Bus line to add service to Myrtle Beach from Florence

By: Dwight Dana | SCNow
Published: June 16, 2008

FLORENCE — A four-year drought in bus service to Myrtle Beach from Florence is about to end.

Southeastern States Bus Lines will be adding service to Myrtle Beach, Georgetown and Savannah, Ga., beginning June 24. The service will be offered seven days a week, with the bus departing from Florence at 11 a.m.

Connections will be available in Myrtle Beach for Wilmington, Camp LeJeune and Goldsboro, N.C.

And there will be return trips from Myrtle Beach to Florence at 11:30 a.m. seven days a week.

“This is great news for Florence and for people needing to get to Myrtle Beach,” said Edaphell Gibbs, a Florence bus station employee for 49 years. “You can get to the beach now, but it isn’t easy.”

Passengers have to go from Florence to Columbia and then to Charleston. Once in Charleston, they have to stay over night outside because the bus station closes at night.

The bus arrives in Myrtle Beach at 10:30 a.m. the next day — 17 hours after leaving Florence.

“Some people insist on going anyway because they have to get the beach to make other connections,” Gibbs said.

There are other ways, too. A taxi will take you there for $100 to $150, Gibbs said. And passengers can take a Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority bus to Marion. But they have to stay in Marion all day before catching a PDRTA bus to the beach.

“This new service will provide convenient service to the beach and other areas from there,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs has worked at the Florence bus station since Greyhound built the station in 1960. Greyhound stopped service to downtown Florence several years ago.

Fares and scheduling are available by calling Southeastern Stages at (800) 596-0462.