The COMET Announces Schedule Changes to Enhanced Sunday Level of Service

(April 15, 2020) Columbia, SC – The Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority (The COMET) announced further schedule changes from a Saturday level of service to a Sunday level of service with added on-demand service for areas not served on the Sunday routes. The changes will go into effect on Monday, April 20. All transit services (The COMET, ReFlex, DART) will be FREE during this time.

According to The COMET Executive Director/CEO, John Andoh, the changes were made to help ensure transit’s adherence to Governor McMaster’s “Stay-At-Home or Work” order as well as continue to provide service to areas such as Lower Richland and West Columbia/Cayce.

“We want to make sure that we are effectively doing our part and taking people to essential destinations as stated in the governor’s guidelines for essential trips,” added Andoh.

Details of the changes include:

• The COMET will operate a Sunday level of service daily on the following routes: 6, 11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32, 42, 45, 55, 61, 75, 77, 83L, 84, 88, 92X, The 101, The 301, The 501, The 701, The 801 and Soda Cap 1.
• Riders near Routes 46, 47, 57L, 62, 74, 91 or 96L, must call to have pick-up service from their nearest bus stop via a ReFlex bus for transportation to the nearest bus stop in The COMET service area. This on-demand service will be available Monday-Saturday only. Calls must be made one hour in advance to (803) 255-7100, with reservations being accepted from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. The ReFlex bus will pick up within 30 minutes of the requested trip.
• Routes Soda Cap 2, 3, Orbit 4, IWC Shuttle 7, 44X, 53X, 76, 93X and 97, as well as Blue Bike will remain suspended until further notice.

To observe social distancing, essential travel is limited to 20 passengers on the larger buses and

four passengers on the smaller shuttle vehicles. Travel will be one-way with mandatory

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deboarding at end of line in order to minimize any occurrence of individuals attempting to ride non-essentially. Security will be strategically placed at stops along the routes to help monitor adherence. Additionally, rear door boarding is in effect until further notice.

A listing of all affected routes and their frequencies accompanies this release and may be found on The COMET’s website at www.catchthecomet.org/whats-new/the-comet-announces-schedule-changes-to-enhanced-sunday-level-of-service/

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About The COMET:  The COMET is a service of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority and provides countywide public transit services on 34 fixed routes, five ReFlex services, vanpool service for commuters, subsidy programs with Uber and Lyft and DART for transportation to grocery stores and at night, ADA complementary paratransit service throughout Richland and eastern Lexington Counties and eight Blue Bike bikeshare stations in Downtown Columbia. The COMET transports approximately 2.8 million passenger trips a year on a fleet of more than 80 buses, vans and trolleys. Transit services are provided under contract with Transdev, Enterprise Holdings, Lyft, Uber and Bewegen. For additional The COMET information, please call (803) 255-7100, TDD/TTY: 711 through the relay service, email: info@catchthecomet.org or visit www.catchthecomet.org.

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