Keep up momentum for new bus service

Economic and demographic factors may be getting us closer to fixed-route service along U.S. 278.

With gasoline prices holding steady above $3 a gallon and $4-a-gallon gas on the horizon, it's good to see that the idea of regular bus service for the busy U.S. 278 corridor hasn't stalled.

Traffic levels and commercial development on the major thoroughfare for southern Beaufort and Jasper counties and Hilton Head Island suggest we're reaching a point where daily bus service with regular stops would generate enough ridership to make it viable.

To find out, John Salazar, who runs the University of South Carolina Beaufort's Lowcountry and Resort Islands Tourism Institute, will survey and interview potential riders. Salazar is to interview businesses and tourism groups and put out at least one survey, in English and in Spanish, to weigh public demand.

Right now, the plan calls for buses to serve 23 stops between Interstate 95 in Jasper County and Coligny Plaza on Hilton Head Island, making stops every half hour, starting at 6 or 7 a.m. and ending at 10 or 11 p.m. The business plan for the service also calls for connector service to old town Bluffton, along Buckwalter Parkway and through Sun City Hilton Head to Wal-Mart. There would be two park-and-ride lots on U.S. 278 — at I-95 and at S.C. 170.

A second phase could include bus service along S.C. 170 from U.S. 278 to northern Beaufort County and connector loops to Port Royal and Lady's Island.

The transportation authority had hoped to have the bus service rolling by last summer, but last July amended that projection by a year or more.

The price tag to get the service rolling includes about $1.5 million in capital costs and $4.7 million a year in operating costs. These are big numbers in tight budget times, so determining the level of demand is a critical step.

Palmetto Breeze, formerly the Lowcountry Regional Transportation Authority, now provides employee transportation for Beaufort and Jasper counties and three other outlying counties. The buses run in the morning and evening, not the type of service envisioned with this fixed-route project.

A solid study delineating demand would go a long way toward gaining business support for the service.

Government support might prove more difficult. While some local officials support the idea in concept, concrete support has proved harder to come by. An appropriation of $6 million for the service was taken off the list of projects to be financed by Beaufort County's 1 percent sales tax, approved by voters in November 2006.

After the proposed service was dropped from the sales tax list, supporters decided to seek support from hotels, shopping malls and theaters to get it up and running.

The state's funding resources for mass transit service are limited, state officials have said. Doug Frate, chief transit planner for the state Transportation Department, said last year that the state's gas tax generates about $6 million a year for transit projects. The federal government gives South Carolina about $9 million annually. Twenty-four groups provide public transportation in the state.

The economics of mass transit are always difficult. The regional bus service here fell into bankruptcy in the late 1980s and teetered on the edge about six years ago before turning its financial fortunes around with better management.

But increasing population, traffic congestion and gasoline prices may be putting us at the tipping point that makes fixed-route bus service an attractive option to enough people to get the buses rolling. Salazar's study should help determine whether that's true.

—The Island Packet