Pinellas County Florida’s bus network is being updated to be more clear, consistent, and connected through the recently announced Connected Community Bus Network.

Engaging the Community

Pinellas-Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) announced the network as one of its largest community engagement efforts. Planners received thousands of community responses to guide them as they updated the county’s bus schedules and routes.

The goals of the network refresh are to create clear and easy-to-understand route schedules, consistent service on nearly all routes seven days a week, and connected routes that function as a network to improve transfers.

Due to the nature of these upgrades, they are cost-neutral, allowing taxpayers and the agency to continue at their current rates.

“For close to two years, we’ve been reaching out to our riders, our operators, and stakeholders across Pinellas County. How can we keep delivering great service, while improving what we do?” said PSTA CEO Brad Miller. “We heard that our bus network needs to be clearer, more consistent, and better connected. That’s what we presented today, thanks to a tremendous amount of feedback and work.”

PSTA gave over 30 public presentations at community and government meetings and over 30 popup community events as part of their community engagement efforts.

The company also received over 1,500 survey responses and held over 1,500 in-person conversations at events, on buses, and at bus terminals. An advertising campaign also generated more than 11,000 views in PSTA’s official trip planning app.

“This was truly a cross-agency and community-driven effort. We’ve spoken to our union operators who drive the routes every day, our riders who use our services every day, and the community at large who are interested and invested in PSTA service,” said PSTA Planning Manager Jacob Labutka, who serves as project manager for the Connected Community Bus Network. “Now we’ll return to those groups as well as our Scheduling, Operations, Facilities, and Communications teams to begin the hard work ahead of implementation this fall.”

Improving the Service

With all of the public input, the Connected Community Bus Network was designed to include improvements such as:

• More weekend service options, with more consistent scheduling seven days a week

• Decreased travel time with better-synchronized transfers between routes

• Capitalizing on premium core routes and creating variants on key routes to ensure that service reaches both new and existing riders

• Addressing tourist transportation demand

The network redesign was part of PSTA’s community bus plan exercise, which is completed every five years to assess service. 

PSTA will dedicate the coming spring and summer to detailed planning and educating the public about the changes, with implementation coming this fall.