Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/136775
Sarasota News Leader June 14, 2013 if the county wants to improve its chances of winning FTA approval for a BRT system, he also believes a number of entities along U.S. 41 — the colleges and hotels among them — need to demonstrate their support for the project through letters at the very least. Additionally, the commissioners concurred with Paul and the City Commission that the best option for a local BRT system — if it gains sufficient city and other support — is to pursue its development in three phases, with the first extending from Sarasota Memorial Hospital to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, which is near the intersection of Boulevard of the Arts and U.S. 41. Of the three phases, it has the highest percentage of land uses already in place, Paul told the County Commission. One BRT corridor phase would cost about $750,000 in annual operating expenses, Paul explained, compared to a range between $2.5 million and $2.7 million for the whole 9-mile corridor from Westfield Southgate Mall to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport — the option the county and city commissions settled on during a joint meeting in early February. During a joint meeting on April 16 of the Manatee and Sarasota county commissions, the Manatee board concurred with the Sarasota city and county commissions on the advantages of the U.S. 41 BRT corridor; Manatee commissioners suggested the service could extend as far as Palmetto one day. Page 40 get its hands around," Paul said of the first phase's expense. Paul also noted in a June 10 memo to the County Commission that it would cost about $850,000 to provide an updated project justification analysis to the FTA. Within five years of federal approval, the memo continues, "the BRT project would have to be completed and operational in order to meet FTA requirements." He said earlier this year that that new application to the FTA would be due in September 2014. In response to a question from Commissioner Nora Patterson, Paul said that if the county accepted federal funding for a BRT system, the county would be committed to keeping the system in place for 10 to 20 years. If the county eschewed federal financing, Paul pointed out, the county could proceed with whatever type of pilot project it wanted, to determine the potential for the system's success. When he appears before the board again in August, Paul said, he will have an estimate of the infrastructure costs for the first phase of the system. DENSITY AND DETAILS In his June 10 presentation to the Sarasota County commissioners, Paul reminded them that a BRT system provides reliable bus service to users every 10 minutes at peak travel times, with waits no longer than 15 minutes at other times. "It's quick; it's simple; it's conve"Seven hundred fifty thousand dollars is nient; it's predictable," he added of the transsomething I believe the county could at least portation method's virtues.