What Can Improve Pinellas County’s Public Transportation?

If you've have some ideas on how the county can improve their public transportation system, now is the time to voice them.

Do you think the county will benefit from a rail system or a fast bus? Tell them in an eTownhall discussion on Thursday, Dec. 8. at 7 p.m. 

Between 7 and 8 p.m., this live, interactive online blog-video-and-telephone communication will bring together thousands of different voices and opinions from all around the county. The event will feature members of the Pinellas Transit Alternatives Analysis Team who will answer transportation questions live.

The panel includes:

• Harriet Crozier: Largo City Commissioner and Pinellas Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) board member.
• Bob Clifford: Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) executive director, moderator.
• Frank Hibbard: Clearwater mayor and TBARTA board member
• Brad Miller: Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) chief executive officer.
• Don Skelton: Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Seven secretary.
• Sarah Ward: Pinellas County MPO interim executive director.

The Pinellas Transit Alternatives Analysis identifies transit options to improve Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay Area’s quality of life. The findings will be a blueprint for transit service connecting major residential, employment, and other activity centers in Pinellas County – Clearwater, Largo, Greater Gateway, Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg – as well as connecting to Hillsborough County via the Howard Frankland Bridge.

Citizens can participate in the eTownHall event by visiting this website: www.pinellascounty.org/etownhall. E-mail reminders will be sent to those who log onto the website and sign on early.You can also watch the event live on PCC-TV on Bright House channel 622, Knology channel 18 or Verizon channel 44.

In addition to joining online or through TV, a random sample of 40,000 residents will be called and invited to participate in the telephone portion of the event.

Interested citizens who do not receive a call but wish to join the telephone portion may call toll-free, (888) 886-6603, conference code 17646#.

The public can submit their questions through the online blog that will open at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The panel will answer questions that come in through the online blog and live telephone calls. The public can also participate through Twitter by including the #pinellastransit in the message. This alerts blog moderators that the message is a part of the discussion.

The Pinellas County Communications Department ‘s conference room will be open to the public during the live event as well. The location is, 333 Chestnut St. in Clearwater.

For more information on the event visit www.pinellascounty.org/eTownHall or call (727) 464-4600.

For more information on the Pinellas Transit Alternatives Analysis, visit the project website at www.PinellasOnTrack.com.