Sarasota Livin'

The bus schedule has changed since this meeting you went to. All changes are effective February 25, 2008.

Effective Feb. 25, 2008, SCAT will offer new and improved services, including Sunday hours, extended evening hours and late-night service on several routes, as well as schedule and routing changes on four routes.

SCHEDULE CHANGES

Route 1 (Fruitville) will have reduced midday service on Bahia Vista Street, McIntosh Road, and east of Interstate 75; and increased two-way service west of I-75 on Fruitville Road and Ringling Boulevard. Rush-hour, two-way service will operate approximately every 45 minutes Monday-Saturday on the inner portion of the route; and every 90 minutes on Bahia Vista Street and McIntosh Road. Rush-hour service east of I-75 will continue to operate every 60 minutes. An additional outbound trip at 7:15 p.m. will extend east only to the Packinghouse Road.

Route 15 (Airport-Cattlemen) will have Saturday service reduced to every 90 minutes. Frequency will remain at 60 minutes Monday-Friday. There will also be some minor time point adjustments to reflect operating conditions.

Route 21 (Englewood Loop) will become a flexible route operating from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Advance reservations will be required for passengers traveling off the regular route.

Route 25 (Bird Bay) will remove service to Bay Indies, but will serve a wider area of Bird Bay. Service within Bird Bay will make a full counterclockwise turn and then a quarter turn to exit onto Albee Farm Road.

NEW SERVICES

Evening Service -- The following routes will have expanded hours into the evening, as follows:
· Route 2 (Cocoanut Ave): the last trip arrives downtown at 9:53 p.m.
· Route 6 (Beneva): operates every 60 minutes after 7 p.m. The last trip ends at Clark Road, southbound, at 10:23 p.m.

* Route 7 (Newtown N.E.): the last trip arrives at Monica Parkway at 9:40 p.m.
* Route 8 ( Newtown 301): the last trip departs Tallevast at 9:10 p.m.
* Route 12 (No. Lockwood): the last trip arrives downtown at 9:38 p.m..
* Route 14 (Bee Ridge): the last trip arrives at Southgate at 10:25 p.m.
* Route 17 (Trail): operates every 60 minutes after 7 p.m. The last trip to Venice departs downtown at 8:15 p.m. The last trip from Venice departs at 7:38 p.m. The last trip from Westfield Sarasota Mall to Sarasota departs at 10:04 p.m.
* Route 18 (Longboat): the last trip from Coquina Beach departs at 10:05 p.m. The last trip from the Hilton Longboat Key Beachfront Resort departs at 11 p.m.

Late-Night Service – Three buses will depart the Downtown Transfer Station on Lemon Avenue at 11:30 p.m., 7 days a week, serving four routes: Route 2; Route 12; Route 17 as far as Southgate; and Route 14 as a continuation of Route 17. Connections will be guaranteed from the 11 p.m. inbound Longboat Key bus to the three buses serving these routes.

Sunday Service -- SCAT will operate a limited system on Sundays based on combinations of familiar routes. The system will operate at reduced frequencies from approximately 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The routes are as follows:

* Route 18 (Longboat): operates every 60 minutes.
* Route 1713 (Trail-Venice-Jacaranda): operates every 90 minutes (less frequently after 7 p.m.); will follow Route 17 as far as Venice Avenue, then continue on to Wal-Mart via Business Route U.S. 41 to U.S. 41 to Jacaranda Boulevard.
* Route 8517 (Tallevast-SMH): operates every 90-minutes; will extend Route 8 to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. The last bus of the day will depart the hospital at 7:08 p.m.
* Route1411 (Lake Sarasota-Siesta Key): operates every two hours; a combination of the Bee Ridge route and the lower portion of the Siesta Key route.
* Route #215 (Cocoanut-University) operates every 90 minutes; combines the full Cocoanut Avenue route with a portion of the Route 15 as far as Super Target.

Since the unannounced COUP on March 26, 2007, the service has gone downhill even further. What was once a fairly direct trip downtown on #15 now involves a 25 minute layover at the airport, because the connecting bus pulls out just ahead of the incoming one - and it costs twice as much now, too - so that the bus that used to continue on to downtown sits at idle for 25 at the airport, while the one from downtown does, too. Two buses, two drivers, crappy service, DOUBLE the price, DOUBLE the time!
And if I want to go to Bradenton, it costs THREE times as much as before, in addition to taking DOUBLE the time, because of the layover.
Did I mention that they got an additional $5 million dollars make these changes to "improve" the service, and hire some (undoubtedly Republican) consultants?
Yeah, they fired all the old bus drivers that knew the routes and the passengers, too.
What's next? Well, the service is going to get even worse, as the consultants "tweak the system". They are interested in STATISTICS, not actual customer service. In a memo about the change seen at the terminal downtown, the change was justified as improving their "on-time performance". It doesn't matter to them that the cost to riders and the time required increases exponentially - they justify everything by statistics (the same justification is used for the FCAT disaster).
Don't be surprised if Vern Bu(s)chanan gets some funding so that the bus system can be "PRIVATIZED" to one of his buddies, along with a big government subsidy to get it going...
They have already seen to it that expectations have been drastically lowered...

And by the way, it seems like there are a lot more "Lord bless you" to be heard form the new drivers - who said faith-based initiatives aren't stronger than ever?
Too bad these drivers are much less friendly and eager to help customers - but they don't have to be any more - it's like the new Civil Service...

The bus section is completely mismanaged and nobody seems to want to admit it. They hold alot of meetings, but nothing ever changes. I also wonder if all of the people at these meetings have not ever been on the bus either. I wanted to attend one of them, but of course, have trouble getting there. (Big surprise, remember, I take the bus!)

The Sheriff Deputies in Sarasota are quick to illegaly pull people over (marking some story such as you were speeding, which of course they cannot prove, but neither can you prove you were not).

There should be a law against taking people's Driver Licenses when there is not adequate public transportation.

Let's see...the population is growing...development is booming...let's pave over the railroad tracks to make a bike path.

Face it, there are alot of people in this area with their head up their b***.

I am just a little suprised to find that a very common "google" search that brings people to my blog is "Sarasota SCAT bus schedule" where they find this post where I admit I have never bee