Making a downtown Orangeburg bus route a reality by late summer is now close to fruition.

Connie Shade, Lower Savannah Council of Governments assistant executive director, told the Orangeburg-Calhoun Transit Planning Committee Monday that a downtown route will begin by at least late August.

Shade said LSCOG will oversee construction of a transit facility at the site of the nurses’ dormitory near the old hospital on Carolina Avenue. The new facility will be funded by $3.5 million in federal stimulus money routed through the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

“The grant came through SCDOT as part of the federal stimulus package,” Shade said. “We have completed material to apply for the transit facility for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. DOT will submit the application to the federal government. When DOT approves the package, it will issue a contract to us for the project.”

Shade said LSCOG hopes construction of the facility is completed 18 months after the contract is issued.

The Orangeburg downtown route marks Phase II of the public transportation commuter service that began in both counties in March under a separate, three-year DOT pilot grant. Orangeburg County Administrator Bill Clark says the benefits provided by the proposed transit facility and expanded urban bus routes are significant.



“This is a transportation resource that currently does not exist,” Clark said. “It also opens up some opportunities for everything from job development to medical service access. This will make a big difference to very specific populations. That’s why the county is supporting it.”

SWRTA Executive Director Ann August says the hope is to expand the service beyond the current grant period.

“(SWRTA) is the official Medicaid provider for this two-county area,” August said. “We do some general public transportation now, but in order to become the full general public provider, it has to be done by legislation at the state level. We hope that with this new service we are doing with LSCOG we can move it up to that level.”

The proposed fixed-route transit system in Orangeburg would include two separate routes. A commuter bus route would provide service to the Hillcrest Recreation Area and OCtech and west to Wal-Mart. The downtown route would allow riders to access Edisto Memorial Gardens and Southern Methodist College, Claflin University and S.C. State University.

Shade noted the proposed downtown bus routes “are not set in stone.”

“What we wanted to do is go through the proposed routes and make certain everyone likes those. Then we can start affixing the times the routes will run at a later time,” Shade said. “We want to kick this system off by mid-August at the earliest in both counties because both are participating financially in this system.”

Shade said her staff is currently working on allowing the public to comment on the proposed routes at LSCOG’s Web site, www.lscog.org.

Orangeburg Administrator John Yow says city officials will review and offer input about the stops offered on the proposed downtown routes.

“What we would need to do is review the stops in closer detail with LSCOG and see if we can help them work for the vehicle operators without impeding traffic flow,” Yow said. “We welcome the downtown route system LSCOG is developing. We are looking forward to working with them on this.”

Several service options mentioned by Transit Planning Commission members included a flag system – whereby a rider can flag down a bus en route – and a reduced fare package for college students.

“What everyone will have to initially understand is that this is a coordinated transportation, or call-for-ride, system,” Shade said. “It is not on-demand, at least not yet.

“We are one of three transit systems in the nation who received a Mobility Services for All Americans grant,” she said. “That allows us to purchase GIS real-time equipment for all vehicles in the region. Through the route-match software, we will be able to tell who scheduled what rides and we will be able to tell what vehicles are in the area and how many are riding. This will help us offer riders a better pickup-time estimate.”

August says the rider rates for the downtown bus routes won’t be determined until a later time.

“We don’t know what the cost will be yet, but it will be based on the cost of the route and the cost of operation,” August said.

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5540.

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