Fill out this form to email this article to a friend

Your name		Your email
Recipient email	You may enter up to 20 multiple email addresses, separated by commas.
Your message
Validation Code	Hear validation code
	Enter validation code

We were unable to send your email.

Click here to try again.

Get on the bus at new park-ride hub at Sheldon and Waters

By Jared Leone, Times Staff Writer
In print: Friday, August 1, 2008

Story Tools E-mail this story Contact the editor Print this story Comment on this story Social Bookmarking Digg Facebook Stumbleupon Reddit Del.icio.us Newsvine

ADVERTISEMENT Loading Video...

TOWN 'N COUNTRY — Another spoke in the wheel of mass transit was added Tuesday.

With the sound of jazz and the smell of kettle corn in the air, more than 60 riders, community leaders and politicians toured Hillsborough Area Regional Transit's new $4.6-million park and ride hub at Sheldon Road and Waters Avenue.

The Northwest Transfer Center has more than 90 parking spaces, eight blue-roofed pavilions and a 1,020-square-foot building with bathrooms, pay phones and vending machines. There is room for eight buses and vans. Hillsborough County donated the land and the Federal Department of Transportation paid for the parking lot. A stoplight was also put up at the station, which is across the street from the YMCA.

Because the station is near the Upper Tampa Bay Trail, it includes more than $200,000 in native Florida plants such as pine trees, magnolia and Bismarck palms.

But trees don't put people on buses. Across the county, officials report a 7.5 percent increase in bus ridership over last year.

"Since gas prices went up, I haul them in," said driver Thomas Mouling.

The new center provides access to Routes 16, 30, 34, 39, 88 and 59LX, serving as an alternative to the crowded station at Waters Avenue and Hanley Road.

That is where Raquel Ramirez used to walk a half mile to get a bus. The new sheltered station is more convenient, she said. "It's better. It's not hot out here."

Mouling, a driver for 35 years, appreciates the wide space for the buses and the stoplights that help him enter traffic with a bus loaded with riders.

Bill Browne of the civic association said the center improves the appearance of his community. "It's another brick in the wall," he said.