ST. PETE BEACH \u2014 City commissioners on June 9 approved a one-year contract with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority after the agency cut the city\u2019s cost by $87,679.<\/p>\n
The reduction lowered the contract from $308,279 to $220,600 \u2014 the amount the city had budgeted for fiscal 2026. Assistant City Manager Adam Poirrier said the higher figure stemmed from earlier renewal terms.<\/p>\n
Darden Rice, PSTA\u2019s chief planning and community affairs officer and its lead on agreements with the city, said overlapping personnel changes at the agency had created confusion over who was managing the paperwork and getting the renewal signed before it expired. She said PSTA has since added project management software and a clear chain of command.<\/p>\n
To show good faith, Rice said, PSTA would honor the $220,600 the city budgeted rather than the higher amount in the draft agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter consulting with our chief operating officer … and our chief financial officer, we decided that we would reaffirm the fiscal year 2026 contract at the amount you budgeted, $220,600 \u2014 not the amount that\u2019s currently on the draft in front of you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Rice said PSTA could absorb the difference from a small budgeted surplus. \u201cIn this situation we want to be a partner, we want to be fair, we want to be flexible, and this is a delta that we can cover,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said PSTA would return soon with projections for fiscal 2027 and walk commissioners through how it calculates the marginal cost of the Suncoast Beach Trolley, Route 90, paratransit access and Mobility on Demand service. \u201cWhen we come to an agreement with that, we will have our 2027 plan, and there shouldn\u2019t be any surprises,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Scott Tate thanked Rice for the offer. \u201cWe appreciate your team looking into this and making that offer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Jon Maldonado called the reduction \u201ca huge gesture\u201d and asked when PSTA could provide ridership trends from the past three to four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can get those numbers for you very easily,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n
PSTA CEO James Bradford [\u00a0Photo SUBMITTED\u00a0]<\/p>\n
PSTA CEO James Bradford presented ridership figures showing declines across several routes. The Central Avenue Trolley carried about 322,000 riders in 2023, 294,000 in 2024 and 279,000 in 2025; Bradford said the trolley once ran to St. Pete Beach but now ends at the Central Avenue terminal.<\/p>\n
The Suncoast Beach Trolley drew about 575,000 riders in 2023 and 570,000 in 2024. Route 90 fell from 19,000 riders in 2023 to 13,000 in 2024 and 8,000 in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe SunRunner is a strong performer,\u201d Bradford said, with most boardings at Boca Ciega and Beach Access Park. The line topped 1 million riders in 2023, when rides were free, then drew about 761,000 in 2024 and 732,000 in 2025.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Karen Marriott said some residents have questioned the combined spending on PSTA and the city\u2019s Freebee service, contending the city is \u201cspending too much money to drive people around who could just buy themselves an Uber, and I think there\u2019s some validity to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she said paratransit for residents without other options is worthwhile. \u201cI\u2019m not one for government spending money on all kinds of programs, but if we\u2019re going to spend money on anything, that seems like a good one,\u201d Marriott said.<\/p>\n
She said the contract\u2019s future warrants a broader discussion, noting it had come late in the year. \u201cWe\u2019re paying for things that kind of already happened,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Approving the reduced, already-budgeted amount was the right move, Marriott said, with a larger conversation about transit to follow as the city heads into the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the amended contract.<\/p>\n
The eighth addendum to the Suncoast Beach Trolley agreement between St. Pete Beach and PSTA renews fixed-route service for one year, including the Suncoast Beach Trolley, Route 90 commuter service and Access paratransit for city residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cApproval of this addendum will ensure the continued availability of public transit and mobility services for residents and visitors within the city,\u201d city staff wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETE BEACH \u2014 City commissioners on June 9 approved a one-year contract with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-309313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}