Because we never hear from Tampa on this blog...

A Bus Rider's Lament: Gimme Shelter
Special to The Tampa Tribune

Why should anyone in his right mind ride the bus here when there are only a handful of covered bus stops?

You have seen those poor adventurous souls baking under the glare of the Florida sun or braving the afternoon rainstorms with no semblance of shelter. I see older ladies in West Tampa, and I am ashamed that they are forced to move about our community in such conditions. I keep expecting them to have a sunstroke before my eyes.

The bus stop symbolizes our community's historical problems with public transportation. Some bus stops have shelters. Some, like the downtown bus center and trolley, even have elaborate shelters. But most have none. This is unacceptable for a city and a county of our size, wealth and projected population growth. It also speaks volumes about the health and well-being of our public transportation system.

Supposedly shelters can run between $15,000 and $50,000 apiece. I think my engineer, architect and contractor friends could build a sturdy structure that would do the trick for substantially less, but I am not sure it would meet whatever demands HARTline has for design specifications.

One way to offset some operating costs is to permit HARTline to allow advertising on bus stop shelters -- a common practice throughout the Western world. Besides covering construction costs, it would enhance ridership and rider safety.

To be clear, public transportation rarely operate in the black, so we should not anticipate that HARTline will either -- no matter how much some county commissioners want to keep dreaming it may, perhaps in an unscrupulous effort to undermine its effectiveness. Neither is privatization an option with public support in our community.

Public transportation plays an important role in the daily life and commerce of a city. It creates jobs, gets people to and from work, reduces traffic congestion and increases our economic competitiveness and quality of life.

Thankfully, Ray Miller, the bus agency's new director, has the experience and common sense the agency needs to make HARTline work.

Establishing bus stop shelters is a goal that could deliver tangible service to the bus-riding taxpayer, and their design could even be a defining architectural symbol.

If we want people to ride the bus, then for starters, riders need protection from the elements. Add to that realistic schedules and routes, and more people will ride the bus to save money, protect the environment and even promote public transportation as a civic virtue.

The easier and more affordable and efficient our community makes riding the bus, the more people from all walks of life will elect to do so.