News & Public Affairs
Pinellas transit officials react to a Hillsborough Commissioner's suggestion to start transit talks listen
02/27/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: transit, transportation, Mark Sharpe, Ken Welch, PSTA, Brad Miller
As officials in Pinellas County gear up to expand transit options, Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe has said he wants to start talking about funding some enhancements on his side of the Bay. The Tampa Bay Times reports Sharpe said he wants to start building support for a 2014 referendum. Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority CEO Brad Miller says that’s a good thing.
2 comments“PSTA has worked very hard to try to develop our Alternative Analysis in a regional way and one of the challen...
Some transit officials want lawmakers to support gas tax hike listen
02/22/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: gas tax, tax, TBARTA, transportation, transit, Sarasota
Some transit officials want the Florida legislature to let localities increase their local gas tax as much as ten cents per gallon. A Sarasota planning official suggested several possible ways to boost revenue during the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority meeting Friday in Tampa.
Michael Howe, executive director for the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization is pushing for a 2-cent increase to local gas taxes every year for the next five ...
Be the first to commentPinellas Commissioners will vote this month on whether to add transit referendum to ballot listen
02/12/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Norm Roche, Ken Welch, Pinellas County Commission, transit, PSTA, light rail
Pinellas County Commissioners scheduled a vote on whether or not to put a sales tax referendum on the November ballot. The measure would likely increase county sales tax from 7% to 8, but commissioners could change that. Commissioner Norm Roche who is also on the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority Board voted last month to move the issue to County Commission, but was the only descending commissioner during today’s discussion.
Pinellas County Commission chair Ken Welch rebutted concerns...
Be the first to commentMobile app for bus riders coming soon to Hillsborough listen
02/08/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: HART, transit, transportation, buses, smartphones, apps
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit authority is trying to make it easier for bus riders to figure out how to get from point A to point B. HART will launch a web-based bus information system for riders this summer. The program is called OneBusAway and was created with the help of USF’s Center for Urban Transportation Research. It will be available on smart phones, through the HART website and through telephone operators. HART’s Information Technology Services coordinator, Shannon Haney ...
Be the first to commentKen Welch on all things going on in Pinellas County
02/07/13 Mitch PerryLast Call Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Pinellas County, Ken Welch, rail, transit, light rail, Rays, Tampa Bay Rays, stadium, the Pier
Pinellas County Commission Chair Ken Welch joined us for the entire hour, talking about Rays stadium issues, the Pier, a light-rail system in the county, and many other issues.
Be the first to commentTransit officials in Hillsborough are trying to get rolling on improvements listen
02/01/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: HART, transit, transportation, BRT, light rail, Hillsborough County
Hillsborough County’s transit agency is looking at ways to revamp its system, mostly by improving services it already offers. At a workshop today, community stakeholders and HART officials laid out different funding options for new projects.
More and more people are ditching their wheels and hopping on buses. According to Jeff Seward, HART’s chief financial officer, ridership is already up 3.5% over last year. That leaves a wide gap in bus service for the county that Seward said could b...
Be the first to commentHillsborough activists organize to advocate for mass transit listen
01/29/13 Ella WindWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Transit, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Referendum
Pinellas County transit leaders recently sent a referendum for the 2014 ballot to county commissioners for a sales tax to fund light rail. Community leaders and activists from Hillsborough County met in downtown Tampa yesterday to plan a movement for mass transit in their county.
Thirty local activists and representatives from unions, environmental groups, city administration and others met to begin a plan for a political movement to demand that Hillsborough move forward with planning a...
Be the first to commentPSTA forwards transit measure to Pinellas County Commission for referendum decision listen
01/23/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: PSTA, transit, transportation, light rail, Pinellas County
On Wednesday Pinellas transit officials unanimously approved plans to move forward with a transit overhaul by passing the issue to county commissioners. During three hours of public comment Michael Marino with the Tampa Bay Partnership said he met more than 100 times with people in the community about what their priorities were and the answer almost every time was improved transit.
Be the first to comment"This is not a debate about taxes or trains. This is a debate about do you want to have a positive impact o...
PSTA expected to ask Pinellas County Commission for sales tax referendum listen
01/22/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: PSTA, Brad Miller, light rail, transit, transportation
Board members for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, or PSTA will decide once and for all tomorrow whether or not to ask Pinellas County Commissioners to put a sales tax referendum on the November, 2014 ballot. As proposed, the measure would boost the county’s sales tax from 7% to 8% and would fund a massive transit overhaul. The improvements would include better bus service and eventually light rail connecting downtown St. Pete to ...
Be the first to commentPinellas transit officials stick to plans for merger study after HART flip-flops listen
01/14/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
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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