PSTA is on pace to set a record in ridership for fiscal year 2010.
As the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority heads into the final two months of its fiscal year, the agency is on pace to carry more riders than ever.
PSTA has set monthly ridership records in seven of the last ten months, averaging nearly 1.1 million rides per month. If that trend continues, PSTA will provide passengers with more 13 million rides for the year, a gain of more than 7 percent.
“Our ridership numbers dropped a bit when the recession hit. Now, we’re seeing a rebound and unlike the last time they were this high, in 2008, they’re not being driven by skyrocketing gasoline prices,” PSTA Executive Director Tim Garling said in a press release.
According to experts from the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, a 2.5 percent increase in annual ridership is considered a strong gain in the transit industry. Over the past three years, PSTA has nearly doubled that rate of increase. “PSTA continues working to provide more service to more people,” Garling said. “(Pinellas County) Commissioner Karen Seel has established a Transportation Task Force that is looking at our future funding needs and sources. We are also partnering with the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, the Pinellas County MPO, and the Florida Department of Transportation to study various high-traffic corridors that will yield opportunities for improved transit coupled with robust economic development.”
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