Consultant picks Ranch bus service route

LAKEWOOD RANCH — A more than seven-month study about bringing bus service to Lakewood Ranch revealed East County residents want a public transportation connector to the community’s universities, restaurants, homes, work and entertainment.

Richard Dreyer, of Tindale-Oliver & Associates, presented the results of the study and mapped out its preferred bus route for Lakewood Ranch during the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization March 24.

The route ­— which would travel east on State Road 64 from Interstate 75, turn south on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and then west on University parkway to the Mall at University Town Center — would be part of a systematic approach to public transportation dependent on collaboration between Sarasota and Manatee counties.

“Our study showed there’s a need for bus service from a lot of different people,” Dreyer said. “We were surprised by how many support it. Few people told us it’s a waste of time. Once we knew that, and studied what service would actually look like, we knew it would have to be systematic.”

Tindale-Oliver, hired for the study by the MPO in August and paid $59,000 with federal money to complete it, recommends the route connect with other planned new routes by Manatee County Area Transit and Sarasota Area Transit.

Currently, MCAT service on State Road 64 goes only as far east as I-75. Service on State Road 70 ends at the Walmart at U.S. 301.

SCAT has routes along University Parkway, but not east of I-75.

Tindale-Oliver interviewed stakeholders, reviewed population and demographic information and studied area employment and services in making its recommendation.

“Lakewood Ranch is definitely an unserved activity center,” said William Steele, MCAT’s manager. “This is a staged improvement plan to public transportation.”

MCAT will provide the Lakewood Ranch route because it earned a service development grant from the Florida Department of Transportation in February 2011 — money specifically dedicated to expand transit in Lakewood Ranch.

That funding can be used beginning fiscal year 2015-16, but Tindale-Oliver advises that the Lakewood Ranch route begin service in fiscal year 2017 after other planned SCAT and MCAT routes begin.

The Lakewood Ranch route, Tindale-Oliver says, should connect with SCAT’s new University Parkway route, to begin in July, and with MCAT’s Route 6, which the agency wants to extend east along State Road 70 in 2015.

The Lakewood Ranch route would also connect with MCAT’s Route 3, at State Road 64, and with SCAT’s Route 15, at the Mall at UTC.

Tindale-Oliver’s service plan calls for the Lakewood Ranch route to include several high-demand stops, including Manatee Technical Institute, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, State Road 70 and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Lakewood Ranch Medical Center and Lakewood Ranch Main Street, terminating at the Mall at University Town Center.

Dreyer said he expects to have other non-timed stops in between the key timed stops.

He said the precise stops would be determined by the transportation agencies.

“But there’s some specific, high-traffic stops that it would definitely hit,” Dreyer said. “Our conversations with stakeholders showed great interest from universities such as LECOM and MTI. We even heard high school students might use bus service.”

Steele said the Lakewood Ranch route would not require new buses, athough additional bus shelters will be required to serve it.

The Manatee County Board of County Commissioners must approve the Lakewood Ranch route and its associated implementation plan.

Stop, go, connect
Some of the key stops along the bus route would include:

Manatee Technical Institute
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
State Road 70 and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard
Lakewood Ranch Medical Center and Main Street
Mall at University Town Center

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].