Lower Savannah Council of Governments holds first public meeting on changes to Aiken County transportation
AIKEN, SC. (WJBF) – The Lower Savannah Council of Governments coordinate public transportation in Aiken County.
But as the county continues to grow, they have seen a need for changes to improve the county’s transit system.
They have teamed up with SRF Consulting Group to do a year-long study, which is now 10 months in.
Project Manager Alec More says the study has shown them there the potential the county has.
“We’ve really learned that there is a market for public transportation services in Aiken County,” said More. “But we’ve also certainly learned that there are opportunities that we can improve the performance of the service, the efficiency of the service, and just make it a more useful service overall to Aiken and North Augusta.”
In More’s presentation to community members, he outlined some of the improvements being proposed in the near-term and long-term.
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In the near-term recommendation, several route realignments were proposed, and were differentiated by color: red, green, blue, orange, and purple.
According to More, the goal with each route realignment is to improve service frequency, serve key community destinations, and simplify routes for service users.
“With our recommendations, what we’re seeing is a desire to streamline the service to make it faster, to make it more convenient for passengers, to improve mobility,” said More.
The realignments also aim to reduce travel times, maximize available resources, and improve system efficiencies.
Another item on their agenda is improving Aiken’s Best Friend Express Transportation System.
Donna Wesby is the co-founder of Umoja Village–a resource center that helps create jobs for underserved groups.
She says she attended the meeting on behalf of her clients, who use that transportation system very often.
“Today’s public meeting is exactly where I needed to be today on behalf of our clients – who a vast majority of them use public transportation, the best friend express,” said Wesby.
Currently bus riders have to flag down a bus rather than getting on at a bus stop–officials saying it’s a safety concern for passengers and drivers.
Christine Chandler is the Transit Operations Manager for Best Friend Express, and says it’s a problem that must be addressed.
“When I rode the bus recently, there was an individual standing on the side of the road. She was on her cell phone and flagged down the bus from afar. The bus slowed down to pick her up, and then she turned her back to the bus–and the bus started driving again, not knowing if they needed to pick her up – so it is a safety concern,” said Chandler.
She says the best solution is bus stops, as this concerns both passengers and drivers.
“They don’t know when the bus is going to stop. It is much more convenient and safe to have bus stops that are visible to everyone involved in traffic, so that everybody pays attention,” said Chandler.
Solutions like that are continuing to be discussed.
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SRF Consulting and the Lower Savannah Council of Governments have drawn up a plan, but More says they will continue to get feedback from the community.
“The biggest things we’re trying to accomplish is to improve ridership on the service, to improve its efficiency, and its overall effectiveness. We certainly want to make the service more legible–or better understood by system users and potential users–and we also want to emphasize transit’s value in the community,” said More.
“Hearing the presentation with the current transit route, what’s being proposed and the improvements, it’s excellent. And to give the public an opportunity to provide feedback on this proposal–I think it’s definitely the way that public transportation can be improved,” said Wesby.
The next public meeting about these changes will be Wednesday, May 1st.
That hearing will be at 10 AM at North Augusta Community Center.
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