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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2007

The bus system that serves Pasco County residents has nearly doubled in the past four years, transit officials say.

With that growth in mind, the county plans three public workshops to pick the brains of county residents - both transit users and nonusers - for ideas about how the bus system is doing and how it can meet the demands of the coming decade.

'This is the wish-list time,' said Doug Uden, director of the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization, which manages local transportation planning.

Workshops are set for:

•4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Land O' Lakes branch library, 2818 Collier Parkway, Land O' Lakes.

•3 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hugh Embry Library, 14215 Fourth St., Dade City (on county bus Route 30).

•4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Regency Park Library, 9701 Little Road, New Port Richey (on county bus Route 21).

Pasco's transit system primarily serves the densely populated west side of the county. It also provides some service within and between Dade City and Zephyrhills. The fast-growing center of the county has no bus service except for daily HART Express shuttles between Wesley Chapel and downtown Tampa.

The county's transit officials plan to open a cross-county bus route in 2009 keyed to the opening of Wesley Chapel's three major shopping malls.

Pasco's bus service took a hit recently when county commissioners cut from next year's budget $78,000 intended to secure a federal matching grant to provide a bus route in the Moon Lake area.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com or (813) 948-4201.

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