PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The Board of Directors for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) approved the purchase of three new SunRunner buses on Wednesday.
The buses pick passengers up in various locations, including downtown St. Petersburg, the beach, and Tropicana Field.
It's free to ride until October 31. After that date, rides will cost $2.25. The service launched in October of 2022.
"I take it all the time to go to the Rays game, and it's really easy to hop on here, go right to the Trop, go to the game and do whatever I want to do as an adult and then come home safely," said Heather McShane, a passenger.
The additional buses will be added by next Spring. The 40-foot hybrid electric buses will cost an estimated $3 million. The funding will come from the SunRunner project that came in $5 million under budget.
"SunRunner is very different than other routes that we have in service because its high ridership is on the weekends," said Stephanie Rank, Communications & Public Relations Manager for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.
More than 115,000 people used the SunRunner in March alone. As of this week, the service has had more than 635,000 riders since its launch.
The SunRunner is also helping people get to special events like Halloween on Central, Localtopia, and the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which all saw ridership numbers surpass 10,000 on their respective weekends.
"We live in a tourist county, so a lot of workers work in the hotel business, the restaurants, the restaurants in downtown St. Petersburg, they take it to and from to get to their places of work as well as tourists," said Rank.
The PSTA Board of Directors also approved making rides accessible for all veterans. This program will launch on.
November 10. For more information on SunRunner, visit: psta.net
