A report written last September by David Rishel, a consultant to PSTA, lists a litany of problems associated with PSTA’s new software for its paratransit operation. A metric that the Guardian has developed indicates problems…
“Bonnie, do you find the GOIN’ proposal technically acceptable?” PSTA’s Director of Procurement Al Burns asked Bonnie Epstein, PSTA’s Director of Mobility Services. “I mean…” Epstein answered and paused. The issue at hand was PSTA’s…
In mass emails to the public, Oldsmar Mayor Dan Saracki has twice claimed important sounding titles at PSTA that don’t exist. Saracki would not unequivocally answer whether his “Community Corner” mass email is a personal…
The City of St. Pete Beach is hiring! While that isn’t noteworthy in and of itself, what is noteworthy is the job description: “collect and help analyze transit usage data as a passenger on public…
PSTA executive Abishek Dayal said in this Tampa Bay Business Journal (TBBJ) interview that he is “hoping the BRT project spawns some other interesting projects in the region. That could be extensions of BRT or…
A draft version of an email PSTA CEO Brad Miller was preparing to send to the PSTA board contained a damning admission which didn’t appear in the email that was ultimately sent to the board.…
We reported yesterday that PSTA (the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Agency) in 2019 moved a bus stop to be closer to Pinellas County Commissioner Pat Gerard’s home, this after she lost her driver’s license following multiple…
After a string of traffic citations and car crashes during a two year period, immediate past PSTA chair and former Pinellas County Commissioner Pat Gerard found herself without a driver’s license in 2019. A public…
In a presentation about PSTA’s new Sunrunner bus line yesterday, PSTA’s Director of Communications & Marketing Whitney Fox said it was “really exciting to see that we are getting people out of their cars.” Fox…
PSTA’s response to an extensive public records request shows it has no underlying data to base its ridership claims on. PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority) said that they had “no records” when asked for data…
PSTA staff will give a “Sunrunner one month update” report to the PSTA board tomorrow morning. The presentation includes social media impression claims, survey results, a dozen children…and beer. However, completely absent from PSTA’s presentation…
Last week, we rode PSTA’s much promoted new Sunrunner bus line and documented discrepancies between what PSTA was saying and doing (article). We found serious operational deficiencies. However, the most serious problem we found on…
In May, PSTA claimed that its new Sunrunner bus “is designed to meet the demands of work commuters and attract tourists and new riders into PSTA’s comprehensive transit system.” PSTA is now backpedaling, perhaps due…
Three years ago, the Tampa Bay Times reported that “studies of the [Sunrunner] route connecting downtown St. Petersburg with the beaches estimate it would have 4,500 daily rides.” On June 2nd this year, PSTA told…
“The bus will leave when I’m finished cleaning,” the PSTA driver told the Tampa Bay Guardian reporter. We repeated our question: what is the scheduled departure time? “It’s hard to keep the schedule,” the driver…
PSTA staff have provided its board with inflated year to date bus ridership data two months in a row. Seven months in to its current fiscal year, PSTA’s official report for April shows a 52%…
On March 19th, PSTA decided to waive bus fares on its network due to the Wuhan virus pandemic. Despite its service now being 100% free, records show that PSTA’s ridership still dropped by 43.2% from…
Neither recently fired HART CEO Ben Limmer or current PSTA CEO Brad Miller ever submitted employment applications for their jobs, public records obtained by The Guardian show. All other employees, including the lowest paid ones,…
