You may have seen the news in The Wall Street Journal last week about recent challenges of getting workers to industrial job sites in outlying areas as the e-commerce industry grows. But in Lexington County, a few companies have banded together to find a solution to “job sprawl.”

Nephron Pharmaceuticals had been lobbying for a COMET bus route to and from their headquarters off the West Cola 12th Street Extension for years, to benefit workers from rural areas and to increase their environmentally-friendly LEED status. When John Andoh became the new director at The COMET in May 2018, the wheels (pun intended) actually started to turn.

After several meetings with various key players in the region’s business sector, Lexington County, Nephron and Amazon agreed to fund the new COMET Route 92X for one year: from Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019. Price tag: $62,000+ per year.

The new route, nicknamed “The 12th Street Extension Express,” starts on Monday.

Route 92X is free for Nephron and Amazon employees; running between Columbia, West Columbia and Cayce. Employees can even connect to the rest of The COMET transit system for free by showing their employee ID card.

Check out the new route map + times below. ⬇

This content was created in partnership with Nephron Pharmaceuticals.