trips an average weekday and for many of our passengers, The COMET is their only way to accessing a quality of life.  Our initiatives include:

• Hand sanitizers are installed on all 83 vehicles.
• Signs are inside all restrooms encouraging people to wash their hands.
• Information is posted on the buses from the CDC, encouraging people to take the proper precautions to help keep them safe and to deter transmitting harmful illnesses.
• All buses are being detailed four times a month to ensure extreme cleanliness.
• All buses used in service will go through a thorough cleaning daily, in addition to their twice a month detailing.
• All bus operators will have hand wipes.
• All 83 vehicles are continually going through a routine fogging and pest control program to ensure there are no insects, bugs or vermin on the vehicles.

On February 3, 2020, we implemented our last phase of our service enhancement program, which included the start of a new rural route every Thursday to Batesburg-Leesville and an new weekday express route between Sumter, Shaw AFB, Eastover, Gadsden, Hopkins and Columbia with six park and ride lots.  We are continuously reviewing our routes and routes that have low productivity will be modified and/or discontinued.

We continue to add new bus shelters throughout the service area.  Since 2019, we have added 35 bus shelters with continued plans for more.  These new shelters feature advertising panels, benches, map case, trash cans and perforated walls to keep people safe from the elements.

As it relates to safety and security, The COMET recently started contracting with City of Cayce police to patrol bus routes in Cayce, Springdale and West Columbia.  This continues the partnership with City of Columbia Police and Richland County Sheriff.

Five new staff members have joined The COMET team.  The COMET now has a staff of 12 employees and 2 contractor employees to support our efforts in the oversight of public transportation in Richland and Lexington Counties.  Our salaries and overhead is 4% of our overall $30 million budget which is very lean for a government agency our size.  The names of our new employees are:

• Pamela Bynoe-Reed, Marketing and Public Information Manager
• Amaris Ray-Pope, Financial Office Assistant
• Paige Jernigan, Administrative and Customer Service Specialist
• Navitus Eric Harris, Planning & Development Specialist
• Alexis Feliciano, Transit Traffic Checker
• Jeremy Barry, Contracted Information Technology Manager

Lastly, The COMET has continued to strengthen community relationships.  All buses are Safe Places.  This means that if a youth is in trouble, that youth simply needs to board a bus, go to COMET Central or our offices and request a Safe Place and The COMET will connect the youth to a social worker or local police to get the youth safety.   In conjunction with Richland Library, we have Books on Buses and at COMET Central, plus a Short Story Dispenser to help improve literacy among our riders and encourage riders to read more and lastly, we are providing free rides to encourage people to vote and exercise their democracy. We did so last general and primary election day and will do so during the presidential election.

Please reach out to me anytime if you have any thoughts, comments or questions about The COMET @ 803.255.7087 or email [email protected]