News & Public Affairs

Pinellas transit officials stick to plans for merger study after HART flip-flops listen

01/14/13 Janelle Irwin
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Tags: PSTA, HART, transit, transportation

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority’s (PSTA) board is sticking to its guns about a recommendation to the Florida legislature that would further study the benefits of combining their agency with Hillsborough’s. Both boards had decided to ask the state to pay for a second merger study, but last week, leaders of the Hillsborough transit authority rescinded that request. PSTA CEO Brad Miller agreed with a board decision during a special meeting Monday to meet with HART once more before each...

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Tampa Bay area residents are becoming more transit-friendly listen

12/27/12 Janelle Irwin
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Tags: transit, transportation, HART, PSTA

A Tampa Bay Times poll released today shows that a majority of Tampa Bay residents would be OK with spending tax dollars on light rail in the region.

Fifty-six percent of Hillsborough County residents polled said they would support using public funding for mass transit like light or commuter rail. In Pinellas County 60% said they’d be on board.

The poll comes after voters in Hillsborough rejected a transit-tax referendum that could have included light rail. Now planners in Pinellas Co...

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Pinellas and Hillsborough want to further study transit merger listen

12/11/12 Janelle Irwin
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Tags: PSTA, HART, transit, transportation, Florida Legislature

Officials for transit authorities in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties are considering merging the two systems to save money. Both PSTA and HART boards plan to ask the Florida legislature to fund a detailed study of the savings that would result from combining staff resources.

PSTA and HART already split the cost of a preliminary state-mandated coordination study. The boards will vote on a final list of recommendations and funding requests based on the results at their meeting next month....

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Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority to get $2.6 million for 4 hybrid buses

12/03/12 Seán Kinane
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Tags: transit, transportation, PSTA, hybrid, bus, DOT, Department of Transportation

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation website, the DOT has awarded Pinellas County’s transit system $2.6 million to purchase four hybrid electric buses. PSTA will receive the funds from the Federal Transit Administration.

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Elected officials look for ways to improve Tampa Bay transit listen

09/19/12 Janelle Irwin
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Tags: transit, transportation, Jeff Danner, Mark Sharpe, light rail, PSTA

Elected officials from across the region are learning how to improve transit. The group Transportation for America is hosting a summit today at the Val Pak headquarters in St. Petersburg that features experts on the topic as well as planners from cities with model transit systems. St. Pete City Council’s Jeff Danner said funding infrastructure is a major hurdle for the area.

“The thing with transportation is, regardless of what mode it is it’s very expensive and funding’s always the iss...

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Pinellas transit officials want to brand improvements before asking residents to pay for them listen

09/11/12 Janelle Irwin
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Tags: PSTA, transit, light rail, transportation, Ken Welch, Brad Miller, SunRail

Pinellas County is slowly moving forward with plans to ask voters to pay for a major transit overhaul. A study released this year lays the groundwork for both light rail and increased bus service to support it. At a transit meeting yesterday, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority CEO Brad Miller said the ideas need to be discussed with possible riders.

“To help us digest all of these plans that are going on whether they’re long term or shor...

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Light rail advocates join forces to combat opposition in Pinellas listen

06/19/12 Janelle Irwin
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Tags: PSTA, transit, light rail, transportation, Norm Roche, Jeff Danner, Sierra Club, Awake Pinellas

Environmentalists and progressive activists are joining forces to let transit officials in Pinellas County know they want expanded mass transit. About 80 of them packed a Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) board meeting in Pinellas County Monday to make sure their presence was felt as heavily as rail opponents whose slogan is "no tax for tracks." Organizer of the event, Tim Martin represents the group Awake Pinellas. As multi-modal transportation supporters showed up, Martin made s...

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Bills in Tallahassee Would Consolidate HART and PSTA Transportation Authorities

03/07/12 Robert Lorei

Tags: HART, PSTA, Steven Polzine, merger, HB1399, SB 1866

Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up today we'll talk about two bills in Tallahassee that could lead to the merger of HART (the Hillsborough Regional Transportation Authority) and PSTA (the Pinellas Suncoast Transportation Authority). Our guest is HART Board Vice Chair Dr. Steven Polzin, Director of the Mobility Research Program (long title for “researcher) at the USF Center for Urban Transportation Research. FMY HART

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Proposal for Light Rail in Pinellas Plus Sandra Fluke's Testimony Before Congress

03/05/12 Robert Lorei
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Tags: Jeff Danner, light rail, Pinellas County Schools, psta, Sandra Fluke, Rush Limabugh

Good afternoon, welcome to the Last Call. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up today we’ll talk about public transportation.

Pinellas is considering a plan to build a 24 mile light rail system linking the central part of downtown St. Petersburg with Clearwater. There’s also potential in the system to build a line that would extend over the new Howard Frankland Bridge.

Here to talk about the idea is St. Petersburg City Council member Jeff Danner who is also chairman of the Pinellas Suncoas...

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Pinellas Transit draws light rail plans; 2013 referendum possible listen

02/17/12 Janelle Irwin
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Tags: Transportation, transit, Transit Referendum, psta, Sierra Club, Phil Compton, Bob Lasher, light rail, Pinellas County

Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, or PSTA, has drawn plans to build 24 miles of light rail in Pinellas County with a connection to Tampa. At the Unitarian Universalist church in Clearwater last night, a spokesperson for Pinellas’s transit authority told Sierra Club members that the plan could significantly reduce congestion on roadways. The rail plan is called the [locally preferred alternative](http://www.psta.net/PDF/PSTA-HART...

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