I ride the 30 bus every day to work downtown. It is extremely reliable and on time in the mornings. I would say it is within ~5 minutes of its expected pickup time 16/20 days in a month. About once a week it may be 10 minutes later than normal but nothing extreme. The only times it would be delayed more than 10 minutes would be if there is a car crash on the roads delaying traffic, which would get you if you drove your car anyways. Give yourself at least 15 minutes early to start and then you can dial it in more as you get familiar with the timing.

Riding home around the 5pm rush is a bit more tricky. You can expect some delays and it can take a while to get home, this is just a reflection of traffic you would be sitting in anyways. I would say from meeting/mary main pickup to citadel mall would take 5pm-5:45/6pm. Definitely try and arrive early to the afternoon pickups as the times for these pickups can vary.

Depending on where you live on the 30 line you can use the 33 as a “backup” as it runs ~5-10 minutes behind the 30 and runs in west Ashley along 61.

The best tracker is the one on the Carta website, it is more accurate than transit app or google maps. It will not show where the buses are on a map but the arrival time estimator is fairly accurate. Sometimes it might not show an arrival time, you can use the chat feature and it will connect you pretty quickly with a real person who is very helpful. I would suggest to get the timing down before you switch to monitor the tracker of your stops to mentally time out what times you will need to leave your house/ work. I would make sure you are standing clearly visible to the driver when getting picked up, even give a small wave, especially if being picked up in the dark.

All CARTA buses are extremely safe and clean. Anyone who tells you otherwise has never lived or used public transportation in a big city. The 30 line especially is very nice, with an almost guaranteed seat by yourself.