Pinellas County’s transit agency could introduce fares on the popular SunRunner rapid bus route, which has been free to ride since its inception, sooner than planned.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority planned to charge regular fares beginning in November, at the conclusion of the downtown St. Petersburg-to-St. Pete Beach route’s first year. But the possibility that the authority’s board members could vote Wednesday to move up that timeline has little to do with the money the agency stands to make.
Wait for it…
Instead, it comes in response to pressure from Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and residents of St. Pete Beach. They say the fare-free bus service also has proven popular among homeless people. Residents of one of the county’s wealthiest enclaves depict those riders as troublesome and potentially violent; in reality, officials said, they’re mostly getting in trouble for panhandling or sleeping on the beach.
Classic anti-homeless mentality.
If people without a home had a place to go, people would be able to ride the bus for free; they’re not just designing systems to ignore the root causes, they’re making homeless people an enemy.