Local Officials Are Trying to Gut Transit Service 👎

---

Local officials, including County Commissioners Chris Scherer and Vince Nowicki, are pushing to drastically cut service and funding for transit in Pinellas County.

If they succeed, residents will be cut off from their jobs, schools, doctor’s appointments, and other essential services.

Every day, tens of thousands of Pinellas residents rely on transit. But transit also helps residents who never set foot on a bus.

Frequent, reliable transit:

✅ Relieves traffic congestion 

✅ Reduces air and noise pollution;

✅ Powering our economy;

✅ Lowering road maintenance costs; and

✅ Reducing crashes and saving lives.

Public transit isn’t a handout; it’s a public service. Just like police, fire/rescue, roads, schools, and clean water.

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) is primarily funded through local property taxes set by a “millage rate.” This year, the PSTA Board has already voted to reduce that rate from 0.7300 to no more than 0.725—the lowest level in more than a decade.

But Commissioners Scherer and Nowicki are pushing for even deeper cuts that would force PSTA to eliminate routes that residents rely on every day.

At their request, the PSTA Board is holding a public meeting on 8/26/2026 at 9am to consider eliminating the following routes:

• The Grouper (on demand service from PIE to Clearwater Beach);
• The Clearwater Snapper (on demand service from Countryside Mall to Clearwater)
• The Safety Harbor Snapper (on demand service from Countryside Mall to Safety Harbor);
• The Route 16 (running from downtown St Pete to the Gateway Mall along 16th Street);
• The Route 58 (serving Seminole City Center and Brian Dairy Rd);
• The Route 90 (from 34th St S to St Pete Beach along the Pinellas Bayway).