Full steam ahead

What is Greenlight Pinellas?
Greenlight Pinellas is a proposed referendum in Pinellas County up for vote Nov. 4, designed to improve the county's bus system and build a passenger rail line. The proposal suggests swapping a 3/4 mill of the current property tax with a 1% sales tax increase to fund the increase in transportation.

The sales tax would increase bus service by 65% in Pinellas over the next six years. It would also fund 24 miles of passenger rail with 16 stations running from downtown St. Petersburg, through Carillon, to downtown Clearwater. The infrastructure's expected total cost to build is $2.2 billion over 10 years. The sales tax would go into place January 2016, with bus expansions complete by 2021, and rail open for service in 2024.

The bus line's operating expenses are estimated to be $124.2 million annually in 2021 and the rail system's operating costs are estimated to be $45.8 million annually in 2024. It estimates an average weekday rail ridership of 17,693 by 2035.