Transit Planning

Completed Projects

FY 2007-2008 Transit Trends Report

Beginning with Fiscal Year 2007-2008, SCDOT’s Office of Planning developed and implemented a new transit data acquisition and analysis program called OPSTATS (Operating Statistics). The purpose of the OPSTATS program is to better assist SCDOT and the state’s public transit providers in gathering and analyzing data for assessing operating and capital needs, conducting annual trend analyses, monitoring performance, and ongoing reporting to local, state and federal entities. This report represents the results of OPSTATS’ initial data analyses based on submissions from transit operators statewide.

FY 2007 - 2008 Transit Trends Report (471kb - PDF)

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Transit Trends Report.

Statewide Transit Plan

The South Carolina Statewide Comprehensive Multimodal Long-Range Transportation Plan was approved by the SCDOT Commission in 2008. One of three major components of this effort is a Statewide Transit Plan. The Statewide Transit Plan includes short-range, regional transit plans for each of state’s ten planning regions, and a long-range, statewide plan that will guide South Carolina’s transit activities into the future. The regional plans define action items that are supportive of the needs and goals for that particular region, and advance the common goals for transit on a statewide basis. The regional plans identify steps that can be taken regionally in the short term to advance the longer-term statewide goals. The strategies developed in the regional plans are oriented to implementation over the coming five to ten years.

The statewide plan is more visionary and focuses on strategies and action items for South Carolina transit in general, in the areas of service, financial capital and policy needs. The Statewide Mass Transit Plan also has a strong linkage with the Statewide Strategic Corridor Plan. Both elements address the potential for implementing new modes of transit services and/or expanding existing services.

The final Statewide Transit Plan and ten Regional Transit Plans are available at the full Statewide Multimodal Plan website.

Statewide Human Services Transportation Coordination Plan

Among the major studies undertaken by the Office of Planning is the development of regional Human Services Transportation Coordination plans for each of the state’s ten planning regions. The most recent transportation bill authorized by Congress, SAFETEA-LU, created a requirement that locally-developed, coordinated public transit/human service transportation coordination processes and plans be developed in order to receive funding for certain FTA programs aimed at meeting the needs of older individuals, persons with disabilities, and low-income persons. Complete plans, including coordination with the full range of existing human service transportation providers, are required by federal fiscal year 2008.

SCDOT partnered with the state's Councils of Governments to develop ten regional coordinated plans that meet the requirements of SAFETEA-LU. While at a minimum the FTA formula programs for Sections 5310, 5316 and 5317 must be derived from a coordinated plan, the coordinated plans incorporated activities offered under other programs sponsored by Federal, State and local agencies, including FTA’s Section 5307 and 5311 programs, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Vocational Rehabilitation, Medicaid, Community Action (CAP), Independent Living Centers, and Agency on Aging (AoA) programs.

The development of the coordinated plans is not meant to replace the efforts currently under way in specific areas of the state, but in those cases can be used to document and where necessary expand on those efforts in a consistent format. The coordinated plans were developed to address intra- and inter-regional needs and issues, and in a manner that allows the COGs to adapt and expand the plans to incorporate programs and initiatives specific to their regions, while maintaining the uniform format.

You can access copies of the state’s ten regional Human Services Transportation Coordination plans and an Executive Summary incorporating the commonalities from all regional plans at the full Statewide Multimodal Plan website.

Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor Study

The Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina Departments of Transportation cooperatively released the Evaluation of High-Speed Rail Options in the Macon – Atlanta – Greenville - Charlotte Rail Corridor. The study assesses the capacity and speed capabilities of the corridor and estimates possible ridership, revenue, operating and capital costs associated with extending high-speed passenger rail from Charlotte, N.C. to Macon, Ga., along the I-85 corridor. The report also addresses the feasibility of train speeds up to 150 miles per hour, including new track construction in locations that would increase speeds and avoid congested areas.

The Charlotte-Macon corridor study marks the next phase in the overall development of high-speed rail in the Southeast. The North Carolina Department of Transportation and Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation began initial environmental work in the mid-1990s on the Washington - Charlotte portion of the Southeast High-Speed Rail (SEHSR) corridor.

The complete study can be found online at the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor website.

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Ongoing Studies

Public Transportation Return-on-Investment Study

While significant analyses have been conducted as to the financial costs of investing in public transportation in South Carolina, no analysis has been undertaken to specifically explore the economic return on investment (ROI) of investing in public transportation in the state. Additionally, no analysis has specifically targeted the transit needs of the state's retirement and tourism industries.

The ROI study will calculate, analyze and document the economic return generated by funding public transportation in South Carolina across multiple funding and human services programs. The study will also review the state's key retirement and tourism areas and explore existing transit opportunties, and identify and quantify the current and furture transit needs for retirees and tourists.

In light of the current and projected funding shortfalls for public transportation in South Carolina, identification of transit's economic and financial impacts will support development of innovative partnerships and identification of new funding opportunities, thereby lessening the strain on our current funding programs.

Relevant ROI study documents will be available on this website as they are produced.

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