The COMET Chat – May 2020

By John Andoh
Executive Director/CEO
Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority

As COVID-19 continues to dictate the course of doing business and providing services in the Midlands, The COMET is busy meeting the challenge to ensure safe, reliable transportation for our community. Our service delivery model has been flexible in response to demand for essential travel to destinations which impact everyday life. Changes have been evolving and include:

• Increasing frequency of thoroughly cleaning our buses and facilities by instituting hourly cleaning and daily disinfecting with a bio-clean solution
• Implementing rear door boarding, no standing, one-per-row seating with no more than 20 passengers to a bus and mandatory end-of-line exits (enforcing Rules of the Road stating “Passengers must have a destination when riding The COMET buses”)
• Reducing scheduled run times and running fare free service since late March to ease the financial burden of those who may have lost wages due to the pandemic
• Modifying service schedules to include enhanced, on-demand routes and supplements to accommodate peak usage times as the State reopens

As a result of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, we received $15 million in funding for the purpose of supporting capital, operating and other expenses incurred in preventing, preparing for and responding to the new coronavirus.

The money will be used for the continuation of the extensive disinfecting and safety measures that The COMET has already implemented. Additionally, the funding will assist in the procurement of protective gear and additional operations costs. Our staff, especially our drivers, are our heroes who go to the front lines every day to ensure that we keep people moving to essential destinations. This funding also allowed us to also bring back furloughed employees as we created new partnerships with:

• Senior Resources and the Columbia Food Policy Committee, a taskforce of the City of Columbia, which also includes Axium Farms and Foodshare, and
• Rare Variety Farms

For the purpose of providing food and nutritional support to our most vulnerable citizens and to mitigate the negative impact of food deserts in underserved communities.

Other partnerships have included:

• DHEC and SC DOT for health and safety messaging accompanied by 100 gallons of hand sanitizer to use on our fleet of buses
• City of Columbia, Mayor’s Office for personal protective equipment for our staff and bus operators

Lastly, The COMET was awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for our Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018 from The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA). This was the first year that The COMET has achieved this prestigious award. However, for two consecutive years The COMET has received commendation on its financial audits. As recipients of government funding, such as the Richland County Penny Tax, this recognition validates our commitment to fiscal responsibility and transparency.

As we progress in this new state of providing transportation services to the Midlands, we continue to implement and practice rigorous safety measures and responsibly move this region forward.

Please reach out to me anytime if you have any thoughts, comments or questions about The COMET @ 803.255.7087 or email [email protected]