TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — One day after Tampa officials toured Brightline high-speed rail facilities across Florida, Mayor Jane Castor enthused about the company’s proposed expansion to Tampa.
The details are still in the works, Castor said Tuesday, but city’s long-awaited Brightline station will be built in the Ybor City area.
“The route is already laid out from Orlando to Tampa,” Castor said. “It will basically go down the middle of I-4 and then come in to the Ybor City area, where the Brightline station will be located.”
I know she mentioned this in the speech, but what Tampa is missing is better in-city public transportation, we can already get to Orlando, the problem is more that if you arrive here at say, the airport, it’s not a bus hub, the downtown trolley doesn’t go that far, you can’t hop on some bus or train and get into the city.
Our airport is close enough to downtown and so close to the Westshore business district. All of these things could be connected so easily. Service drives demand with in-town transit, not the other way around. Make the buses run every 15 minutes and 4am to midnight and you can be sure I’m never driving to work again.
That seems a higher priority than getting from here to Orlando on a train when right now you can’t get to the station without a car and as soon as you step off the train on either end you are immediately run over by an SUV.