I took the bus!

By Alan Cooper

It took 15 years of living in Columbia, SC, but I can now officially say that I took the bus. Stop the press. I took the bus to work! And (even though my wife offered to pick me up after my meeting), I took the bus home! As Tom Hanks said in Castaway, “I…HAVE TAKEN THE BUS”.

My predicament was this. After more than 15 years of living in this city and 60,000 separate trips in a car (15 years x 365 days a year x 2 cars x *6 AVG trips a days), I officially had no way to get to work. Math/logic had run its inevitable course. I had a board meeting in downtown Columbia, SC at 8:30 am on Friday and:

4 family drivers > 2 cars + 1 car (permanently) in the shop = ?

Scuppered, as my dad used to say.

I weighed my options.

1. impose my will and demand a car (not really an option, but a man can try)
2. skip the board meeting (it’s a volunteer board) or tell them I’ll join the meeting by phone
3. cycle (I have a bike, but a beautiful ride from Irmo to downtown along the Saluda is currently not, and sadly may never be, an option; the alternative routes from here to downtown are NOT attractive)
4. taxi (probably $30 each way, right?)
5. Uber (I have never taken an Uber, but this would be < $30 each way, right?)
6. buy a third car (WE NEEED MORE CARS! How can you survive in Columbia, SC without a car for everyone? The family will need five, not four, cars within the next two years because we have three children, right?)
7. ask a favor from a friend or neighbor
8. … take the bus

I chose #8. Let me tell you about the Top 10 things I learned about taking the bus in Columbia, SC.

1. “WE…HAVE A FUNCTIONING BUS SYSTEM IN COLUMBIA, SC”. I took the bus from Irmo, SC to downtown Columbia, SC and back and it was great.
2. Information was available online (and in print at the Laurel and Sumter terminal) about precise departure times. I spoke to the President over there, Bob Schneider, and he tells me there is a very cool bus app that is available.  It tells you exactly where your bus is.
3. The buses departed and arrived on time. The bus leaving the terminal downtown was 6 minutes late, but made up for it en route.
4. It was $1.50 each way. $3.00 round trip. Very reasonable.
5. The bus was full. It was morning rush hour, but I was amazed at the number of people on the bus. The bus made frequent, well-marked stops along the way and people got on and off at every stop.
6. The customer experience was unbelievably good. I have taken more than my fair share of subways, buses, and streetcars in my day and I have NEVER had a bus driver interact with EVERY rider in the way that I witnessed. I heard: “Welcome. Have a blessed day. How can I help you, hon’? Don’t you look beautiful today, sweety, what did you do to your hair?” The drivers created a nice sense of community on the bus.
7. I was able to do some work on the bus, return a few emails etc.
8. I got some good exercise. It forced me to walk – 15 minutes to the bus stop. 5 minutes to my meeting – 10 minutes to a press conference, 5 minutes back to the terminal.
9. Because I walked, I got to see my city a little closer up. I had a nice walk along Marion Street from Washington all the way out to Elmwood.
10. I hung out in the terminal at Laurel and Sumter for 15 minutes waiting for my 12:15 pm return trip bus. It had a big video monitor showing all of the routes; friendly and helpful attendants; seats. Not what I expected.

If we want to be a 21^st century city, we need public transportation. In 2012, the bus system got its dedicated funding source when the penny tax passed. We came through the “no bus /limited service bus” era and not only survived, but as I can see it, thrived. The Comet in 2015 has a solid foundation on which to build more frequency on existing routes, and more routes. Currently, the 34B that I took downtown only runs once an hour.

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Would I do it again? Definitely. I guess the ultimate test is how many times I use the bus over the next year.  I am intrigued to learn more about where I can go on the bus, how I can connect to other buses downtown.

Here’s my challenge to you. Try it. Go online, find out where the routes are and take the bus.

* Six AVG trips a day is a very conservative number. Number might actually be closer to 20.