BRADENTON, Fla. - The growing Tampa Bay area along Florida's mid-west coast suffers from severe traffic congestion that could ease soon with major transit upgrades, including new light rail systems.
In two of the region's core counties, Pinellas and Hillsborough, multi-billion transit initiatives are in development if local voters agree to tax themselves to fund them.
Voter anti-tax sentiment has delayed some plans for well over a decade.
But there are suggestions that attitudes about transit are changing, particularly among younger people.
A survey released Tuesday found that a majority of 18-to-34 year old adults the so-called Millennials want better transit options and the ability to rely less on cars in a number of metro areas around the country, including Tampa in Hillsborough and St. Petersburg in Pinellas.
Tampa-St. Petersburg, along with Indianapolis and Nashville, were identified as cities with "aspiring public transportation systems" in the survey commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation and Transportation for America. The survey also posed questions about public transportation in cities with mature transit systems, and those with growing systems.
Some 82% of those polled in cities with aspiring programs said it is very important to have regular access to a car or truck while 77% believed it is also important for their cities to offer opportunities to live and work without relying on a car, according to the survey conducted by Global Strategy Group.
"Young people are the key to advancing innovation and economic competitiveness in our urban areas, and this survey reinforces that cities that don't invest in effective transportation options stand to lose out in the long-run," said Michael Myers, a managing director at the Rockefeller Foundation. "As we move from a car-centric model of mobility to a nation that embraces more equitable and sustainable transportation options, Millennials are leading the way."
In St. Petersburg, surrounding municipalities and unincorporated areas of Pinellas County, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority has found growing support for more transit options. Last year, PSTA saw 14.5 million passenger trips. It has 203 buses on 40 routes in Pinellas County, including two express routes that travel to Tampa.
Demand for the bus system has grown faster than available funding with ridership increasing 23% between 2007 and 2013 despite service reductions and fare increases to offset more than $40 million in budget cuts due to a 34% decline in property values since reaching an all-time high in 2008.
The PSTA relies on fares, state and federal grants, as well as a property tax capped at three-quarters of a mill that brings in about $32 million annually. In Florida, one mill is the equivalent of $1 in taxes per $1,000 of assessed property value.
In response to requests for faster service and longer hours with more weekend and regional service, the PSTA is advancing a $2.2 billion program called the Greenlight Pinellas Plan. It would increase bus service by 65% and fund a new 24-mile light-rail system.
In November, local voters' appetite for the improvements will be tested when they are asked to swap PSTA's property tax for a 1-cent transit sales tax expected to raise as much as $130 million a year. Increasing the tax to 8% from 7% will make Pinellas County's sales tax rate the highest in the state.
Without the new funding source, PSTA says it will be forced to cut service as much as 28% by 2017.
The plan has supporters and opponents.
Tea party member Barbara Haselden, who describes herself as a "Grassroots Conservative Christian Patriot" on her Twitter page, launched "No Tax for Tracks" earlier this year. The organization describes itself as "a caring group of Pinellas County residents" who are fighting the Pinellas Greenlight plan.
The group's claim that the plan will cost residents 300% more in taxes was challenged last month by politifact.com, which found that while there would be an increase in transit authority revenues with sales tax funding, the increased cost to individuals is estimated at 14%.
Some have questioned projected ridership numbers. According to a recent speech by Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch, only 2% of the county's population rides the public bus system now.
"The reason that 2% of people ride our transit is that transit doesn't take them where they need to go in a timely manner because it's underfunded," Welch said. "We need more revenue to fund the system and bring it up to the same level as every other major metro in the United States.
"We can either choose to anchor to the past where we are, or we can move forward with a plan that has been thoroughly vetted with elected officials, non-elected officials, neighborhood leaders [and] business leaders from around this county."
If voters approve the sales tax this fall, PSTA will eliminate the property tax that now funds it.
In the meantime, the authority is moving forward implementing the policies necessary to issue debt to support the capital plan, and studying construction mechanisms such as a public-private partnership for the light-rail system.
Created as a special district, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority started providing intra-county service in 1990. Though it is authorized to issue bonds, the authority has no long-term debt or credit ratings.
Pinellas Suncoast has always funded capital needs on a pay-as-you-go basis, said chief financial officer Deborah Leous, who joined the Pinellas authority this year from Buffalo, NY, where she was CFO for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.
"With the passage of Greenlight we will be looking at issuing debt to be able to accomplish all we need to accomplish," Leous said.
The agency also will consider applying for federal New Starts transit funding, and possibly a TIFIA loan through the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, she said.
Other potential funding sources for the rail system include donations of right of way owned by municipalities and contributions for station development, as well as tax increment financing districts to generate a new revenue source for targeted station areas, according to a financial feasibility report by PSTA's general consultants Ernst & Young Infrastructure Advisors LLC and HNTB.
The authority also has hired Bryant Miller Olive PA as bond counsel. A financial advisor had not been selected yet.
This week the board overseeing the transit system adopted master liability and debt management policies, and created new reserve fund accounts for revenue stabilization, operating expenses, and debt service. Next month the board will be asked to revise investment policies.
Tampa and Hillsborough County officials are planning their own transit initiative. Though exact plans are still in discussion, they are expected to include upgrades in roads and buses, and the area's first rail system. No cost estimates have been released.
A sales tax increase is expected to be proposed as a funding source with a referendum to ask voters for its passage as early as March 2015. A $2.6 billion transit plan of road improvements, bus upgrades and a rail system had been planned for years. However, Hillsborough County voters rejected a 1% sales tax increase to fund it in 2010. It is not clear if those projects are being considered in the current initiative.
The state is also planning projects to alleviate congestion in the Tampa Bay region. In February, the Florida Department of Transportation announced that it is funding $371.5 million from its fiscal 2015 budget to advance construction of the Gateway Express, an elevated express toll road that will link congested areas in north Pinellas County to Interstate 275. The total project cost is estimated at $431.4 million, and includes a $70 million contribution from Pinellas County.
FDOT is also in the planning stage to replace the southbound span of the Howard Frankland Bridge between St. Petersburg and Tampa.
Officials have said that the three-mile-long span will be built to accommodate light rail or express buses.
