News Reporter Emily Topper tried to navigate her way through the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World for one week by relying only on public transportation.
I was late.
It was Wednesday, Oct. 5: the first day of my weeklong endeavor to rely on rides from friends and public transportation instead of using my car.
It was an endeavor that, just hours in, was more difficult than I’d anticipated.
One of my co-workers drove me to work in the morning, but he’d overslept. We both ended up being late, and I realized the necessity of communication for those without cars.
Throughout the week, I relied on rides when I could. Getting to and from work was easy thanks to my co-workers, but getting around town to interviews proved to be a challenge. In Plant City, as I came to find, public transportation is not readily available.
Are You My Driver?
I started by looking up the local bus system, hoping for a cost-efficient way to make it around town.
But there weren’t any local buses — just the HART express service that picks up Plant City residents once in the morning and drops them off in the evening. The bus made one trip to Tampa and back from Mt. Zion Assembly of God in Thonotosassa. It had been the one-stop shop for public transportation to Tampa since 2012.
And that was it. No other buses.
I didn’t need to go to Tampa, so I looked at local taxi services. The first one I came across was Dial-A-Ride Cab Company, which was permanently closed. The other, Plants Taxi Service, had multiple five-star reviews but was located across town on Gallagher Road — 11 miles and a 15-minute Interstate 4 drive from my home on Park Road.
My final option was Uber, an on-demand car service I could order through an app on my phone.
In major cities, there were perks to Uber. In my hometown of Orlando, multiple drivers were frequently available at all hours of the day.
In Plant City, finding an Uber was largely based on chance. Drivers in Plant City were frequently headed to Tampa or Lakeland after making trips to the airport.
Even so, it was my most cost-efficient — and only — form of public transportation.
But it wasn’t as cost-efficient as I would like. There was a minimum cost of $5.95 associated with any trip I took, no matter how short.
On Thursday, Oct. 6, I used Uber to take three trips: the first was to Krazy Kup in Historic Downtown; the second was to Wilson Elementary School; and the third was to my home on Park Road.
Round trip, these stops took 19 minutes and 5.4 miles total. I ended up spending $17.85 on Uber rides in one day.
Because the costs of my week without wheels were more than I’d anticipated, I decided to switch my plan and rely on my car. I still entered everywhere I went on the Uber app for a full week to show the total cost. Between trips to Strawberry Crest High School and Tomlin Middle School, a Dancing with the Locals lessons in Lakeland, trips to work and a City Commission meeting, I would have ended up spending just over $200 in one week on transportation.
Through Town On Two Wheels
When her parents fell ill, Julie Williams decided it was time to get into shape. For her, that meant biking. She biked 5 miles every day for two years in St. Petersburg, a community she described as bike-friendly.
But in her current home of Plant City, biking is more difficult.
“Over here, you can’t even ride a bike,” she said.
Though her family does have a car, Williams frequently bikes for exercise — to Publix and Wal-Mart and the doctor’s office, all the way through downtown Plant City.
But she faces issues. Sidewalks, if present at all, come to sudden stops. Cars can be aggressive on roads like Alexander Street, where bike lanes are largely absent, Williams said.
“There’s no transportation in Plant City,” Williams said. “If there was a trolley, I’d probably use it. They didn’t give the bus system enough time to take on. And then with the budget cuts, that was the first thing to go. In
Hillsborough County, we get forgotten about. Thank God I don’t have to ride my bike. If I did, it’d be a nightmare. I think about people in wheelchairs, mostly. I hope I never have to worry about that.”
Sandra Sroka is one such wheelchair-bound resident. After a car accident, she was forced to use a wheelchair and relies on public transportation in Hillsborough County to get around. In June, she spoke at a Hillsborough County Commission meeting and asked commissioners to consider putting a half-cent sales tax referendum on the ballot for the upcoming November election. If approved, the 15-year half-cent sales tax would have focused on improving public transit and existing roads.
At the time, Plant City Economic Development Corp. President Jake Austin voiced the need for greater transportation options.
“We have to do something, we have to act fast,” Austin said. “The issues are well documented, and the consensus is we have to do something.”
Prior to the meeting, the City of Plant City's City Commission expressed its support for putting the referendum on the ballot and giving residents the chance to vote.
But the County Commission opted not to put the referendum on the budget. Instead, it approved Wednesday, Oct. 19, a road-focused project list of $600 million worth of work.
Commissioner Kevin Beckner — whose seat is up for election in November due to term limits — was the only commissioner to oppose the project list. In June, Beckner had voted for the referendum.
In Plant City, the $600 million in funding is a positive sign for existing roads. Funding allotments include improvements at school intersections, such as an internal roadway for students to reach the east side of the parking lot at Strawberry Crest High School, and paved shoulders leading into Walden Lake and Cork elementary schools. Other long-anticipated projects include road resurfacing at major streets, including just over 1 mile from James Redman Parkway to Jim Johnson Road.
But for residents without cars, like Sroka, or those who want to bike, like Williams, traveling remains a burden the county has yet to bear.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.
