Proposal for bus service inches ahead

The Metropolitan Planning Organization approves documents needed to secure grants for the system.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 30, 2000

BROOKSVILLE -- Hernando County's proposed mass transit system moved a step closer to reality Thursday amid public requests to offer service to as many residents as possible.

"Those of us who do not drive find, as we get older, we tend to be housebound," said Adeline Grieco of Spring Hill. "We would still like to volunteer. . . . We would like to increase our knowledge and our pleasure by going to the library, the movies. . . .

"We have so much more living and giving, so please make sure the buses get moving in my lifetime," she urged the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which controls transportation projects for the county.

The MPO is made up of all five county commissioners and a representative of Brooksville. Viennessee Black, assistant director of Hernando County Head Start, told the MPO that the more than 260 residents her organization serves "really could benefit" from a bus system.

The MPO approved the documents needed to secure federal grants considered key to paying for the bus system, which would circulate through Spring Hill with shuttle service to Brooksville. The grant applications are due today. County commissioner Bobbi Mills voted against the items and MPO Chairman Paul Sullivan, who could vote only to break a tie, also voiced his displeasure with the program.

"My view has not changed that it makes no sense to get in your car to drive to a bus stop," Sullivan said. "This plan has not changed that."

He argued that the system should do more than get residents to and from their shopping destinations. Rather, Sullivan said, it should give people who cannot drive or afford to drive easier access to work.

County planners said they intend to study the routes more closely before completing them. Residents from outlying areas such as Ridge Manor and Hill 'n Dale will have a chance to comment, Transportation Planning Adviser Hugh Pascoe said, acknowledging concerns raised by Commissioners Pat Novy and Nancy Robinson that those outlying communities want service.

Still, Pascoe cautioned, the program must start small to remain feasible.

The program's economic viability caused Mills the most consternation. The county will pay $491,000 over five years toward the mass transit program's $2.7-million budget, Mills said, and it already gives Trans-Hernando $60,000 a year to transport people with physical disabilities.

Yet the MPO staff considers five riders per bus per hour successful, Mills noted, raising doubts about whether the money would be effectively spent.

"The fare box does not carry transit," Pascoe said. "There is no break-even that way."

Rather, he said, the county needs to look at mass transit as a service for residents and try to provide it at the most reasonable cost possible. The staff is working to establish a bus system that stretches without falling apart, said Dennis Dix, county transportation planning coordinator.

In the first year, the bus system is budgeted to spend $656,000. That amount includes about $500,000 for five 25-passenger buses, $15,000 for route signs, $93,500 for routing and scheduling plans, and $40,000 for marketing.

Buses are scheduled to begin rolling in fall 2001.

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