Charleston, SC- Hungryneck Straphaners (
www.busec.org) will renew it's invitation to take Republican Candidates for US Congress Mark Sanford and Curtis Bostic on a guided CARTA bus ride at a press conference to be held at the Mary Street Transit Center, on the North Side of the Visitor's Center Parking Garage at 71 Mary Street at 11:15 a.m. on Monday, March 25.
Democratic Nominee Elizabeth Colbert Busch (in image on left) took a guided ride on CARTA's new #41 Coleman Blvd. Route before going on to win the Democratic Primary. 5 Republican candidates for the nomination also took a CARTA ride, but none survived the primary. Every candidate that has been on the bus has stepped out of the partisan bubble to meet real voters on board. Each learned how a transit system which
provided over 12 thousand rides per weekday functions making our area's medical and tourism industries functional. All seven candidates have indicated their ride was an enjoyable and informative part of their campaign.
You can call both campaigns and ask them to ride on Sunday or early next week.
Republican Candidates are:
Curtis Bostic 843-870-0739
Mark Sanford 843-764-918
According to Straphangers Coordinator William Hamilton, with sequester driven budget cuts looming while transit ridership grew locally by 9% over the past year and 6% nationally, it's important for candidates for Congress to understand transit. There is no subsitute for getting on a bus and and meeting other riders there and at the stops. One February ride included a miserable wait in the rain for candidates Turner(R), Hoffman(R) and Carter Center(G) at a stop without a shelter or bench near Bowman Road in Mount Pleasant.
Neither Sanford nor Bostic has accepted the offers for a guided ride since the organization's Congressional Candidates on CARTA effort started in early February on the request of former candidate Teddy Turner. Sanford and Bostic's campaigns were both given an invitation at the mid Feburary Freedomworks forum in North Charleston. Transit riders across the Lowcountry contacted candidates from all three parties asking them to ride before the primary after the Straphangers distributed hundreds of postcards at area bus stops.
The Straphanger's Farebox to Ballot Box Transit Riders Voting effort will continue in April with the distribution of thousands of information cards at transit stops with the candidate's responses to questions about federal funding for the long delayed passenger Intermodal Transportation Center in N. Charleston and returning the share of Federal Transportation funding to it's traditional 20% from a reduced share of 18% approved by Congress Last year. The cards will also tell riders which candidates rode the bus with the organization and provide voting information.
For more information contact William Hamilton 843 870-5299 or wjhamilton29464@gmail.com
1:03 PM PT: This got picked up by the national Americans for Transit Blog today. http://americansfortransit.org/...