... if you find yourself in downtown Tampa and your car is out of gas, has a flat tire or a dead battery - or you can’t find your car, you’re lost, or it’s a bit late and you’re concerned about walking through a dark parking lot or garage - there’s help available.
They’re called the “Tampa Downtown Guides.” They wear blue shirts and pith helmets—no, they’re not escapees from Busch Gardens—and they’ll get you on your way, for free.
There are seven of them, and they work the area from I-275 south to Harbor Island and from North Boulevard on the west to Channelside on the east. They’re available Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from noon to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
They work for the city through the Downtown Partnership. Last year the Tampa Downtown Guides assisted 35,000 people, mostly with directions, answering questions, playing street-level ambassador, according to the Guides’ supervisor, Ray Bertram.
They also gave jump starts to 394 motorists, changed 115 tires, escorted 45 people, helped with 34 car alarms, found 31 lost vehicles, and made 29 gas runs.
But perhaps their biggest contribution was their mere presence on the streets downtown. With radios or cell phones, they provided additional eyes and ears for the Tampa Police Department, deterring and occasionally thwarting crime.
“We try to help with almost anything,” Bertram said, “but the one thing we can’t do is help with lockouts. Dropping slim jims in there with side air bags—it can cause problems.”
Not to mention liability for helping the wrong person break into a car.

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It’s not just our families, our relationships with our friends and home maintenance that suffer from too much time spent on our long commutes, our home communities may be hurting most of all, according to a series of studies.

They call it “social capital,” and it’s an accepted concept for social scientists: It means that the wealth of a community is not just measured in dollars in the city treasury, it’s also measured in how many people vote, serve on volunteer boards, give blood, tutor school children who need it, participate in the PTA; volunteer at the hospital; serve in civic groups, man crisis lines and much, much more.

Long commutes also take people away from their friends - and inhibit their making friends or cultivating them - and that frays our connections among each other, which in turn hurts our peace of mind, our feelings of well-being. It strands us when we need help - with a repair, commiseration, someone to share the good news with, a babysitter, pet-sitter, support in a job search, an in with organizations, referrals to professionals, reliable service people… The list is endless.

That’s our personal “social capital.” Run short, and it seriously effects our own happiness, our health, our ability to succeed. The community is the first to feel its effects, then it’s our families.

Most service organizations, home-owners’ association boards, volunteer leaders don’t know why someone no longer participates, even in the area’s so-called bedroom communities - places which too many residents desert each workday, for a long day away.

If you know someone in that situation, or are that someone, I’d like to hear from you, to learn how it works, how it feels, and see if anything can be done about it. (E-mail ; if you can, pls include your telephone number.)

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Ballast Point residents have voiced many concerns about the southern intersection of Bayshore and Interbay boulevards, where an oddly angled crossing, heavy car volume and absence of traffic-controlling devices combine to create a dangerous situation.

The roads actually intersect at two points – one to the north where Bayshore meets Interbay and forks off at an angle, and one to the south where they cross paths again.

In my observation, that southern stretch of Bayshore tends to either be backed up or run too fast, depending on the time of day. Steve Reynolds, a board member on the Ballast Point Neighborhood Association, said it’s “scary to see the risks people will take” to cross there.

The northern intersection of Bayshore and Interbay, where Interbay splits off toward Ballast Point Park, already has a traffic light.

Residents would like to see one installed at the southern intersection, and from what city of Tampa Transportation Division Manager Roy LaMotte tells me, it seems they’re going to get their wish.

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Mike, in Riverview, comments:

I see these ‘phantom jams’ all the time.  Seems they mostly happen around merge areas.  Reason is most people are too rude to let someone merge so they try to speed past them or cut others off to avoid having to slow down.  This creates a ripple effect that causes the slowdowns to the cars further back.  The mergers are sometime to blame themselves by not quickly and speedily moving into traffic.  If traffic is heavy but still moving at a quick pace I find that I can merge at or around the posted speed for the roadway.  1/23/06

Good point. And in fact the experts agree, noting that it just takes one panicky driver on the highway to see another driver merging at the speed limit to nervously slow down, sometimes rapidly jamming the brakes, and sparking the chain reaction that can lead to a “phantom jam.”

Or, a driver merges going way too slowly, forcing the brake lights behind him to light up, beginning the potentially highway-clogging process.

Once, many years ago, there was a system of long, moving green tubes of light at the Ashley Street on-ramp to I-275, mimicking spaces between cars on the highway above them.  The idea was for cars to pull alongside one of the green bars, maintain that speed, and when they reached the highway at that speed, that right-sized space would indeed be there for them.

That was true unless at the last minute the car behind the space, driven by some yahoo, floored his accellerator in an effort to close the gap for personal (competitive? testosterone-related?) reason. At any rate, too many people didn’t trust the contraption, and crept up to the level of the highway, and stopped _ or nearly stopped _ thereby requiring a huge gap they could enter while accellerating from zero to highway speed. It should be much better there now…

But Mike’s right. Entrance ramps _ and sometimes backed-up exit ramps _ are often the catalysts. 

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Today is Ride Free Day for HARTline’s express buses.

For regular bus riders - or if, say, you become one after your sample ride downtown from New Tampa, Westchase or maybe Seffner today - the sweetest deal around is the Emergency Ride Home program of Bay Area Commuter Services (BACS).

It’s designed for commuters who get to work by any means other than driving alone: riding a bus; carpooling (which means sharing a vehicle with at least one other person, even a wife or roommate); van-pooling; or even walking or biking. And you qualify if you just do it two days a week.

Folks have the understandable fear that if they try an alternative to driving to work - to save money, ease their traffic-troubled minds, contribute a tad less pollution to the atmosphere - they’ll be stranded if they get sick at work, have a family emergency, or have to work late.

But the Emergency Ride Home program guarantees a free cab ride home - up to eight times a year, up to $100 a ride. It requires signing up, but there is no charge. For details, check out BACS” web site at http://www.TampaBayRideshare.org, or call: (800) 998-RIDE (7433).

HARTline’s express buses are mostly newer buses, with air conditioning, comfortable seats, many even have Wi-Fi connections for your laptop. And it’s nice to have a chauffeur. And BACS takes the worry out of leaving the car at home.

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They call the device an “iPark Personal Parking Card” and it’s designed for people who can’t be bothered - or can’t remember - to carry a whole passel of quarters with them. Heck, two hours’ parking downtown costs 12 quarters these days.
The things are essentially prepaid debit cards, and about the same size but a tad thicker, with a hook to hang them from a rear-view mirror.
Most of the early users are either delivery people who must make quick, frequent stops in front of downtown businesses, or lawyers who don’t know how long they’ll be away from their cars and grow tired of the $25 overtime parking tickets.
The user just parks, turns on the device, indicates the zone in which they’re parked - currently either downtown or Ybor City - and hangs it from the mirror, ignoring the meter. Parking enforcement officers are trained to check for the devices before issuing a ticket.
When leaving, just turning off the device displays the zone, charge, and the card’s balance.
There is a $20 deposit to obtain the things from the parking enforcement office in the Fort Brooke Garage, 107 N. Franklin St. - it’s suggested you call the office, 274-8182, first - and it may be charged for $50 or $100 worth of parking, plus a $5 charging fee.
The only savings is that you just pay for the time you’re actually parked, and you won’t get any more parking tickets - if you remember to turn the thing on.

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...parking at meters in downtown Tampa is free north of Kennedy Boulevard between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday.

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Have you ever been driving along, minding your own business, when up ahead you see brake lights and you’re forced to slow markedly or even stop, as a traffic jam piles up behind you. Of course, we all have.

But then, when you finally get to the front of the pack, cars are just speeding up and going on their way. What’s that all about?? Yep, I’ve had that happen, too, on I-75 in both directions and on I-275 south over the Sunshine Skyway.

If it’s happened to you, too, it seems we’ve fallen victim to what traffic engineers and scientists know as a “"shockwave,’’ “"ghost jam’’ or “"phantom jam.’’ They’re pretty common in the Tampa Bay area. On Monday, in a Tampa Tribune article, local and national experts explain what happens to cause the things, and a few things we can do to avoid them.

Hint: They have a whole lot better grip on the causes than they do on the cures. But it’s nice to know what’s behind that bit of weirdness. 

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Sure, bus rides are free on Monday, and anyone living near one of the express routes _ see http://www.hartline.org _ might want to give it a try. Remember, anyone commuting twice a week or more on HARTline _ or by walking, cycling, car- or van-pooling _ is eligible for eight free cab rides home each year if they have to work late or have a personal or family emergency, courtesy of Bay Area Commuter Services. (See: http://www.TampaBayRideShare.org)

But on Tuesday commuters will have to cough up more money to ride the most HARTline buses.

The cash fare is $150. One-day local ride fare is $3.25 and a 20-day local ride ticket is $30. The 31-day unlimited local ride ticket is $50.

The express fare goes to $2.50, with a 20-ride express local ticket at $50, 31-day unlimited ride ticket, $80. The Hillsborought/Pinellas express ticket is $85. There are a lot of other increases, check http://www.hartline.org.

If you take them up on their offer, let me know how it goes.

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No less a publication than the New York Times Magazine ( but the full article costs $3.95) has ventured into a somewhat scary area of traffic theory _ that when congestion gets to a certain point, there really isn’t much we can do about it.

Unless, that is, “"we have a lot of money.

California was first, but the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is close behind, in the development of “"automated express toll lanes.’’ These things are an additional lane, sometimes built and run by private entities, where the well-heeled can buy themselves out of gridlock. Onboard transponders automatically charge the motorist as much as $30 for a 50-mile run around the stalled, fuming masses.

Actual rates vary depending on how bad the traffic jam actually is, as measured by sensors on the roadway.

Gridlock here, one presumes, is not yet quite bad enough for there to be big enough money in the prospect of adding lanes to I-4 or I-275 for an entrepreneur to start building highway lanes and charging for their use. But our traffic woes are getting worse pretty quickly, and the state Department of Transportation has pretty well conceded it can’t keep up.

Sustained, even worsening, gridlock is of course is essential to assure a good return on the entrepreneur’s investment.

Then comes the question of who enforces the exclusivity of these lanes, although for the most part now they are separated by concrete barriers and access to them is limited to those with transponders.

But somehow the whole concept seems ... You fill in the blank.

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TAMPA—The northbound I-275 exit ramp to Scott Street (Exit 44) has REOPENED.  This ramp had been closed where the ramps splits to Ashley Drive since July 17, 2005 for I-275 construction work in that area.
______________________________

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A book appeared on my desk this morning, a heavy one, with the above title. Turns out it came from Tribune Staffer Mark Holan, who covers Hillsborough County for Ma Trib.  It’s by Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at UCLA.
The book, all 733 pages of it _ I’ll read it and get back to you. Right. _ explores the premise that free parking, or cheap parking, are neither free nor cheap. Each of those spaces, says Shoup, costs way more than the average car, first to the developer, then to tenants, and then, in the form of higher prices for goods and services, to us. And zoning codes require all manner of off-street spaces _ 1.5 per nozzle at a gas station, 10 per daily funeral at a mauseleum _ based on peak demand, in places that lack public transit or pedestrian-friendly amenities.
Shoup recommends ending the requirement that developers provide off-street parking; charging fair market prices for curb parking; and, using the revenue from curb parking to pay for neighborhood improvements in the neighborhood that generates the revenue.
I guess the theory is that expensive parking would increase the demand for mass transit, and places would look a lot better without so many garages and poorly maintained remote lots. Sounds radical, but maybe I should read the book.

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I cover commuting issues for The Tampa Tribune. This web log is designed to help, or at least provide a forum for us, to help each other.

Ask questions. We’ll try to find answers. We can share safety tips, shortcuts, areas to avoid, better routes, ways to save money, save gas - to better survive the daily grind.

We spend a lot of time in our cars. What do we do with that time? Has your commute affected other areas of your life? Your budget?

Share with me where you drive each day, how long it takes you - now, compared to a few years ago. Tell us how you cope with traffic, how you like your carpool, van pool, your bus commute - if you’re among the few who can, or are willing to, live without your car during the work day.

Maybe we can ease the burden of our ever-lengthening commute.

For information before heading out on your commute, check TBO.com’s Traffic page at http://traffic.tbo.com.

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So far, it seems the year is off to a strong start. Density is increasing downtown, city public-art projects are abounding and road improvements are in the works both on the drawing board and on hard ground.

First off the block is the Manhattan Avenue widening project. This $9.3 million job will widen the two-lane road to five lanes (two northbound, two southbound and one center-turn lane) along the stretch between Euclid Avenue and Gandy Boulevard.

It’s hoped the construction, expected to take about 18 months, will ease congestion and reduce flooding, as a new stormwater system and retention pond also will be installed.

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It’s about that time again, if you can believe it. Folks are gearing up to celebrate another New Year’s Eve.

In the spirit of recollection and review that has settled over the South Tampa News, I’m taking a quick look both ways before I cross into the coming year.

Here are a few excerpts from our 2005 adventures on the road:



* After piles of petitions and vociferous complaints, Swann Estates residents received approval in spring 2005 for the installation of speed tables along Swann Avenue between Lois and Church avenues. A transportation study listed the Swann Avenue site among the city’s 64 worst speeding locations.
We keep pulling out the Band-Aids as growth continues.



* The Kennedy Boulevard Bridge was torn down and replaced with a smooth road designed to allow all Lee Roy Selmon Expressway lanes to unload directly onto Meridian Avenue.
The throughway was slated to reopen in May, but to this day is still blocked off, due in part to closures necessitated by rampant condo construction in the Channel District.

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