They'd like lower fares, more trolleys and extended routes covering several more neighborhoods.
By JON WILSON
Published May 2, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - A business alliance last week asked the county bus agency for more than $2-million spread over five years to expand the Looper, a downtown trolley service.
The St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership also asked the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority for some new vehicles and proposed lowering the Looper's fare from $1 to 25 cents.
PSTA marketing director Janet Recca said the transit agency's board, comprising representatives from around Pinellas County, will mull the ideas. As a first step, the subject is likely to be discussed at a PSTA workshop Friday.
The PSTA's staff will produce a report and make recommendations, a process that could take several months.
"We all agreed to work together to analyze the proposal and see what we could come up with, actually how to work the two systems together. This was the first time we had heard this proposal," Recca said.
"There's a lot of merit there, so we want to do it correctly."
The Looper Group, a nonprofit that runs the service, wants to extend the Looper's route out Central Avenue to 31st Street.
The trolleys, which link downtown businesses and attractions, currently go only as far west as Seventh Street. A 24-block extension would provide service to several other neighborhoods, including the Dome, Grand Central and Central Plaza businesses districts, and the Historic Kenwood and Palmetto Park residential areas.
Don Shea, Downtown Partnership president, said he was encouraged by PSTA board response to his proposal.
"It got a surprising amount of support and interest on the part of a number of (board members) who don't represent St. Pete," Shea said.
He said the money requested breaks down to $411,400 a year. New trolleys would mean 15-minute service all the time, instead of just during peak months, and service would last late into the evening every day, Shea said.
Business people along the proposed extension route are pushing for it.
"This is about picking up new riders ... picking up a new group of people that would not be riding a bus," said Jim Longstreth, a Realtor whose office is at 2435 Central Ave.
"It's about historic Kenwood residents taking the Looper to work and not driving downtown. It's about people like me who work on Central who have to go to the municipal building twice a week taking the Looper. It's about new residents and tourists wanting to shop shops downtown."
