ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFTS) — The beach, downtown, a quick trip to the mall— the residents in one St. Pete neighborhood now have unlimited access through public transportation to any of those locations and more.
"I live along the Sun Runner course and my daughter's already use it with their school passes daily. And so I'm just excited to be able to like jump on and off, go to Publix, go to Tropicana Field," said Megan Basnett. "I will be utilizing the heck out of this."
On Tuesday, the Pinellas SunCoast Transit Authority officially unveiled its partnership with the neighborhood. One PSTA CEO Brad Miller says is the first of its kind in the state, if not the whole country.
"When they were laying this plan out, I was in shock. I was like 'This is creative, this is inventive.' And I refuse to be on camera for any situation, and I will jump on for this because this is something that we are all so passionate about," Basnett said.
Basnett is a founding Committee Member for Car Free St. Pete. Seeing St. Pete tackle more access to public transportation makes her proud.
"The data has been there for decades in support of an efficient transit situation. It's the mentality that we've had a difficult time getting around. And if anybody knows anything about St. Pete, you are talking about one of the most progressive mentalities with a collaborative group of people that work together in a city and if there was anywhere that was going to make it work, it was going to be St. Pete," she said.
Neighborhood Association President Mandissa Marshall agrees with that sentiment.
"I lived in DC for quite some time, where public transportation is really easy and accessible. To see that be continued to be developed here in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is a huge win. It's a win to make ridership that much easier for our residents, our members of our association," she said.
Under the groundbreaking agreement, every resident can receive a UPASS, or Universal Pass, as a benefit of their neighborhood association membership at no additional cost. They can then tap to ride unlimited buses and the SunRunner to commute to work, attend school, access healthcare, and get around their community without worrying about finding parking, coping with traffic, or paying for gas.
And the neighborhood making the inaugural start to a new beginning with transportation is no stranger to public mobility.
Kenwood was one of Tampa Bay’s first “streetcar suburbs.” A trolley line connected the neighborhood to Downtown St. Pete in a time before most people owned cars. That transit connection 100 years ago allowed St. Petersburg to flourish, and this new approach to transit will help write the next chapter of St. Pete’s story.
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