Saint Petersburg sun runner, bus rapid transit. Good news?

Question

https://www.stpete.org/residen...

I imagine someone has experience with something like this going in near them. I own a home on this street, within about a block of one of the stops on this line, it is a bus rapid transit system that travels from downtown on the bay out to the beach.

Has anyone had one of these put in in close proximity to your property? Did you notice any changes positive or negative in your rent prices or property value?

Dan Maciejewski · Answer

In general, the idea is to make the area more desirable, and to make it easier to get to desirable areas.  The whole project is to enable (wealthy) people to get to places where they can spend money!

My prediction is that rents should go up (albeit slowly and maybe unnoticeably in the short run), and rarely is easy access to public transport a bad thing for property values.   Notwithstanding homeless people and vagrants hanging out.  My guess, though, is that it's not going to attract that type -- it would only be an issue if it was already an issue in the area, in which case it's a net zero.

Even in a "bad" area, easy access to public transport is better than being in a property with a farther walk to public transport!

I've been crying for rapid transport in Pinellas, from Pinellas to Tampa, and Tampa to Orlando for 20+ years!  This is a great 1st step, and one that doesn't really need much extra infrastructure!

Zach Kidd · Answer

The sales brochure is nice, but the actual results will probably be lackluster.

We have had the "Trolley" service running for quite a while. It's decent, but certainly not high-demand. This isn't anything more than a glossy version.

This project has already caused a traffic nightmare in the area. Nothing like 50 years of 3 lanes in one direction, only to have the left lane suddenly disappear and force a left-turn-only scenario at every major intersection. I hate it already, and I'm only in the area once a week.

If it we still had the crushing tourist demand of the 1980's, then yes, maybe it would be beneficial. (See also: the movie "Summer Rental").

Now? Except for holiday weekends, the beaches still have more than an adequate amount of easy parking. And people want to tote their stuff (see also: George Carlin).

Cars make that simple. Bring your chairs and umbrellas and kids toys and towels and... Well, you get the idea.

Shopping? How are you going to get all of that home? You can't park the bus in your driveway and make three trips.

Your Uber driver would be cool with it, though.

People using the service will naturally travel light in both directions. And that's not going to have a major economic impact.

Indeed, most of the people inclined to use it will be the service industry workers on the beach. They only need their work clothes and maybe a bag lunch. For that beach staff to potentially have a marginally better commute, we're only in for the low-low cost of $21.8 Million. (https://www.transit.dot.gov/ab...)

Everyone else will still drive their own car, or take an Uber on high-demand days.

If they aren't forced to take an unexpected left-turn towards Gulfport instead.

Michael Haynes · Answer

Hello Zack Kidd, your funny! I just sold my last house in Tampa after 30 years of having rental houses and duplexes in S. Tampa. "The Truth is a Bitch!" There is nothing "they" can do to solve the transportation nightmare that we have in the US cities. People "think" that this is just like Europe, where Public Transportation is provided all over the place and you have bike lanes and electric trains that don't pollute and everyone is polite and quiet and happy...What "they" don't see is that you can fit 30 European Countries inside the United States. And all of them have had trams and electric trains and extensive, functioning bus service and ports with ferries and canals for a hundred years, whereas we built out the highway system for cars and freight train lines. In Tampa Hartline built out special bus stops for the fast Metro line on Nebraska and they turned into hangout areas for all the street people who fill them with trash and cause multiple incidents requiring the police. One of these glass and aluminum, fancy, bus stops was vandilized with broken glass and trash and last week it was in the news that someone dismantled the seats...turned out it was Hartline to keep the street people from doing more damage and making it a dump. Dana Gordon is worried about property values and we ask if she is going to use the bus? Hmm? If we had the Rapid Transit train from Tampa to Orlando or Miami would you use it? And when you get there, how would you get around? We always wanted to know why Tampa would build an expensive Tram line from downtown to Ybor City for the tourists? And now they want to expand it?  Does the City of Tampa want to turn us into another Disneyland?

Saint Petersburg sun runner, bus rapid transit. Good news?

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