 Now, guest today, folks, is Bob Lasher. Bob is the external affairs office for the PSTA. Now, the PSTA, folks, is the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. That's our public transportation in Pinellas County. Pinellas County, Nice County, no doubt. Bob, welcome to TFNN. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. Absolutely. So this is a little unusual that we have a PSTA on a financial program. But I thought this was really important because every city, I'm originally from Boston, but now I'm here 25 years. Every city, if you're from a city, public transportation is awesome, man, when you're used to it, do you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. What you guys are doing now is really, well, I'd love to bring the audience through it. Tell us about the sunrise and how it's going to go from St. Pete all the way down to the beach. Yeah, this is unlike anything we're going to see in the Bay Area. Starts at the pier, goes down by USF, and the medical centers then uses 1st Avenue North and South going out all the way to Pasadena through Pasadena and the St. Pete Beach to the County Beach Park. And a lot of it on North and South, 1st Avenue's North and South will be in a semi-dedicated lane for buses and then cars and trucks, whatnot, making turns. The buses are going to have level boarding. You're not going to have to step up. You can roll on with your bikes. You can roll on with wheelchairs and mobility aids. Really? We're going to have tap-off fares. So that means when a bus stops, people are going to get on and off really quickly. And around the world, we've seen that when you have a bus where people are paying fare cards or cash, that's what really slows down the route. So we've taken that pretty much out and made it so that these things are only going to have a stop every mile and people will get on and off quickly and keep going. So we should cut the travel time from a safety. We're using the current bus system by at least 30%. And that's going to rival, I mean, and we'll also have some priority at lights. If we're running a little behind, we'll have a signal to the lights that'll hold the green for the bus and let it go through the light a little bit longer to keep it on time and to keep it consistent so we can show people in the cars, hey, this is a nice alternative, particularly for people who want to enjoy themselves. And you know, it is amazing, Bob, when you actually go over the structure, and folks, I have the page up and we have the link on. We're talking about every 15 minutes during the day and what, every half hour at night. So you're talking about like, I mean, that's a consistent deal going back and forth to the beach or are the beach coming back and forth to St. Petersburg? Absolutely, and you know, the first time we'll be able to get a lot of these second and third shift workers back and forth to the beaches and we can get the people from the beaches and from the West in to a raise game and then they can be there long enough to see the ninth inning and then we can take them home again. You know, public transit's relying on funding everywhere in the world and we just haven't had the funding to run some of our services late enough to serve the raise and other organizations, but we've got some good federal funding for this one and it's exciting. It definitely is exciting. Now the second part of this folks, which is really huge no matter what city you're in and just pay attention to this because it's really cool. You know, cities are turning into walkable deals. Everyone wants to walk. So talk to me about the aspect, you know, when you look at the second part, the discussion that you've had with the community that any part of the community and what has happened in St. Pete folks is that they're changing, they're gonna be changing the zoning. There's a plan, the 2050 plan, they're gonna be looking at the zoning and then they turn around and look at the P.S.T.A. because the bottom line is if you live close to it, the bottom line, the zoning can change. So the texture of housing is gonna change from the first street going all the way down to the seventh street. So talk to me a little bit about that because I thought, you know, when you put this together Bob, it's really a lot more than just public transportation. It's really the aspect that let's say if me or you are 16 years old growing up, great, I can get a job at the beach, I can jump on there and go make some money, man. Do you know what I mean? You absolutely hit the nail on the head. You're right, it's a lot, it's gonna be a whole lot more than just a new transit line. We have been already out meeting with all kinds of community leaders as broad as we can to get their input as well as residents of what they wanna see along this line. When we have a station and we start to see development around it, we want more people to be in the area to make it nice and walkable like you said, making an easy walk to and from the stations. But we also wanna make sure that what goes in there and what happens fits with the local community. We don't wanna lose any neighborhood charm, we wanna be part of it. We'll even have the shelters will have dedicated special art that was been designed for each neighborhood along the way. So the Sunrunner Rising Study that we're working on right now and last week we just launched our new webpage is all about that. It lets people get into the line itself, look at where the stations are and then you can drop a pin. It opens up a little bit of a box and you can put in whatever you wanna see. Do you wanna see say instead of single family homes, maybe duplexes or small apartments? I mean, it's not like we're gonna wanna take downtown St. Pete and plug it in along the line. That wouldn't make sense. But we wanna allow a little bit more density, make it easier for people to live around these stations but we don't wanna change the neighborhood charm. And that's kind of the key. We're looking forward to that and we wanna hear what the public and our developers working with them have to say because they're looking at this too seeing their opportunities. Maybe further out where we're nice and close to the Pinellas Trail, somebody can put in, hey, how about a bike share here? So you can get off this and grab a bike and go onto the trail. And that's the kind of things we're looking for with this Sunrunner Rising webpage and study. Well, listen, you've done a great job thus far, no doubt. And I know it's not easy going, you know, we're talking to folks, first you have the county, then you'd have the different cities. When Bob and his team have to deal with different cities, it's pretty intense, right? It can be. We're pretty proud of the partners we've had. You should be proud, man. I mean, as I've gone over this, I've been in the finance business a long time but growing up in Boston, my father put me on the streetcar when I was five years old, right? Got me to the boys club. That was the beginning of me shining shoes, man. That's the bottom line. It gives, public transportation gives people freedom and they can do what they want with it. And you know, in my particular case, I think, listen, I've seen people and say, it works great, that's the real bottom line. And that's what we, it's great we did doing and in Florida, we don't have enough of it. That's the bottom line. And this is a great start, man. This is a great start. And you're dead on, that's right, because even though cities like St. Petersburg were built around transit, the old streetcar, which went away in 49, most of Florida has been built up after World War II. We had a very car-centric society and now we're starting to see the benefits of being able to come back and offer alternative to single occupancy vehicles and giving people a chance to step on something that's really a lot more convenient. I am a bus rider. Some of my routes are once an hour and that's a little nerve-racking if you think, gee, if I miss my bus, I'm an hour late. Seriously. Yeah. Every 15 minutes. So say you're staying at the trade winds and they have a deal with us where their employees and guests ride free. Yes. Show your ID, hop on this thing every 15 minutes. You're good. Huge. Well, listen, thank you so much for all the hard work. Thanks for coming on. Love to have you again. You can give us an update in a few months from now. Anytime, be my pleasure. Thanks, Bob. Have a great one. Have a safe one.