🚌 CARTA chose a bus over a train. Did they make the right choice?

Charleston County · Greenbelt Advisory Board
🌳 Angel Oak Preserve welcome center clears grant agreement hurdle
The board unanimously approved amendments to Low Country Land Trust's Angel Oak Phase 2 grant agreement to allow construction of a welcome center, boardwalk, and nature trails, with impervious surface capped at 44,431 square feet. Special conditions requiring CCPRC management and a never-activated Carolina Homeless Veterans farming lease at Mullet Hall were eliminated. Admission to the future preserve is intended to remain free to the public.

Charleston County · Greenbelt Advisory Board
🌊 County targets 100% resident access to trails and 90% to water-accessible green space
Staff presented analysis showing 76% of county residents currently live within a 10-minute drive of a recreational trail and water-accessible green space, with urban residents faring worse at 48% walk-access to green space. Goals of 100% trail access and 90% water-adjacent green space access were proposed, with the 90% water target reflecting geographic constraints in some county corners. Action on these goals was deferred with the rest of the framework pending the November referendum.

Charleston County · Greenbelt Advisory Board
🌳 Program surpasses $186M awarded with 28,855 acres protected countywide
Staff reported the Greenbelt program has now funded 249 projects totaling 28,855 protected acres and $186.2 million awarded. The first half-penny sales tax funding is set to expire after 2026, and a proposed third half-penny referendum is on the November ballot. Key municipal fund balances and cycle schedules through early 2027 were reviewed.

City of Charleston · Committee on Public Safety
📋 Council weighs revisions to controversial First Amendment demonstration ordinance
The committee convened a special session to hear public testimony and city staff legal analysis on the city's demonstration permit ordinance, which requires permits for gatherings of 25 or more persons. Five speakers testified in person, largely calling for repeal, while council members Polkey and Waring and Mayor Cogswell expressed support for targeted amendments rather than outright repeal. Staff was directed to draft proposed ordinance modifications for consideration at a future public safety committee meeting ahead of the fall election season.

City of North Charleston · North Charleston City Council
🏗️ Council authorizes $180,125 pre-development advisory contract for Coliseum renovation
The council approved a $180,125 agreement with Legends Global of New York, NY for pre-development advisory services related to the renovation of the North Charleston Coliseum, Convention Center, and Performing Arts Center. A separate consent item also approved the evaluation committee for selecting an architectural design team and program developer for the same renovation project. The items signal early-stage planning momentum for a major civic facility upgrade in North Charleston.

This week I spent nearly an hour talking with Michelle Emerson and Maya Khaskhely about the LCRT & Megan Ross about CARTA’s Now and Next Program to learn everything I could about the future of public transportation in the Charleston area. Going into this, most of the comments I’ve heard from the public have been “why aren’t they doing a train/lightrail, it’s so much better”. I asked about that too, don’t worry.

The Lowcountry Rapid Transit (LCRT) line will run 23.1 miles from the US 78 corridor near Ladson down through the Rivers Avenue area and into downtown Charleston. Most of that stretch will run in dedicated lanes, and the rapid transit vehicles, 60-foot articulated vehicles carrying up to roughly 80 riders. Once complete, it will be one of the longest bus rapid transit lines in the country.

Unlike current CARTA bus service, LCRT stations will use level boarding, meaning riders won't step up into the vehicle. It was described as operating "like a train on rubber wheels": vehicles pull up to a station, doors open, and riders walk on, with a fare system planned so payment happens before boarding rather than on the vehicle itself.

Most of the Rivers Avenue segment will run in center-running dedicated lanes, though a few places may shift to side-running. In the downtown area, most stations will be side-running rather than center-running. One example station near Joseph Floyd Manor, close to where Meeting Street extends to King Street, was shown as a center-running station with digital rider information and additional safety features.

A raised median will run through much of the corridor, which will reduce the number of places pedestrians can physically cross the street. To offset that, CARTA plans additional marked crosswalks, and some left-turn movements along the route will also change.

The raised curb is also intended to stop vehicles from swerving into the bus-only lane. They acknowledged the changes won't eliminate pedestrians crossing where they shouldn't, but said CARTA expects a "very heavy" educational campaign for the community through construction and into operations to explain the new layout.

Shipwatch Square, described as currently "a corner store" in size, will relocate to a site near the Keith Summey North Charleston Library, becoming CARTA's new transit hub. The rebuilt facility is planned to include up to 11 bays for vehicles, indoor and outdoor waiting areas, and restroom facilities.

CARTA is still collecting proposals, scopes, and cost estimates from bidders, and I was told that process will continue over the next few months, with construction anticipated to begin in early-to-mid next year. CARTA is also promoting related trade and certification opportunities to contractors ahead of that timeline.

CARTA is talking with communities along the LCRT line about transit-oriented development (TOD), with the stated goal of giving longtime residents input as growth occurs. CARTA is doing a more detailed TOD analysis in three areas along the corridor, producing development overlays initially for the City of North Charleston, with the intent of applying similar overlays elsewhere on the line later.

North Charleston's ongoing rewrite of its Unified Development Ordinance will incorporate CARTA's TOD planning and adjust zoning accordingly. Some development, including new apartment complexes along the corridor, is already underway or planned by developers who have purchased land; Michelle said growth is expected both ahead of the line's completion and organically afterward, and that federal funding calculations for the project are based on ridership potential within a half-mile of each station.

CARTA has park-and-ride lots planned or built at several points along the corridor: one already exists near Rivers Avenue in North Charleston, one is planned near the US 78 end of the line, and another is planned at Meeting Street and Mount Pleasant Street, currently an unpaved lot, which may also serve as parking for downtown hospitality workers.

Beyond official lots, CARTA expects riders to park informally near businesses along the line, citing the need to have conversations with business owners near Gaslight Square, Northwoods Mall, and a nearby Walmart who indicated available parking. The representative said CARTA will continue working with businesses along the corridor on this as ridership grows.

On building ridership generally, I was directed to look to CARTA's existing express bus service as a model: demand for one existing park-and-ride lot grew out of express service demand, and some employers already incentivize employees to ride, which can help spread adoption by word of mouth. They also said people who move to Charleston from cities with established transit systems are sometimes surprised the region doesn't already have one, which helps drive interest.

CARTA's current buses already have free Wi-Fi, and LCRT vehicles will as well. The vehicles will be wheelchair accessible with roll-on, roll-off boarding, and will allow bikes to be brought fully onboard rather than mounted on a front rack, which currently limits bikes to two per bus.

CARTA had planned to use electric buses for the line but shifted toward a hybrid fleet "as much as possible," a representative said, because no electric bus currently on the market can run the corridor's full length while also having doors on both sides, a requirement given the mix of center- and side-running stations.

On whether the 60-foot articulated buses can navigate downtown turns, such as from Meeting Street to Calhoun Street, I was told their understanding is that similar vehicles have been tested successfully on similarly sized streets elsewhere, and that CARTA typically tests new vehicles before purchase.

I did ask about this; however, due to the matter currently in a legal process, they were unable to answer or speak on it.

We pivoted to the transit sales tax that funds CARTA service, which applies only within Charleston County; there is a shared regional benefit for those who work downtown and may utilize the LCRT. Apart from using the transit, those traveling into Charleston County, whether for work or vacationing, are paying the transportation sales tax, adding to the available funds.

To learn more, see the map, view renderings of stations, and much more; you can visit the LCRT Website.

After my lengthy LCRT conversation, I moved over to discuss CARTA changes with Megan Ross, who said the agency began a full system study in September of last year, the first since 2018, to reassess routes and resource allocation given changes in travel patterns since the pandemic. The stated near-term goal is to be cost-neutral while standardizing schedules, for example shifting a route running every 50 minutes to a flat 30- or 60-minute frequency, to be a little more predictable on arrival times.

For North Charleston specifically, the one-year plan is largely limited to retiming rather than route elimination. One example cited: Route 104 currently serves an area that would shift to Route 103, freeing Route 104 to return more directly to CARTA's North Charleston transit center.

Once LCRT's 19 stations are running, local routes will still be needed because LCRT will have far fewer stops than existing local service, the planner said. Planned five-year changes in North Charleston include:

The Dorchester Road corridor will get traffic signal priority technology, a CARTA planner said, which communicates with traffic signals to extend green lights for approaching buses or manage the signal queue for buses at red lights. I was told Express 3, which runs downtown in the morning and afternoon, is currently CARTA's worst-performing route in terms of on-time performance because of traffic congestion on that corridor, which eases noticeably past Michaux Parkway.

Route 12, a local route on the same corridor, was described as higher-performing. A future BRT line on this corridor appears in CARTA's regional transit framework plan as a longer-term goal, contingent on further improving local service there first.

Several planned changes reference on-demand zones, which are an app-based service: riders within a defined zone request a pickup and are taken either to another point within the zone or to a stop on a fixed route within the zone to continue their trip via regular transit. The fare is intended to be fixed, and the number of vehicles serving a zone will flex based on demand, sometimes one vehicle, sometimes several.

This differs from an existing "rural" deviated fixed-route service in Charleston, Dorchester, and Berkeley counties, where scheduled routes detour briefly off their path to pick up qualifying riders who call ahead, the planner said.

Recommendations from a 2024 downtown Charleston transit study are shaping several changes, a CARTA planner said:

Service to an additional downtown-area location referred to in the discussion as "Union" is also planned, with a CARTA planner saying it would begin once redevelopment plans there are finalized, targeting service starting next year.

CARTA has a virtual meeting scheduled for this Tuesday covering its regional transit framework plan, including future corridor priorities. Register to attend HERE.

Here’s what the local real estate market is looking like. If you want to know what’s happening in your zipcode/town specifically, either reply to this email and let me know the area, or click HERE to sign up for updates, or click the graph and search by area.

1️⃣ Have a tip for us?
Got the inside scoop on something coming or changing? Reply to this email and let me know! Happy to give you credit if it makes it in the newsletter or on Instagram.

2️⃣ Curious what’s happening?
See some land being cleared or zoning notices popping up in your neighborhood? Send me all the details you can, and I’ll look into it and see what we can find.

3️⃣ Know someone who needs a REALTOR®?
If your friends or family ask if you know a good REALTOR®, that answer is always yes. Send them my way, I got a guy that help! 😉 Oh, and this goes for you too if you need my help!

And here’s 1 way you can help me…If this newsletter was informative, pass it on!

Forward this email to one person in Charleston who wants to pay attention to what's happening around them. Or send them here to sign up:
chucktownreport.com/subscribe

Until next week,
Bill Olson
Father • Husband • Realtor® • Civic Storyteller