POLL: Residents are ready for light rail mass transit

An exclusive Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/AM 820 poll shows significant support for light rail in both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

When people were asked whether they would be supportive of spending public or tax money to bring light rail mass transit to parts of the Tampa Bay area, 58 percent responded yes.

“I think it’s worth it to make the city more of a city you can get around in without necessarily having a car,” said Tampa resident Phil Steiger.

Thirty-four percent of those polled said they would be against an increase in taxes.

The call for public transit has been growing. PSTA reported 13 straight months of record ridership this month and HART is marking its own milestones.

“In October we kicked off the year with a monthly record, our highest ridership in HART history,” said Marcia Mejia, HART spokeswoman.

Advocates of light rail in Pinellas County are hoping to win community support by not rushing it to a vote.

A study by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority recommends a 24-mile route from downtown Clearwater to downtown St. Petersburg by way of the Gateway Area. The proposed system is estimated to cost between $1.5 and $1.7 billion.

In a recent interview for Bay News 9’s Political Connections program St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster said the key factor is “connectability to Tampa.”

“It’s not the solution in just St. Pete,” Foster said. “But if it connects with Tampa, and connectability across the bay is the most expensive element, but most important element, then it’s a bridge to the world; the airport, potentially Orlando, expansion to the north. They are already working on a rail to Miami, but you must have that connectability to get the ridership. Between Tampa to St. Pete, I think we can carry the day.”

But it all costs money, which Hillsborough voters didn’t want to spend in 2010 when the county proposed a penny tax to pay for public transit, such as light rail, roads and bridges.

Supporters said the tax and the resulting improvements would bring jobs and revenue to the area, but opponents said they did not think the tax would cover the cost of the project.

St. Petersburg City Council member Jeff Danner told the Times Hillsborough's project was "more politically driven" and practical matters such as routes and cost hadn't been determined. "We're going about it much differently," he said.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who also interviewed for Bay News 9's Political Connections program, urges regional cooperation.

“We recognize that we are in it together and we’re going to succeed together or fail alone,” Buckhorn said. “We’re working on a proposal to go to the Florida legislature that would allow municipalities of a certain size to opt out of the requirement that the referendum for sales tax increase for transportation be done on a county-wide basis."

Mayor Buckhorn said that using municipalities would allow for the potential of a rail system that would link downtown St. Petersburg to the airport, the airport to downtown Tampa, and then north to the employment centers at USF.

"The last referendum in Hillsborough County failed in the county and passed in the city, but I would bet if Mayor Foster was able to run a referendum in his jurisdiction, it would pass as well,” Buckhorn said.

He also suggested that the Howard Frankland bridge could be widened and a rail corridor put in place.

Bay News 9’s traffic expert Chuck Henson said there are key locations that must make the cut.

“The major population centers. Out through Citrus Park, up through Lutz, it’s gotta go to Brandon, if it doesn’t go to Brandon… again, that’s where all the growth is. It’s happening out that way,” he said.

The telephone survey of (251) Hillsborough and (270) Pinellas County residents was conducted December 5 through 13 for the St. Petersburg Times, Bay News 9 and AM 820 News.

The surveys were administered by Braun Research, a national polling firm based in Princeton, N.J.

The margin of error was plus or minus (4.3) percentage points overall.