St. Pete Times: Public bus seats filling up fast in Tampa Bay area

[marmar]

Public bus seats filling up fast in Tampa Bay area
By Mike Brassfield, Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, July 6, 2008



For Janey McGrew, the breaking point came when it cost $50 to fill up her gas tank for the week. "This is ridiculous," she thought, and decided right then to start taking the bus to work.

It takes an hour for her to ride two buses from southern St. Petersburg to her job as a nurse manager at Bay Pines VA Medical Center, compared with only a half-hour in her car. But the 51-year-old is adapting nicely, passing the down time reading and listening to her iPod instead of fighting traffic.

In this summer of $4-a-gallon gas, McGrew is part of a surge of thousands of new passengers climbing aboard Tampa Bay's public buses, where they're learning firsthand just how convenient — or inconvenient — taking the bus can be.

It's a tradeoff of time vs. money, they're finding. The bus tends to be slower but cheaper, especially for longer commutes. It's a big leap for these new riders to give up the independence of their cars, but some are saving hundreds of dollars. McGrew figures her $45 monthly bus pass is a better deal than four $50 tanks of gas.

"You know what, the handwriting is on the wall. There's going to be more people like me on the bus, just wait," McGrew said. Then she added: "It would be helpful if you didn't have to wait so long in between buses."

And there's the rub. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/article664889.ece