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Plant City Terminating Bus Service

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By GEORGE WILKENS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 28, 2008

PLANT CITY - The city has decided to close down its struggling bus system.

City Manager David Sollenberger said he is terminating service at the end of next month at an annual savings of $182,500.

The bus service was launched July 1, 2000, with a $1 million public transportation grant to operate two vans daily for three years.

By mid-2004, with federal funds exhausted and repeated denials of requests for renewal, local officials began expressing concern about escalating costs and a handful of riders. Daily ridership averaged 193 last month, about the same as during previous months, city counts show.

In this era of declining tax revenue and rising fuel prices, city commissioners did not disagree with the decision, though some expressed disappointment.

"The transit system has been very near and dear to me," Commissioner Mary Yvette Thomas Mathis said. "But it really hasn't brought the revenue we anticipated."

She said notices about the June 30 termination should be circulated widely, including with city utility bills.

Mayor Rick Lott concurred. "Staff has done everything in the world to make this work," he said.
The anticipated savings will help the city balance its budget for the coming fiscal year, he added.

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