dick’s transportation center
Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) will be renaming the "Southern Transportation Plaza" after former mayor Dick Greco. It’s only fair, since that Dick promised the city would be on the hook for the boondoggle that is the streetcar system. A bronze likeness of him sitting on a bench will be moved to the "Dick Greco Transportation Plaza" in May.
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April 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Wouldn’t call it a boondoggle as so much a misrun tourist attraction that isn’t serving the city as it should be.
Speed up the cars, start the hours running earlier and commit to having the line reach non tourist destinations besides the new Channelside residences
April 14th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Hey Tommy!! Lay off the trolley!! I love it!!
Anonymous is right on target with comments but I would like to add that there needs to be an easier way for riders to pay for tickets such as machines at trolley stops that accept debit/credit cards/makes change and dipenses tickets for single, all day or multi-ride passes.
Lower cost to $2.00 for all day tickets. You’ll see more riders. Trolley cars are gonna run anyway, might as well have them 1/2 to full of riders paying less but still paying fares as opposed to less than 1/2 to empty and no fares collected. Operating costs are the same full or empty. Might as well make some money as opposed to none.
$4.00 roundtrip really stops many of us that live in Ybor City and Channelside from just hopping on the trolley. From Ybor City, it’s cheaper to drive to Channelside and park in the garage as opposed to paying $8.00 for 2 people round trip. Eat at Channelside and they’ll stamp your parking garage ticket and then it only costs a dollar to park.
I miss Mayor Dick.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:39 am
I just went to Disney for the first time since moving here from the UK eight years ago. Wow, how long have they had those neat rapid transit electric trains - about 20 years? And yet, I still cannot catch a train or bus for a night out in St. Pete or Ybor. The biggest joke about Tampa is its lack of decent mass transit. The trolley is a small start to what needs to be a massive wave. Trains don’t just mean an easy, cheap less polluting commute - they mean you can go for a night out without having to worry about how much you drink or paying a second mortgage for a taxi home. Trains and buses add a massive boost to tourism and are the only practical way for working class people to get to a low paying job- great for students or the elderly.. I could go on with my rant.
Extend the Trolley to down town and watch the money roll in - how about a water taxi while we’re at it?
April 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Hey Pam, we rode the trolley last weekend and they have those machines now. You can use credit or debit cards. We had the cash so I’m not sure if they worked or how easy they where but they are there!
April 15th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Great news!! Thanks wifey. I’ll check it out.