THE COMET RELEASES CONCEPTS FOR A NEW TRANSIT FUTURE
Reimagine The COMET Invites Public Input to Create a More Efficient Bus Network
(November 12, 2020) Columbia, SC – What should the future of public transit look like in the Central Midlands region? The COMET wants the community to help decide by responding to two concepts of what a new bus network could look like. Both concepts show how The COMET bus network could be run differently within its existing budget.
The two concepts and the public response to them is part of the first phase of the Reimagine The COMET planning process. This is a two-year planning study led by The COMET in partnership with many community partners, to analyze the current The COMET bus network and recommend changes to the system.
Over the next two months, The COMET invites the public to learn more about these two concepts by reading more at its project website www.reimaginethecomet.org, participating in public meetings, and taking the public survey (available at the project website). The COMET will be engaging the public in multiple ways from November 12th through December 31st to get responses from riders and the general public.
The COMET will host virtual public meetings on Wednesday, December 2, 2020 from noon to
1 p.m. and Wednesday December 9, 2020 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. to explain these concepts and answer questions. The COMET’s consultant team staff will also be meeting bus riders and the public at various events to ask about these concepts with a paper version of this survey. Details for participating in these public meetings are available at the project website www.reimaginethecomet.org. The COMET and its partners will continue to engage the community in future phases of the study with new questions and new information about what transit options are possible.
To stay involved in the Reimagine The COMET study, join the email list at our website www.reimaginethecomet.org, like us on facebook.com/CatchTheCOMET, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @CatchTheCOMET.
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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 portions of 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 RATP Dev USA, 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.
Catch The COMET…We Will Take You There!
