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New trolley service will link Gulfport to St. Pete Beach

By Waveney Ann Moore, Times Staff Writer
In print: Wednesday, August 27, 2008

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A new trolley service between Gulfport and St. Pete Beach will begin operating on Oct. 5.

The arrangement comes at a crucial time for Gulfport riders, since the county plans to discontinue a once-per-day round-trip linking Gulfport with St. Pete Beach and St. Petersburg.

"We were diverting the 35 (bus) down there and we weren't getting the ridership,'' said Bob Lasher, spokesman for the PSTA, the county's transportation authority.

"Unfortunately, we're going through a 5 percent reduction of our service that will take place on Oct. 5."

The new trolley service, which will be funded by Gulfport with a matching three-year, $200,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, will be operated and maintained by the city. Two trolleys — one will serve as a back-up — will be leased from the PSTA for a dollar a year, Lasher said.

The new Gulfport-St. Pete Beach Looper Trolley service will connect with the Suncoast Beach Trolley that runs along Gulf Boulevard on St. Pete Beach.

Lasher said the PSTA couldn't fiscally justify continuing its bus route through Gulfport that begins at the Pier and continues to St. Pete Beach.

"This partnership is a great way around that and provides better service for Gulfport,'' he said.

The resolution authorizing Gulfport's city manager to enter into a partnership agreement with the PSTA was passed during a packed City Council meeting on Aug. 21.

Vice Mayor Michele King is elated with the new arrangement.

"We have been working on it for a number of years. It was the first thing I did when I was elected. It took us two years to work out a plan that worked for the city and PSTA and then we had to wait for the funding to come through,'' she said.

King said the trolley will run on an hourly basis from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

"It starts in downtown Gulfport and then makes several stops along the way — Publix, Palms of Pasadena, several places in South Pasadena, the St. Pete Beach Recreation Center and Corey Avenue,'' she said.

King said the idea behind the trolley is to offer affordable transportation to residents, hospitality workers heading to beach hotels and restaurants and to beach tourists visiting Gulfport.

She said Gulfport residents turned out in force last week to support the agreement that would cost the city $80,000 a year, money that is expected to come from fares, advertising and economic development funds.

The new trolley will accept PSTA bus passes. In the past, King said, it took Gulfport riders three bus changes to travel from Gulfport to St. Pete Beach. King said she hopes that when the three-year grant period is up the PSTA will take over the operation and maintenance of the trolley service.

No firm decision has been made about the color of the new city trolley, she said.

"Pink with flamingos would be my choice,'' she said.