getting around in tampa bay
One of your most basic needs is transportation. In order to get those wonderful things you want, see all there is to see, and get to work to afford all of that, you gotta find your way around town.
Unfortunately, the price of gas in Tampa Bay is as high as it has ever been, and in Forbes’ recent report of the Best And Worst Cities For Commuters, the Tampa area ranks #6 in worst commutes:
No. 6: Tampa, Fla.: Tampa commuters are victims of urban sprawl. As late as 2005, 25% of area properties were classified as investment properties; this rate was almost double the national average. What does this have to do with commuting? It’s a good sign that the city is spread out. While Tampa exhibits a very low population density, commuters are stuck in traffic delays 45 hours a year, and 7% take more than an hour to get to work.
There are alternatives to driving, but they are not as easy to find as you might think. Here is an quick list of local transportation websites that may help you in your search for a better or at least cheaper way to get around.
Bay Area Commuter Services, Inc. (BACS) is one of the Florida Department of Transportation’s nine commuter assistance programs within the state. It is a private, non-profit organization founded and funded by the State of Florida Department of Transportation to promote transportation alternatives to the single-occupant vehicle in the Tampa Bay area and surrounding counties. The agency operates in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. Their stated mission is to enhance the region’s economic prosperity by actively influencing the reduction of traffic growth and air pollution by promoting commute options and developing new programs to help reduce peak hour traffic congestion for businesses and the community.
BACS helps publish the Tampa Bay Commuter. The TBC is a publication that encourages alternative transportation for commuting to work, such as mass transit, carpooling, and riding your bike. The Tampa Bay Commuter is independently published by 2Plus, Inc., a private non-profit corporation, in cooperation with Bay Area Commuter Services, and is supported by funds from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), grants, and through the Hillsborough and Pinellas Metropolitan Planning Organizations. It does not reflect the official views or policies of FDOT or BACS.
Use the Tampa Bay Commuter to find ways to share rides (carpool) around the Tampa Bay area.
And then there is mass transit.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) is in charge of busing you through Pinellas county, which includes the tourist-friendly beach trolley. Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) runs mass transit for Hillsborough County. Three weekday buses travel between the two counties - PSTA’s 100X and 300X, and HART’s 200X.
You can also use the TECO Line Streetcar to get from south downtown Tampa to Ybor City. The USF Bull Runner runs five routes within the University of South Florida and over to the University Square Mall. All USF students, faculty, staff and visitors can ride the Bull Runner for free.
HART’s schedule is featured on Google Transit, but PSTA’s is not.
Finally, there is the promise of a regional transportation plan coming in the future.
The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) - was created as an agency of the state on July 1, 2007 to plan, develop, finance, construct, own, purchase, operate, maintain, relocate, equip, repair, and manage multimodal systems in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota Counties. The authority’s purpose is to improve mobility and expand multimodal transportation options for passengers and freight throughout the seven-county region.
But we’ll see about that.
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May 13th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Definitely one of the worst commutes. If you live in one of the outlying areas, like Eastern Hillsborough, New Tampa, or Wesley Chapel, you can pretty much forget about using public transportation. It’s laughable.
And what’s up with the construction on I-275? Is it an expansion of the existing road? An HOV bypass to downtown? Preparation for rail or monorail from the airport to downtown? Right now it’s simply a rush hour nightmare.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:44 am
“If you live in one of the outlying areas, like Eastern Hillsborough, New Tampa, or Wesley Chapel, you can pretty much forget about using public transportation. It’s laughable.”
I just thought that needed repeating.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Ask TBARTA why they have “corridors” out through rural and preservation areas when common sense tells you that we need solutions where people already live. I think you forgot to add a very important item to that list you have of their purpose…………changing land use….a.k.a. dictating development patterns. Their definition of transit is not limited to rail or BRT it also includes toll roads…..which when plopped through rural areas drive development.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:49 am
“If you live in one of the outlying areas, like Eastern Hillsborough, New Tampa, or Wesley Chapel”…
do you commute to downtown Tampa? Or do you commute to USF, Brandon, West Shore?
What is the solution for mobility in and around these economic centers?
May 13th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I actually commute to St. Pete. Nightmare!!! Keep in mind that I’m originally from NY, the suburbs of Long Island, but still.
Buses in Eastern Hillsborough are primarily out of Brandon Town Center. Connections to get there are hard to get to and not at the times one needs. If you mapped the route from say Valrico, which oh by the way is as far as you can go via bus and that’s only if you don’t live too far into Valrico, to St. Pete, you’d move or find another job.
I opted originally for the former, moving 20 min closer to avoid the logjam of State Road 60, Lumsden Road, or Bloomingdale Ave, but given the price of gas, I’m now considering the latter.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I live in an outlying area — Palm Harbor. Midway between Tampa and St. Pete over land. erqualdistant to both.
And no transit options that are realistic to either. The Express buses that run in Pinellas County to Hillsborough are all at a distance south of me. By the time I would arrive at one of the lots — they most liley would ahve stopped morning comute service.
…which is also the case for the closest bus to me. Route 63 running on Tampa Road has 3 trips in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. If was commuting downtown to Clearwater alone in the mornings, that would work fine. But trying to reach anywhere else? It doesn’t work.
And note - with all the construction on Memorial and Eisenhower and 275 — it’s still easier to get to Tampa tahn to get to St. Petersburg from where I live. Or at least more comfortable. Oh, and I could proably take a bus between Palm Harbor and St. Pete — and it would take 2 1/2 hours to get there.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I feel your pain, John!
Tampa will never be the up-and-coming city it wants to be without mass transportation and an attractive, inviting downtown area.
It’s a shame because it could be all of that with a little creativity and determination on the part of our elected leaders and business community.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Have you thought about transportation. That is a whole different story. Suncoast is the best bus transportation. They bill you once a month. Sure beats 1 taxi in the city of TAMPA.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Excuse me ,I FORGOT ,FOR THE HANDICAPPED.
May 13th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I try to ride my bike a lot, but I feel like I am risking my life venturing from North Tampa to Channelside for my job. It is terrifying. Maybe half the streets have sidewalks, and there is no way in hell I’ll ride in the street in Tampa. Just my 2 cents.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Even with the addition of Bike Lanes, Aaron, I couldn’t conceive anyoen trying to ride their bike that distance. Too many inconsiderate drivers.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Everybody seems to think transportation is a quick fix instant gratification matter. Roads and rail need the foresight of years, often decades. Same kind of foresight that needs to go into urban planning and land development. Mass transit development now has the boon of factors making living out in the sticks not only expensive, but increasingly a more apparent waste of time. Are we going to be able to tell how the urban development situation in Tampa is going to be in 10 years? Most folks I know don’t know what city they will be living in in 3 years. We may have to get a little more far sighted before blowing millions of dollars on something else people won’t use.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am
No, it’s not an easy fix, Fourseas, which is why we need forward thinking leadership at all times. The mess we’re in now was certainly on the horizon at least 5 or 6 years ago. Where’s the solid plan? And should we wait to be in a worst fix 10 years from now before we do something?
No one has a crystal ball so of course there’s potential for mistakes but if they don’t make plans now, we’re certainly not going to be better off. FL continues to gain in population every single day.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Mass transportation works when car driving alternatives have been exhausted.
I moved to Northern Virginia earlier this year, after living my entire life in Tampa. My commute is a 25 minute subway ride from Arlington to Capitol Hill. That 4 mile trip would be 45 minutes by car, and a $17 a day parking fee (or $200 a month off my paycheck, versus the Metro subsidy my employer gives me.)
But, were the financial and traffic restrictions not in place, I would drive in a second. I must plan extra time into my trips to and from business meetings (trains run once every 10-15 minutes during the day), my nightlife activities (trains run between 15-20 minutes on evenings and weekends) - buses are horribly unreliable and VERY slow.
Do I miss the convenience - Certainly. Do I miss the traffic and gas costs - Never. It’s a compromise.
Arlington and DC are walkable (though many parts of DC are very unsafe for this activity), and have numerous activities for younger professionals like myself.
Arlington planned well for density, but it’s location to DC drove that factor - and it works, and works well.
I just don’t know if you could fit the Arlington model on Tampa. It’s apples and oranges.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Patricia, you make one error in your post: the writing was on the wall about the traffic situation at least 15 years ago…
Yet no one plans long term. They plan for the quick fix (meaning road improvements) and not long term. And anythign that costs money and has risk seems to be a non starter for the government — meaning they are fine with building fly overs at every single intersection of every single street in the area, but a trolley or a train or a dedicated bus is just too much of a risk (rolling my eyes)
May 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Thanks for the correction, John. I have to be honest. I’ve only lived in Tampa for four years but clearly we didn’t do a thorough enough job of researching the place before we got here, at least with regards to transportation and definitely how the local government operates (or doesn’t).
We knew there was a bus system (laughable in hind sight) and there was a lot of news at that time about light rail, so we figured it will work out in a few short years. Right after we got here, the light rail thing died and there doesn’t seem to be any cohesive plan nor any real attempt to put one together.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Ronnie Duncan, a Pinellas County commissioner and a member of TBARTA, had posted in comments here on Sticks that there is a political and business will to get Light Rail built.
Funny how that works out. Duncan is not running for re-election and it woudl seem transit is not going to be much of an issue in teh 2008 elections.
(I think we, the bitter and disgusted voters, have to make it one)
May 14th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I voted for the lightrail and again when people voted against it. Heh.
There was an article on one of the local news stations site about bicycle sales increasing. The comments were mostly, “Great, I have to sit next to a wet smelly dog at work just so they can save a few dollars?” With that mentality I don’t know what to think.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I too live in NoVA and take the metro to the district. I agree that driving up there is next to impossible. Metro is not perfect but it’s definitely better than the Beltway. If TBARTA can see that $5/gallon gas prices are in the near future, perhaps the bay area can get a decent light rail system which may not be perfect but definitely better than burning a quarter tank of gas on 275 because you aren’t moving and the a/c is on.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
As being a PSTA customer for most of my life, I find that people are now getting out of their cars and onto the bus. I was riding a 60 eastbound toward the bay and the bus was jammed all the way to the mall. Thats just over 75% of the route. Even on sundays, I would take a 66 northward to Tarpon Springs, and I would end up standing about 65% of the time. Thats only a few “Perks” in the PSTA system. As ridershihp rises, and I’m not just referring to Pinellas, but Tampa Bay as a whole. But as ridership soars, the local area officials should look at improvement on the bus system. Instead of riding a car, I ride PSTA to school. I’ve even convinced some of my friends to use mass transit. If this keeps up, PSTA(and other agencies) needs to look at bus upgrades, like articulated buses(double-jointed). I bet even PSTA can fill an articulated bus if people start using transit. Then, after the agencies tackle bussing capacities, scheduling, and frequency, then they can move on to more larger projects like BRT, LRT, and even possibly Conventional Commuter rail and Ferry. Tampa already has a boost with the tourist-friendly TECOline Streetcar system(Modern Trams are Ideal for that). Good Luck to TBARTA, PSTA, HART, SCAT, MCAT, THEbus, and other agencies in the TBARTA service region, and even thoughs ont in it.
I can see this happening in Tampa Bay, If local authorities and citizens can pull through the tax returns and budget cuts, it certainly SHOULD happen. Otherwise it’s just another Houston(Refering to the Highway System)….
May 14th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Meredith, I ride on I-275 in the afternoons with the A/C off and the windows down. My arms are wonderfully tanned, although I’m starting to worry about exposure. I usually arrive home a sweaty mess but that’s better than burning the a/c when I’m only moving 5-10 mph.
PSTA_Customer, the fact that you even have bus service on the weekends makes me jealous. Not where I live in Hillsborough County, and I’m only 20 min from downtown by car. It’s a sad mess.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Transit ridership is up in spite of years of bad planning by local government. In Pinellas we tax bus riders and subsidize the singe passenger auto trip. The intent seems to be to discourage bus rides and encourage us to keep our cars on the road.
Two years ago PSTA raised fares on Pinellas bus riders to pay for a tax break for property owners. The commercial property owners and developers who fund Pinellas political campaigns got what they wanted but higher fares discourage ridership at a time when we should be marketing like crazy to get new riders. This fare increase was like a new tax on the poorest residents of Pinellas. At the same time the county and cities pushed for a one cent sales tax largely to fund road building.
The only transportation priority of local government is road building and more road building. We provide hidden subsidies like the two billion dollar Penny for Pinellas sales tax. Half of this goes for roads.
When car owners can see the costs of commuting they are encouraged to look at bus service or car pooling. Hidden subsidies lessen that move to transit.
Now and then a small effort is made to get people out of their cars. After two years of free parking the Rays now provide free parking for vehicles with 4 or more riders. This has been a million dollar a year loss of parking fees with 10% coming from taxpayers. Now the city and the Rays subsidize car poolers. Go Rays!
Now the PSTA is again talking about raising sales taxes to fund bus service.
Why hide the cost of transportation?
My solution is to switch all road and transportation costs to a higher gas tax and let drivers pay at the pump. A new tax can be phased in as prices drop in the fall. Consumers will react to higher prices by buying fuel efficient cars or using their big SUVs for carpooling.
When politicians tell you how much they want light rail in the future ask them what they are doing for bus service today.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Tom, you had me until you said, “My solution is to switch all road and transportation costs to a higher gas tax and let drivers pay at the pump.”
As several of us have indicated in prior comments, bus service is not an option for us. It is woefully unavailable, if not non-existant, where and when we need it to be.
So we have to drive. On top of being forced to endure the already higher costs of driving, should we have to pay even more because our politicians and city planners fail to get it?
May 19th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Well Patricia, yes I think we should have to pay more for gas and some of that should subsidize the poor. I never said that we should pay more taxes overall. I want to eliminate the hidden subsidies like the Penny for Pinellas and the proposed half cent sales tax. Lower sales taxes would mean if you spend $1,000 on furniture you save $15. Spend $5,000 on a used car you will save $75 dollars.
If you still love to drive you will pay more overall but most people are trying to buy less gas and they will save on taxes.
Higher gas prices are pushing people to cut unnecessary trips, car pool and try the bus. As families replace older cars they will look at fuel efficient smaller cars that also take up less space on the road and in the parking lot.
Think about the benefits to you and the many others who can not give up your cars. Take 5% of commuters that move to transit and 15% who move to ridesharing and the level of service will dramatically improve. You will burn less gas if you can avoid stop and go traffic and crawling through bumper to bumper gridlock at 5 miles per hour. Your stress level will go down and your energy will go up.
For me it will be very hard to ride the bus more than once or twice a week. But I am going to try it out. I have too many errands to run on the way home from work to give up my car every day.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Tom, I don’t drive everyday because I “love to drive”. In fact, I drive because I have no choice.
I live in eastern Hillsborough county and work in Pinellas Park. You tell me how I’m supposed to get my kids to daycare and get to work without driving. I’m open to suggestions.
Every time I cross the Howard Frankland I get angry that I have no other choice. I’d much rather pay for public transport where I could sit in comfort and read or relax rather than drive.
So no, I don’t think that I should be penalized at the pump for being forced to drive unless I knew for certain that the increased funds were going directly into developing a reasonable public transporation system within a reasonable timeframe for a city the size of Tampa.
And exactly what is unnecessary? I agree that folks waste a lot of gas so the current increases are forcing folks to be a bit wiser. But until something better comes along, we’re all forced to drive–to work, to church, to recreation, to run errands–because of the sprawl. Continued increases at the pump alone won’t stop that. It will only reduce the quality of life for too many people.
If better public transportation is not an option, then better city planning is a must so that the places we need to go are all within walking/biking distance.