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Driven By Gas Prices, People Overcome Public Transit Phobia
Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO
Natalie Cerrito, right, of Wesley Chapel talks with Janet Stephenson while riding into downtown Tampa last Friday.
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Published: May 16, 2008
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TAMPA - Hesitant to get on the bus because you don't know who will be nuzzling up next to you?
You're not alone. The people who run Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority have set up a program to help walk you through that and other concerns that might keep you from joining the growing number of people who are turning to the bus as gas prices pass $3.50 a gallon.
"Before, I thought the bus was for people who didn't have cars or were strapped for cash," said Nell Penny of Wesley Chapel, a downtown office worker who helped boost HART ridership by more than 8 percent in the past year.
Penny moved to the trendy suburb, about 25 miles north of downtown Tampa, and started driving to work. That lasted about three days. Now she's a regular bus rider - one of about two dozen passengers riding the downtown express route from as far away as Quail Hollow.
"I fill up my car once every two weeks," she said. "If I drove to work, I would be filling it up every four days."
The rising price of gas coincides with a spike in bus ridership, especially among commuters to business centers. HART spokeswoman Kathy Karalekas said ridership in April is 8.5 percent higher than April of last year. This year, ridership is 7.4 percent higher than over the same period last year, she said.
Karalekas said last year's ridership broke the record set the prior year, which had broken the record set the year before that.
"We're on track to reach 12 million rides this year," she said.
Tweaking the bus schedule by adding night, weekend and express routes brings in more business. Still, she said, behind it all is gas prices.
"Last spring, when gas started spiking, we did start breaking monthly riding records. We broke records three times within the past year."
When regular unleaded gas prices hit $3 per gallon, HART started seeing record months. Ridership in March 2007 was 967,739, she said, a record at the time.
"We broke that in August," she said, "with our first million-ride month."
Two months later, that record fell.
"Since those million-ride months," she said, "we've been consistently in the 900,000-plus range."
Karalekas said the biggest obstacle to more people riding the bus is fear.
"You have to get past that initial fear, the fear of the unknown," she said.
Commissioner Rides Express Bus
That's where HART's travel buddy comes in, she said. A live person will accompany the first-time rider and even pay for the ride, someone who "will come to you, figure out your route, where your bus stop is and what time the bus comes and how to read bus schedule."
Information on the program is available on the HART Web site, www.hartline.org, or by calling (813) 254-4278, the service's customer service line.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham has started taking an express bus into town from his Plant City home. Now, he said, he swears by it.
"Four weeks ago, I said, 'I'm not going to pay $60 for a tank of gas as often as I am,'" Higginbotham said.
"The veteran riders, well over half of them, came from somewhere in the country where there was a well-developed transit system. New riders are skeptical because of what they thought they would find on the bus. That's where they are sadly wrong."
'Stress-Free Way To Get To Work'
U.S attorney's office spokesman Steve Cole started riding the bus from Temple Terrace downtown about two years ago, when gas prices hit an earlier spike.
"I was paying $85 a month to park in the Poe garage," Cole said, "plus the driving back and forth, the gas."
When gas prices began to drop, he remained loyal to the bus.
"From day one," he said, "I loved it. What a lot of people don't realize, is along with the price of gas, you don't have to drive. You can chat with other people, read the newspaper, read a book or just zone out. You can sleep on the way in if you want.
"It's a very stress-free way to get to work."
Cole takes an express that makes three stops in Temple Terrace and then, "It's like a rocket into downtown."
He said that when he started, there were a dozen or so riders on the bus. Now there are as many as 35. All know each other because they ride every day. All work downtown. They signed a petition within the past week or so asking HART to provide a bigger bus.
"I would say that within the past couple of weeks, every third day or so, somebody new comes aboard. It's not right for everybody, but I'm thrilled with it and you see that from a lot of people. It's not a chore to ride the bus. It really isn't."
Daily commuters taking the bus to and from work are a growing portion of the market.
Natalia Cerrito, who lives in Wesley Chapel and takes the bus every day to work downtown, said she rides for the convenience and savings, working on her laptop for most of the hourlong trip. Five of HART's commuter buses are equipped with free wireless Internet availability.
"I would pay $400 a month in gas and parking fees," she said. "So, I'm saving a good amount."
Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( dalatorr ) on May 16, 2008 at 6:55 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
The bus comes nowhere near my house and goes almost nowhere near where I need to go. I work in sales, so I travel the 7 counties around the Tampa Bay area. There is no way a bus would get me to where I need to go.
Buses are for people who live near a bus route and work near a bus route, and go to the same place every day, at the same time. Looking forward, as more people live in the suburbs and/or work from home, buses become more and more irrelevant.
However, I have been stuck behind many buses in my travels, and for the most part, there is a ratio of 5:1 scary people getting off the bus. Guys who look like they are in gangs, people who look homeless... if they are the nice upscale people as described in the article, the bus ride really messed them up.
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Posted by ( Sharona ) on May 16, 2008 at 7:12 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I just mapped out my bus route from home to work ( I do not work downtown. ) My bus route would have me catching one bus at 6:55 a.m. and arriving at work at 8:41 a.m. That's an hour and 45 minutes. My car ride is 20 minutes in the morning, 25 in the afternoon. Plus, I have to be to work by 7 a.m. Obviously if you work downtown, you have more options, but 1 hr 45 minutes to get 15 miles?
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Posted by ( Ardisdarlene ) on May 16, 2008 at 8:36 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
When I lived in Coulumbs, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan you could catch a bus going your way every 10-15 minutes (sometimes you would need a transfer, but no worry, the next bus would be there in about 5 minutes), no need to get up too early, no need to worry about missing the bus and waiting another 1/2 hour to 45 minutes (or longer)and being late. The buses were always packed with business people or moms with kids going shopping or whatever and the gas prices were much lower then. If Hartline could adopt some of the ideas and scheduling from other large transit systems in these large cities they would be packed all the time (and making some real money). People up there love the buses, they are a convenient, cheap mode of transportation and worry free! I used to ride the bus to get to Tampa General to work but I had to get up around 4am in order to actually get to my job by 7:30, after several months I got tired of that and some nights I didn't get to see too much daylight. I wish they would re-vamp, I'd be in line to buy a pass, I love taking the bus to work. This would also help the quality of the air, traffic, stressed drivers, many things!
Please Hartline...improve your service, I know your system would be servicing thousands of people daily!
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Posted by ( flea ) on May 16, 2008 at 8:44 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I have ridden buses for many years, obviously I work in downtown Tampa. I understand people that do not work downtown not wanting to ride the bus for hours every day but, there is no excuse for people that work downtown. There are many buses with schedules that are convenient. If more people rode the bus downtown, everybody would benefit including those who do not have convenient bus routes in other parts of the county. Every talks about boycotting the oil companies, get on board!!
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Posted by ( flpeep ) on May 16, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
That's the truth Yankeejib! I hate when they come up with these BS articles trying to encourage people to ride the HART busline! Here I've got a radical idea to increase ridership. How about you put the infrastructure and scheduling in place that way it would be convenient and logical for people to ride the bus!! But nooooo... they would rather waste money building one trick pony roadways (elevated expressway) than spend the money to create real improvements like bike lanes, sidewalks, and increased number of buses! It's like the chicken and the egg argument. They claim they need more riders to justify more buses, bike lanes, sidewalks, etc. But I say, put those services in place and you'll have more riders!
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Posted by ( SaveFerris ) on May 16, 2008 at 9:56 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
If the bus had a schedule that took me anywhere near where I worked I'd be a loyal rider, I honestly dislike driving, I have for years. I'd also ride my bike everywhere if it wasn't so dangerous.
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Posted by ( Gen2Native ) on May 16, 2008 at 3:28 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Although I would have loved to use the bus when I worked downtown, I would have had to drive to a bus stop and be there at around 5am to arrive at my job at 8:30am. The bus stop was 4 miles from my house and it stopped in a parking lot that was remote from the surrounding houses.
I did use the bus many years ago when I lived on Cardy Street (it is now the Publix on Bayshore), but rarely to get to work because the schedule was not dependable.
And, no, I can't move back into Tampa proper because I have livestock as pets :)
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