Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/161733
Sarasota News Leader August 30, 2013 With 17 new SCAT buses arriving in May or June 2014, Sarah Blanchard, the SCAT planning manager, told the board during its regular meeting on Aug. 27, the department would have the necessary two extra buses to extend Route 11 seven days a week from downtown to Southgate Mall to Siesta Village and on to Turtle Beach. Page 57 "I'll support it," Commissioner Joe Barbetta said of the plans. "I've been an advocate for the Siesta Key trolley for a long, long time." Nonetheless, Barbetta pointed out to his colleagues that they all should be cognizant of the need for major bus service from the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport to the new mall and Benderson Park. If the park The route to the Village would run every 30 wins the bid to host the 2017 World Rowing minutes, she said, while the Turtle Beach trips Championships, he added, "My guess is from would be every 60 minutes. 2015 on, we're going to have a lot of people Glama Carter, the SCAT manager, told the board using that [venue] for training for the games." that if ridership was not sufficient to continue the trolley after the mandatory three years of He told Blanchard and Carter to begin looking operations linked to the grant, the service could the next day for a way to fund that University Parkway service. end with no recriminations from FDOT. A graphic presented to the County Commission in January shows how a 'wrap' can be used to make a bus look like a trolley. Image courtesy of Sarasota County