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The SunRunner bus route connecting Downtown St. Pete to St. Pete Beach could lose part of its dedicated lane in South Pasadena.
It comes as the Florida Department of Transportation is evaluating past and future projects that repurpose car lanes for transit.
The SunRunner is a frequent bus line that has its own lane through most of its route, but it could lose its dedicated lane along Pasadena Avenue.
Whit Blanton is the Executive Director of Forward Pinellas, the county’s land use and transportation planning agency.
“Without a dedicated lane and those kinds of stations that were built as part of it, I don’t think you’d have as much incentive or a catalyst for the kind of redevelopment the city of South Pasadena is looking to achieve,” Blanton told WMNF.
The removal of the dedicated lane could also risk the SunRunner losing federal funding. Blanton says that’s unlikely but not impossible.
Opponents say the dedicated lanes cause congestion and not enough people use the SunRunner.
The SunRunner saw a decline in ridership after fares were instituted.
But Blanton said ridership will expand as the region grows and it’s a viable option for people who don’t want to pay hefty parking fees.
“I just don’t see why we would want to remove something that we spent a lot of political capital and monetary capital to build as recently as 2 or 3 years ago,” Blanton said.
Whit Blanton is Executive Director of Forward Pinellas, the county’s land use and transportation planning agency.
“You have to learn to build in a little bit of travel time when you wait for the bus. But it can be really freeing to allow you to get some work done, or, play video games, you know, just not have the stress of driving,” Blanton said.
He encourages listeners to contact their elected officials and advocate for the SunRunner.
4 Responses to “State officials may strip Pinellas SunRunner of dedicated lane”
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Yes Please! I live on South Pasadena, and losing that lane has slowed traffic up considerably! Backups going through several lights on a regular basis. Also pulling out of my community, with all the traffic backed up in 2 lanes, has been almost impossible sometimes. resulting in having to go right and do a U-turn with all the backed up traffic.
Once they pass Publix in south pasadena, they do NOT use bus lane. Causing backups instead route 14 uses lane
I wish this bus would be shut down. Stealing those traffic lanes should be investigated. The promises made and broken to the federal government to obtain sunrunner funding should also be investigated. The sunrunner PR machine should be subjected to criminal investigation.
We’re not a mass transit area. I get it we have to start somewhere, but one bus with little offshoots is going to only be frustrating. Have a BIG plan that’s accessible on more than one road. Lots and lots of sun runners. For a good price. People want convenience. It’s not terribly inconvenient to drive into downtown, so you have to make it more convenient to use mass transit than actually parking ourselves. This plan should’ve been on a much much more massive scale or not at all