The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is planning on introducing a new 727 express bus service from downtown St. Petersburg to the Tampa International Airport in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A public open house was held Wednesday at the St. Petersburg College St. Petersburg campus to discuss the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201cpremium, limited stop\u201d route will utilize the express lanes on the new southbound Howard Frankland Bridge, PSTA chief planning and community affairs officer Darden Rice told the Catalyst. The organization has partnered with the Florida Department of Transportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cService from Pinellas County to Tampa International Airport has been something that people have been asking us for for years,\u201d she said. \u201cWith the development of the express lanes, now we have a way to run our buses over the bridge without getting stuck in traffic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rice explained that Tampa International Airport is \u201cone of the biggest regional hubs.\u201d <\/p>\n
The new service is anticipated to replace Route 100, which also provides transportation from St. Petersburg to Tampa via the Gandy Bridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a decision that we make lightly,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are dealing with some pretty serious budget constraints. It\u2019s hard for PSTA to be everywhere and everything to everybody.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to PSTA, the 727 service will provide 75% more trips to Tampa. Route 100 is in the bottom 10 in ridership. It only offers 120 trips per week and is not available on the weekends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The planned effort will run seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. The one-way fare cost will be $2.25.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nine different connections are currently proposed. These include access to the SunRunner <\/a>(transportation to St. Pete Beach) and the upcoming Tampa Bay Ferry service.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Erik Portuondo, a PSTA client, attended the Wednesday event. He believes eliminating Route 100 could have a serious impact on individuals who use the service for daily transportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis proposed 727 is not going to be an actual replacement,\u201d Portuondo explained to the Catalyst. \u201cRoute 100 services the community, workers and students. This new route is going to just be, in my opinion, for tourists and it\u2019s barely going to get used.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Portuondo\u2019s travel time to Tampa will be extended by two hours if Route 100 is cancelled. The St. Petersburg resident added that he\u2019s not opposed to a TPA service.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Portuondo believes that eliminating Route 100 \u201cputs the needs of visitors in front of the people who live here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m kinda on board with it,\u201d said Ruskin resident Zachary Bryant during the event\u2019s public comment section. \u201cIt seems like a good thing for getting to and from Tampa a little faster over the bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Petersburg resident Rachel Killam utilizes Route 100 to travel to the University of Tampa daily. She is the institution\u2019s associate director of career readiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor the past three years, I wrote my dissertation to and from work everyday to earn my Ph.D on the 100X,\u201d Killam said at the open house. \u201cRoute 100X has also meant that I arrive to work balanced and regulated because I\u2019m not driving in the crazy traffic. This route has enabled my family more economic stability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Additionally, the service has allowed her to connect with other residents. This has \u201cdeepened my appreciation for the Tampa Bay community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Killam argued that when public transportation is reduced, it can lead to staffing challenges, increased turnover and a smaller pool of available workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cReliable transit is an investment in our local economy and is a public service,\u201d she said. \u201cI love the airport route, but is that serving our public community that\u2019s going to and from work?\u201d<\/p>\n Killam suggested that PSTA find a comparable option to Route 100 or reconsider the service\u2019s cancellation. \u201cMaintaining essential routes like 100 demonstrates that PSTA values reliability, accessibility and the communities it serves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n PSTA staff said that they will consider the comments made at the open house.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is planning on introducing a new 727 express bus service from downtown St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-319431","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\/319431","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=319431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}