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Suncoast Pasco News

Getting Somewhere

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: June 7, 2008

Even the people who run it will admit the Pasco County Public Transportation bus system for years had more good intentions than riders. When the PCPT system first began rolling, Pasco officials felt the buses were something the county should have, even if there were only a relative handful of people willing to climb aboard.

These days, the number of riders is steadily increasing. Not to spectacular levels but rising nonetheless. That core of riders seems to be loyal or have no other alternatives. In March, PCPT doubled its fare, from 50 cents to $1 a ride and increased the cost of daily and monthly passes by comparable percentages. Officials expected that price increase would cause a reduction in the number of people climbing aboard. A "pleasantly surprised" Mike Carroll, the county's transportation manager, says the dip in riders didn't happen.

Now that the price of gasoline is around $4 a gallon, PCPT should have plenty of appeal. The bus system, however, would have even more riders if it were more transparent. More people don't ride the buses, we have always been convinced, because would-be first-time riders can never be sure when the next bus will happen by a stop and in what direction it will be headed when it does. Given how spread-out things are within Pasco County, that's important information. There are PCPT route maps online, but not everyone can get to them.

Another way of making the buses more appealing, reducing waits at stops, would require more buses, a big expense. On the other hand PCPT could experiment on the cheap with placing signs offering more of time and route information at selected bus stops and see what happens. Couldn't hurt.

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