#CofCMoves: Dr. Kevin Keenan Moves with CARTA

How do you move? Do you walk, bike, or use public transit? Join the Office of Sustainability and participate in the College’s first official event celebrating the different modes of transportation that the College community uses to commute to campus. On April 9th, during Sustainability Week, let us know how you move by using #CofCMoves and why you move the way you do! 

We interviewed Dr Kevin Keenan, Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department, Director of Urban Studies, and Director of the Urban and Regional Planning Certificate, about why he moves with CARTA.

Office of Sustainability: Why do you bus, bike, walk, and/or carpool rather than driving?

Dr. Kevin Keenan: I take the bus for several reasons: (1) it is free for CofC staff, faculty, and students; (2) parking is very expensive downtown; (3) it is more relaxing in the morning than driving; and (4) CARTA needs a ridership.

OOS: How long have you been doing so and how far do you commute daily?

KK: I have used the bus regularly for about 3 years, my commute and 4 miles.

OOS: What are the benefits to commuting by Bus/Carpool/Bike versus driving alone?

KK: I save a ton of money on gasoline (about $30 per week), don’t have to worry about parking or angry drivers, and using transit is relatively easy here in Charleston.

OOS: What do you value most about the way you commute?

KK: I value the financial savings.

OOS: What is the biggest challenge you face as a commuter?

KK: CARTA does not run 24 hours, and sometimes there are large chunks of time between each bus.  This means that if I have to stay late at night for work, or if I have to leave here quickly at a time when the bus is not available, I have to resort to my car or a cab (if I’m already downtown and need to get home, for example).

OOS: What are some improvements you’d like to see?

KK: I think that CARTA is a pretty good system given the context of the South and Charleston being a small city.  I’d like to see better, newer buses that are more efficient, though I must say the fleet that they have is completely fine and works well.

OOS: Are there any myths about your method of transportation that you’d like to address?

KK: People think that CARTA is dirty, that it never runs on time, and that it is for poor people.  This is not true (though poor people do indeed ride the bus), and while there are challenges (such as late buses sometimes), the benefits outweigh the costs in my estimation.  Further, being around “poor” people is not a reason to not take the bus.

OOS: Would you recommend this method to others?

KK: I highly recommend the bus.  It is safe, efficient (both in terms of gas and financial savings), and it is good for the environment.

OOS: Do you have any fun commuting stories?

KK: I don’t have a fun commuting story, but I do have an ironic one related to public transit here in Charleston.  On the day that the guy stopped his car on the Ravenel Bridge and threatened to jump unless someone brought him a pizza, I was scheduled to have CARTA deliver a presentation in my graduate Urban Transportation: Problems and Prospects class on the role of public transit in the Lowcountry.  The irony, of course, was that that one event disrupted the entire transportation grid, causing massive delays around the region.  This underscored how many people use cars, how there are too many cars, and that we desperately need alternative modes of movement that a large number of people use.