Williams Park in downtown St. Petersburg is known to many for being surrounded by a ring of buses and filled with homeless people. But a new PSTA bus route could soon change the public park.
"It’s going to change the way people ride the bus," said Mayor Rick Kriseman.
"We're just trying to make the park that's in the heart of our city friendly to everybody," said St. Petersburg City Councilwoman and PSTA Executive Leader, Darden Rice.
The City’s Director of Transportation and Parking Management, Evan Mory says the City is looking to change to a grid system.
"Williams Park will still be served but much fewer buses would go there,” said Mory. “There would not be a lot of layover activity there, transfers would happen all throughout the downtown, new roads in downtown will have bus service that don’t have it now."
City leaders say less waiting will hopefully mean less loitering.
"I know some people have said that moving the buses is just a way to push out the homeless,” said Councilwoman Rice. “But that's not it at all, it's so much bigger than that, it’s about reclaiming a park that’s in the heart of our city.”
Mayor Rick Kriseman says the change will be positive for bus riders and the community.
"I think it’s going to kind of return the park in a lot of ways back to the community itself,” said Mayor Kriseman. “And when I say the community, this isn’t just downtown’s park, this is the whole city’s park."
City leaders say reclaiming the park and hopefully filling it with programs and positive activity.
If approved, the new routes will launch in February.