ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — For almost a year now, the SunRunner has taken residents and tourists alike to the beach and back fast — 15 minutes during the day and 30 minutes at night.
All along, it's been free to ride, but inJuly, concerns about the bus were brought to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's attention.
"When I am waiting at the left turn light, and I see a gentleman get off the SunRunner who is incapacitated out of his mind, wander into the intersection and start walking in circles dodging cars and waving his hands around, we have folks who are using the SunRunner today unfortunately, that have turned it from an asset into a tremendous liability," one man said during public comment at the July 26 board meeting.
That man moved to St. Pete Beach with his wife right around the time the SunRunner started up in October of 2022. Since then, he said crime has gone up. He pulled statistics from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office website.
"Assaults going from a single assault in 2022 for six months to 10 in 2023," he said. "We've got battery and burglary up over 20%, we've got thefts up by almost 100%, trespass, vandalism, criminal mischief, those are more than doubled."
Some people think people experiencing homelessness are part of the problem.
Shortly after that July board meeting, PSTA officials began doing their own due diligence. PSTA attempted to pull those same stats but said they couldn't. Officials talked about their findings during an executive board meeting on August 9.
"We're showing the data comparing his same timeline, and his same numbers are pretty flat. The initial thing we did was we took the addresses listed on his data, and we went to Google Earth; we took the latitude and longitude coordinates, and we planted them back onto a map to see where it was happening. It was spread out all throughout the St. Pete Beach area. Mainly around the hotels."
They said the crime didn't really increase from year to year based on their findings.
Kevin Sablan has driven a bus for PSTA for 15 years, and he said the data can't prove right now that increased crime is because of the SunRunner. And he doesn't think it's right to profile passengers.
"We've had the beach trolley, the CAT (Central Avenue Trolley), running down to St. Pete Beach for years. Can you show me the facts, the data that says crime has risen because of the Sunrunner?" he asked. "You can't say that we haven't been busing people in just now, and all of a sudden, crime has risen because of the SunRunner."
According to PSTA, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri thinks there is a problem. The sheriff's office increased patrol in the area in mid-July to help curb crime.
PSTA said it also sent some officials out to ride the bus and get a feel for what was going on.
Some residents want to see PSTA charge for the bus. In a statement, PSTA said, "This is an ongoing issue, and no decision has been made. Any decision will be made at the next public board meeting. PSTA strives to provide a service to the community where all people are welcome to use."
In a statement, the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas said, "Increasing the SunRunner's fares – even nominally – while requiring these fees be paid electronically raises concerns about equity and accessibility."
It's urging PSTA to keep the line free for all.
PSTA board voted to implement a fair, starting October 1, of $2.25.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates throughout the day.
