So when Julie and I went to an event at the Globe this week, I decided to make that my next experiment with Tampa Bay Area transit. I rode PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority); one bus, no transfer needed. Downtown is easily accessible by bus as many of PSTA's routes pass through there.
The distance from my house to the Globe is 8 miles. The entire trip, including wait time, took me 58 minutes; compared to Google's estimate of 47 minutes. (I could have reduced my wait time by 10 minutes but since I'm not familiar with PSTA's on-time record I decided to play it safe and get to the bus stop a little early.) Exactly 6 minutes of that time was walking from my house to the bus stop; that matches Google's estimate of the walking time. Driving from Point A to Point B is 20-30 minutes, depending on traffic.
- I wrote previously about my belief that we do not sufficiently fund transit in the Tampa Bay Area. I think PSTA does very good work with the resources available to them. On this particular trip the bus was clean, comfortable and on time.
- I'm not wild about PSTA's route maps. They show a few landmarks but the maps do not show routes in the context of streets, or even with a conventional north-south orientation. I don't feel these maps are very welcoming to new transit users.
- On the other hand, I do like PSTA's web site. I find it easy to navigate. You can purchase tickets online with a $2 handling fee. Fare and route information are all easy to find. And Google trip planner is incorporated into the home page.
- A coalition of organizations, including PSTA, operates trolleys that cover downtown St. Petersburg. The fare is only $0.25. However, these trolleys only operate until 5PM Sunday through Thursday (later on Friday and Saturday); this is of limited use to people who work a conventional weekday schedule and want to visit downtown in the evening.
- Be careful to look at every suggested route when using Google trip planner. In my case, Google offered three suggested routes and the third route was the most efficient.
Those of us at PSTA would like nothing more than to take care of these problems, however most of those listed are due to monetary constraints. We live in the 20th largest metropolitan area in the US, yet our annual spending on transit is a fraction that of all other cities rounding out the top 25 in the county... as well as many other, significantly smaller cities. Plus, since the major source of our funding is property taxes, we’ll probably be forced to cut back again this year. At a time when we need to build our local transit systems to take advantage of the new Federal high-speed rail line, we’re forced to cut service and resources. For those who value quality transit service and want to build a system that properly serves a population of our size, please tell your, friends, acquaintances and everyone you know to contact your local legislators and encourage them to support increased funding for PSTA and HART. Thanks!
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