It’s a free bus to downtown hot spots. Why aren’t more people riding it?

Gaynell Martin dropped off a group of about eight people on their lunch break in the Vista before starting her next 40-minute downtown bus loop at lunchtime last Friday.

In the next 40 minutes, 52-year-old Don Ostrem was her lone rider.

In eight hours a day driving the new, free Soda Cap Connector bus route through the Vista and Five Points, Martin might average 15 or 20 people a day on her bus, she said.

“They compliment how pretty the bus is,” Martin said. “A lot of people I pick up at lunchtime, business people, say it really works for them because they don’t have to keep paying for parking.”

The first two months of Columbia’s free downtown bus service have seen fewer riders than expected. But transit leaders and advocates are hopeful ridership will grow with more awareness.

The Soda Cap Connector, which consists of four buses running two routes from the Vista to either Five Points or the Benedict College/Allen University area, began running Sept. 1 on a six-month trial period of free rides. The buses run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

In the first month, more than 1,800 people rode the buses, according to Ann August, director of the Midlands’ bus system called The COMET.

That averages to about three riders per bus for every hour they ran.

Ridership numbers for October were not available, according to August.

Each bus – across the entire COMET system – costs around $75 an hour to operate, August said. The COMET aims to have 10 to 15 riders per bus per hour of operation, August said.

So far, the Soda Cap has fallen well short of that goal.

“One of the biggest challenges is getting people to know about it,” August said. “You put the call sign out that says, ‘Hey, we’re here. We’re trying to help you. We want to decrease the air pollution during lunchtime. Leave your cars; get on the bus.’ ”

The Soda Cap buses tend to carry the most riders around lunchtime, between about 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., August said.

Along with a general lack of awareness about the Soda Cap Connector, there’s another thing that probably is holding people back from riding the bus downtown, said Marsha Johnson, president of the Midlands Transit Riders Association.

“In Columbia, unfortunately, a lot of people feel that it’s a low-class way to get around, and we need to really just dissolve that whole mindset,” she said. “It’s not just for poor people, and you are not above taking the bus.”

Johnson and others lobbied for years for the downtown routes, and she wants to see the Soda Cap Connector succeed, she said. But for that to happen, she said, folks in Columbia are going to have to change their attitudes about public transportation.

“There is no boogie man behind the bus driver,” Johnson said. “Breaking that perception is going to be hard. So I think the Soda Cap route is a fantastic route for those people who may have any kind of apprehension about using the bus.”

Despite relatively low ridership, August is hopeful the Soda Cap numbers will pick up as more people become aware of the free service.

She said the COMET has been working with downtown businesses and organizations like the convention center and visitors’ bureau to spread the word about the free rides and their convenience to downtown restaurants and attractions like the S.C. State Museum, EdVenture, the S.C. State House and Columbia Museum of Art.

As the six-month pilot period continues, transit leaders will be looking at what works and what doesn’t and could consider making adjustments to the routes, such as running different hours, August said.

The COMET hopes to get businesses to sponsor the Soda Cap routes to possibly keep the rides free beyond the first six months.

This story was originally published November 5, 2017 at 6:58 PM with the headline "It’s a free bus to downtown hot spots. Why aren’t more people riding it?."