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Letter to the editor

Four busy routes pick up the pace

With ridership increasing, the PSTA will have buses run every 20 minutes during rush hour.

By NICOLE BARDO-COLON
Published June 29, 2007

If you work downtown in Clearwater, St. Petersburg or Tampa, your trip home might be getting easier - especially if you take the bus.

That's because the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority has increased the frequency of its busiest routes during rush hour.

Buses along Routes 59, 60 and 74 will run every 20 minutes during rush hour.

The 300X route to Tampa will add a trip in the middle of the day.

The agency made the change because more people ride the bus, PSTA spokesman Bob Lasher said.

The authority has seen a 20 percent increase in ridership in the past five years.

In the 2005-2006 fiscal year, ridership was 11.4-million, and it is expected to jump to 12-million this year.

"We're trying to get more people out of their cars and help with traffic, " he said.

PSTA executive director Roger Sweeney said the increase in ridership could have something to do with gas prices, but the authority has managed to retain riders even with the ups and downs.

"What's interesting is when gas prices spiked and then fell, our ridership stayed with us, " Sweeney said.

And people will ride more if they don't have to wait as long, Lasher said.

"People have more confidence. They're not worried, " he said.

"If they do miss it, it's not a long wait."

Nicole Bardo-Colon can be reached at 893-8779 or nbardo-colon@sptimes.com.

Bus routes

Route 59

Runs from Williams Park north on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and then west on Ulmerton Road to Indian Rocks Beach.

Route 60

Runs from downtown Clearwater east on Cleveland Street and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard to Bayview Avenue and Drew Street.

Route 74

Runs from Williams Park north on 16th Street and west on Gandy Boulevard to Indian Rocks Shopping Center.

Route 300X

Runs from Ulmerton Park east on Ulmerton Road to Tampa, where it ends at the Marion Transit Center.

[Last modified June 28, 2007, 22:28:00]