The eLooper will run for free seven days a week in conjunction with the St. Petersburg Trolley. Schedules can be found at loopertrolley.com. Emily Wunderlich | The Crow’s Nest
By Dylan Hart
A new fleet of electric buses was unveiled Wednesday by elected officials and executives of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority on the steps of the St. Petersburg City Hall.
The first two electric buses, known as eLoopers, began operating in downtown St. Petersburg Oct. 7. Riding the eLooper is free of charge for everyone, although USF St. Petersburg students can ride any PSTA bus for free through its U-Pass program.
“We stand here united to announce the arrival of Pinellas County’s first all-electric bus,” said PSTA CEO Brad Miller. “It’s electrifying!”
The eLooper will run the same route as the Downtown Looper, a 50-cent service that takes passengers around downtown St. Petersburg. Stops include Sixth Avenue S in front of the USC and the Fifth Avenue S at the USF St. Petersburg bookstore.
Funding for the buses and their charging stations comes from several sources, including a $1 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The city of St. Petersburg will provide nearly $360,000 annually to the eLooper service.
USF St. Petersburg will host a charging station for the eLooper on its campus, which will be installed by December 2018 or January 2019. The charging station will be located near the bookstore, which is the 10th stop on the route.
The en-route charging station was financed by a previous settlement with BP, which paid billions to local and state governments in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The charging station cost Pinellas County $600,000.
The fleet is expected to increase to six buses by 2020, with two expected to arrive in 2019 and two more in 2020, both funded by grants from the Federal Transit Administration of $1 million each.
Local leaders, including St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, Pinellas County commissioner Ken Welch and Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, praised PSTA for their initiative in releasing the new electric bus program.
“As a community, we put our future in the hands of leaders,” Crist said. “PSTA has been that leader.”
As the crowd at City Hall fixated on the speakers, a blue bus silently rolled behind them, creeping around the corner from an adjacent alleyway.
“You won’t hear it, but turn around and see it,” Miller said, inviting thunderous applause from the audience as the bus pulled up on the curb.
Kriseman then invited the audience to ride the city’s first eLooper for a short ride around the block. Attendees eagerly stepped onto the bus, chatting with Kriseman, Crist and Welch onboard about the reveal.
“It smells new,” Kriseman said, laughing with the crowd of eager reporters and constituents surrounding him. “I hear nothing but the people talking on the bus.”
After a quick loop around the block, riders stepped back onto the curb in front of the City Hall.
St. Petersburg resident Chris Brudy was among the most optimistic riders.
“First bike on the electric bus,” Brudy said, as he lifted his bicycle off the front rack of the bus and the marquee flashed above him with the words “eLooper.”
Brudy, a frequent PSTA rider and local Democratic activist, emphatically supported the release of the new buses.
“They’re great –– they save money, they save gas, they’re quiet –– there’s noise pollution problems with the diesel (buses) downtown,” Brudy said. “As time goes on, maybe we can up the fleet enough to get 20-minute intervals on all the buses, which really makes a big difference on making people want to take the bus.”
But for PSTA and St. Petersburg, the eLooper is just one piece of a long-term goal.
“For the first time, we are developing a comprehensive, sustainable action plan,” Kriseman said. “Through that plan, we are going to be a city of 100 percent clean energy.”
