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Sun City Center's fit in regional mass transit plan rolling along

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By PAUL CATALA

THE SUN

Published: June 10, 2009

Don Schings often hears his Sun City Center neighbors ask why they should support a proposed long- and medium-range rapid mass transit system when they are so far away from any major urban area.

But as an alternate on the citizens' advisory board of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA), Schings said he knows the positive impact the plan would have in the region, as well as the benefits it would give Sun City Center residents.

During a recent meeting at the Sun City Center Community Association offices with TBARTA Executive Director Bob Clifford and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, Schings hoped to allay concerns that Sun City Center would be left on the curb in the process.

The Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Commission has a 20-plus year long-range transportation plan for rapid mass-transit, buses, trains and highways extending down from Citrus County, south into Sarasota County and east into Polk County. The $178 million master plan would be funded by a 1 percent increase in Florida's sales tax and from the $1.3 billion in Florida's share of the $787 billion due the area from the 2009 federal American Recovery & Reinvestment Act.

Currently, there is discussion of dropping the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit's bus that has once-per-day service from Sun City Center to the Westfield Brandon mall. As a replacement, a new "flex service" would take residents from their homes to the South Shore Regional Service Center in Ruskin.

The Hillsborough County Transportation Task Force has been holding meetings to inform citizens about the possible 1 cent referendum for rail and other transportation projects on the 2010 ballot. Hillsborough is the first county to move forward on the referendum and TBARTA voted to place the referendum on the ballot May 22, said Hagan.

"If I lived down here and I heard about this system, I'd have to have a reason to support it," he said. "There will be a local referendum on the ballot next fall and we want to get input on what specific would the public like included."

Clifford said if approved, the first step for Sun City Center would be improving existing local transit through increased flex bus service, adding express buses and having bus arrivals at more frequent intervals, "so you don't have to wait another hour if you miss your bus."

The proposed light rail system would be accessed through express buses on an Interstate 75 corridor, eventually taking Sun City Center riders into Bradenton and Sarasota. In addition, the seven-county master plan has commuter rail proposed to run north-south along U.S. 41.

Schings said rapid bus service on I-75 would be one of the first pieces to affect Sun City Center residents, which, if approved, could happen within two to five years.

"I look at this like when the interstate system was put in," he said. "I see this as the next part of the future of regional transportation."

Reporter Paul Catala can be reached at pcatala@mediageneral.com or (813) 731-1970

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