The city of Seneca voted to end its Clemson Area Transit (CAT) bus services after nearly 20 years of operations on July 30.

The Seneca City Council voted this summer with services set to end this September, 60 days after the council voted, according to FOX Carolina.

The company supplying the electric buses to the city of Seneca, Proterra, filed for bankruptcy in early August of 2023, according to Upstate Today.

“We’re stuck with the bill that’s somewhere between … 7 to 8, maybe $10 million,” Councilmember Ernest E. Riley told The Post and Courier Greenville regarding the bankruptcy of Proterra.

Instead of implementing fees for transportation services to continue running, the council chose to end the service operations with only one vote opposed, according to The Post and Courier Greenville.

CATbus services provide free transportation to students and surrounding residents who commute to the Clemson area.

Several routes of the CATbus services run through Seneca to provide accessible transportation to surrounding areas. CATbus currently runs three routes entirely in Seneca: Seneca Business, Seneca Express and Seneca Residential. CAT has not released which routes may be reworked in later months, according to The Post and Courier Greenville.

CAT currently serves three counties, four universities and five municipalities.

These services have been in effect and provided reliable transportation since January 1996. The need for transportation services in the surrounding Upstate areas prompted the founding of these resources for residents and students.

Council members expressed their sorrows regarding the services coming to an end and verbalized their desires to aid those impacted by this decision.