Seneca savors 10 years of “CAT” and looks ahead

 

A City Hall luncheon celebrated Seneca’s achievement of 10 years of free bus passenger service–thru the regional Clemson Area Transit.  Since contracting with “CAT”, Seneca has taken its part of the system to a new level.  The city remains the only service to feature an all-electric power fleet of buses, in place of diesel-fueled buses.  City Administrator Greg Dietterick and Ed Halbig, the director of planning and community development, spoke with pride of Seneca’s accomplishment.  “CAT’s” Keith Moody relayed remarks from Al Babinicz, executive director.  Not only were there no “CAT” buses serving Seneca and surrounding area 10 years ago, there were no smart phones and no Twitter.  There was a gasp from the audience when Moody said total rides provided by “CAT” exceed 2-point-2 million.  Mayor Dan Alexander recalled the series of events that led to Seneca getting into the bus business—prodded originally by a mother of three who was spending half of the $60 dollars a day of her earnings on cab fares to get to work.  Alexander said in the next 10 years he would like to see “CAT” expand to Walhalla and Westminster.