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Downtown to the beach - no stopping

The Metropolitan Planning Organization has directed $2.3-million in federal money toward building a rapid transit system.

By CARRIE WEIMAR
Published March 13, 2006

Sleek new buses whisk passengers from downtown St. Petersburg to the county's beaches.

Terminals boast digital screens that reveal precisely when the next bus will arrive.

Best of all, bus drivers override stoplights with the touch of a button.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization moved toward making Bus Rapid Transit a reality by directing $2.3-million in federal money toward building a system along Pinellas County's Central Avenue corridor.

An additional $600,000 will go toward studying other potential Bus Rapid Transit routes.

The move marks a major shift away from the county's longstanding and grandiose plans to build a monorail to the beaches, which many critics described as impractical and too expensive.

"This is a real changing of gears for the county," said St. Petersburg City Council member John Bryan, a member of the Metropolitan Planning Organization and an advocate for Bus Rapid Transit. "It just makes perfectly good common sense. It's way more affordable."

The $2.3-million will go toward completing an engineering study. If all goes well, new buses could start running from downtown St. Petersburg by 2008, Bryan said.

Bus Rapid Transit is an emerging trend in transportation first popularized in Brazil. Sometimes called "light rail on rubber tires," the buses frequently run in dedicated bus lanes. Drivers have computers on board that can hold a green light for up to 10 seconds to avoid nearly all stops that don't involve boarding and dropping passengers.

Tickets are sold before passengers board as another time-saving device. Buses also run far more frequently than regular routes.

Bryan said he envisions buses with a space-age design that will be more inviting to passengers.

"It's equipment people want to get on," he said. "It's quiet, it's comfortable, it's clean."

The Central Avenue corridor would run mostly on the First avenues N and S rather than Central. Its first phase would reach from downtown to the Central Avenue bus hub.

It would then stretch to the Gulf beaches, to South Pasadena or to the Tyrone area. The ultimate destination has yet to be determined, said Roger Sweeney, the director of the Pinellas Suncoast Transportation Authority.

The estimated cost is anywhere between $9-million and $20-million, Sweeney said.

Other county routes may follow, including Ulmerton Road and U.S. 19.

The concept is catching on nationwide, including Boston, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Los Angeles, Oakland and Miami.

In July, Congress gave the University of South Florida $7-million to create the National Bus Rapid Transit Institute, which conducts research and helps localities decide if they want to adopt the system.

Hillsborough County has targeted seven corridors for Bus Rapid Transit, including Hillsborough and Florida Avenues. However, the county has no firm timetable.

In Pinellas, a longstanding battle has simmered between BRT advocates and supporters of light rail.

For more than 30 years, Clearwater officials have pushed for a monorail system to connect with county beaches. The latest proposal died last week when the MPO decided not to spend $900,000 for an engineering study of a monorail between Clearwater and Clearwater Beach.

Instead, the money will be used to study Bus Rapid Transit.

Pinellas County Commissioner Karen Seel, the chairwoman of the MPO, said the board's choice was based on practicality.

"Our goal is to provide efficient and cost-effective transportation," Seel said. "Bus Rapid Transit offers people a real, viable alternative to their cars."

Clearwater officials believe the monorail would cost $60-million or more, and Seel said she thought the estimate was low. But she didn't completely rule out the idea. If Bus Rapid Transit is successful, it could pave the way for more mass transit options, she said.

"Let's see if this works," Seel said. "Then we can start exploring other ideas."

But Bus Rapid Transit won't cure all the county's transportation woes, said Brian Smith, the county's planning director.

The system may help passengers bypass traffic but it won't do much to relieve overall congestion.

"In the long term, we're going to need something more to work with," Smith said. "This isn't going to handle a lot of growth."

Carrie Weimar can be reached at 727 892-2273 or cjohnson@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 13, 2006, 19:08:02]