TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Moon Lake Bus Route Addition Is Coming

Map courtesy of Pasco County

This is the route of a planned Pasco County Public Transportation bus route through the Moon Lake area. The route was shown during a public meeting PCPT officials held Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: August 19, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - With regular gasoline still costing more than $3.50 a gallon, the public got a sneak peek yesterday at Pasco County Public Transportation's plans for the next five years – assuming enough money can be found, county officials caution.

Marygene Byrd, a Beacon Woods resident, quizzed a county consultant, Laura K. Everitt, Monday about the addition of a PCPT route through the Moon Lake area slated for 2010. Maps were set up in the lobby of the West Pasco Government Center.

Byrd believes she could commute around the area better and leave the car in the garage once the Moon Lake bus route is added. Buses would travel farther east along S.R. 52 and turn south on Moon Lake Road and then double back along Ridge Road. Hourly pickups are envisioned.

"I'd like to see it now," Commissioner Pat Mulieri commented about the Moon Lake route. About a year ago, county funds for a matching bus grant fell victim to budget cuts. This shut out Moon Lake area residents from direct PCPT service.

Actually, the Moon Lake route addition at one time was scheduled for 2008, but the money still isn't available, according to Doug Uden, the county's transportation planning coordinator. Pasco leaders are hoping money can be found by 2010.

A year later, in 2011, a cross-county bus link along S.R. 54 could become reality, Everitt said. Everitt is a senior project manager for Tindale-Oliver & Associates, the Tampa-based firm helping the county on its transit plan.

In 2012, buses could be running as late as 11 p.m., instead of the current schedule ending of PCPT operations, shortly before 8:30 p.m.

In 2013, the plan calls for express bus service along U.S. 19.

Other transit options might become available through the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, Uden mentioned. TBARTA, which is working on transit plans in Pasco and six other Suncoast counties, might consider a monorail-type system such as SkyTran, a magnetic levitation transit system proposed for Los Angeles.

As shown at unimodal.net, the high-speed, nonstop SkyTran service lets riders dial in their destination and then relax as its two-person cars whisk them to their destinations.

A Holiday resident, Michael Mizok Jr., presented a system in a similar vein during a March county workshop. He envisioned an elevated, enclosed passageway with battery-powered carts, recharged from solar panels on the roof, zipping along medians of roads.

MIT Media Lab is studying a stackable, two-seat electric car that can be checked out like a luggage cart at an airport. Go online to cities.media.mit.edu, click on the "Mobility" link and then the "CityCar" link.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT