Transit Means Business

Does transit reflect the future of Bay area business?
(Demo bus in downtown Tampa courtesy of North American
Bus Industries)

Across the Bay area, it isn't just individuals who are getting onboard when it comes to transit. Many businesses and organizations that represent them have decided that supporting transit makes a difference in their bottom lines, and in our community.

With that in mind, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce is hosting an event called "A Business Perspective on Transit" on Friday, October 8 at 7:30 a.m. at the Tampa History Center.

The event is billed as a panel discussion highlighting the benefits of improved transit, specifically as it relates to downtown redevelopment, potential benefits to eastern Hillsborough County and prospects for transit-oriented development (business and residential development that occurs along transit lines and around station stops).

Chamber members and non-members alike are invited. Download the flyer for more details and fees to attend.

More Transit, More Jobs
The Transportation Equity Network recently released a report titled "More Transit = More Jobs." The report contains the results of a study conducted by the Public Policy Research Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, which found that spending on transit generates more jobs than spending on highways.

"If our 20 metropolitan areas shifted 50 percent of their highway funds to transit," the authors state, "they would generate 1,123,674 new transit jobs over a five-year period — for a net gain of 180,150 jobs over five years — without a single dollar of new spending."

The Tampa Bay area wasn't included as one of the metropolitan areas evaluated for the study.

Read the full report here.