“Financial partnership” needed to extend bus service

A Seneca official told a county planning group that “disinterest” on the part of Walhalla and Westminster is impeding consideration of extending bus routes to the county seat and other areas un-served by free passenger service.  Seneca’s Ed Halbig was a guest presenter during last night’s meeting of the county planning commission.  Halbig made clear to the county planning commissioners that the Seneca operation of CATBus is at the point where it’s looking for opportunity to expand, and one of the idea expansions would be to allow travel to government offices in the county seat, along with the opportunity for people in the Walhalla and Westminster areas to be able to ride free to Seneca and Clemson for major destination locations such as the hospital, Wal-Mart, Clemson University and the Oconee campus of Tri-County Tech..  However, the federal government monies that provide the service require a supplement from local communities.  And in the case of Walhalla and Westminster, according to Halbig, that has not been forthcoming.