Downtown Campus


Let's take a look at the downtown St Petersburg campus.  This campus incorporates an on-site parking garage that is available to students, staff, and faculty.  Many visitors to this campus also get here on transit, walking (often from nearby public parking) or biking from nearby multimodal trails.  Of the SPC campuses, this one has the most transit options nearby from frequent and relatively direct routes and also is in a walkable urban center.  Browse around the streets near this building and take a look at crosswalks, bus stops, sidewalks, and other transportation infrastructure.  Think about how it might have felt the last time you walked around this part of downtown St Petersburg, and let us know what you have noticed.  Can you think of anything that might have made you feel uncomfortable or could be improved?

Gibbs Campus


Let's start by taking a look at some of the ways to connect from multimodal infrastructure to the Gibbs campus.  Here is the closest bus stop on one side for PSTA route 5 to the Gibbs campus.  Its the last campus-serving stop on the eastbound service and the only one useable by someone in a wheelchair.  Take a virtual look around and picture connecting to and from the campus from this stop.  To look at this in 'full screen' view, please click on the square in the upper right corner of the street-view window.  Pay attention to how direct your route is, and how it might feel with traffic driving by. Please also pay attention to sidewalks, ramps, crosswalks, and signals.   Are there things that might make this uncomfortable or ways you can identify to make it easier?  What might this be like at night? 

You made it, congratulations!  Thank you for your help in making it easier to reach SPC campuses.  Please take a moment to complete the survey below to tell us about what you noticed at each campus.  This is the same survey from the link at the beginning and either will submit to the project team.  It has been quite a journey, but please consider joining us for the in-person tour of the issues we collect here and participate in the discussion with the stakeholders in this process.  The visit will be scheduled soon, thank you again!

Please take a moment to make some notes about what you notice so far regarding the Midtown campuses.  There will be an opportunity to submit these notes at the end of the page. 

Please take a moment and to make some notes about what you notice from the Gibbs campus, thinking about what might be difficult or uncomfortable about this connection.  There will be an opportunity to submit these at the end of the page.   

Below is the corresponding westbound stop for a user in a wheelchair.  Its the last westbound stop that serves the campus (there are many stops that are closer, but none that are ADA compliant for someone in a wheelchair).  How close does this feel to the campus? Can you see the buildings in the picture?  Please take a minute and scroll through how you think you would walk to the closest campus building.  Is your path direct?  Are there obstacles like hedges or driveways to go around? Please take note of them and let us know via the survey link below what you notice.  

​Here is a closeup look at the transit options for downtown St Petersburg.  Take a look and find the campus.  What routes might be available for you?  There are lots of options here so we won't list them individually but think about how you might get to or from this point.  If there are multiple routes that work for you, is there any place where they overlap that might allow you to take the 'next available bus'?  The transit schedules are programmed into the Google maps directions feature.  Riders frequently find this a helpful tool for their trip planning: https://www.google.com/maps.  Please give it a try, and think about what options you have.  What about this trip might need to change to make it similar time-wise to other modes you might use to connect to campus? 

Below is the sidewalk as it enters the campus parking area from the trail.  What do you notice about this path?  How easy do you think it would be to get to buildings where classes are?  Browse around a bit and think about how you would get there, then try it out (virtually)!

Midtown Campus


Let's now move on to the midtown campuses.  This campus is split between two buildings that are about a block apart on 22nd St. S.  The campuses are also connected by Union Street.  Here is what that looks like from Union Street: 

Allstate Campus


The last campus we will visit is also one that is the most specialized of the St Petersburg Campuses.  The Allstate Center focuses on public safety curriculum and many students connect to this campus from all over the county, as well as Hillsborough and Manatee counties depending on the timing and availability of seats.  As such, students are less likely to want to reach here from the surrounding neighborhood and are more likely to start their trip from farther away.  These students also have to frequently connect to other places like local fire departments, police stations, hospitals, and other campuses as a core part of their curriculum.  

Please explore how this access works paying attention to the bus stops, driveways, and how you might reach this campus.  How might you get across 34th St to reach the bus stop?  What is it like to get to the buildings from the bus stops? 


PEOPLE FOCUSED PLANNING AND ENGINEERING

 

Create your own user feedback survey

Below is the northern building along 22nd St S.  Please look at the connection between these buildings as well as their connections with the neighborhood.  Look at the bus stops here as well.  How does this feel relative to other 'Main Streets' you may have seen?  If you were walking or biking here what  pathways do you think you would use?  Please take a few minutes to browse around the campus buildings and tell us know what you notice in the survey below.

Now lets consider what it takes to connect to the Gibbs campus on transit.  Please place yourself in the shoes of someone trying to get around without a car who decides to try travel by bus. Here is the PSTA bus map to help you get started, zoomed into St Petersburg.  The full sized map is available from the PSTA website: https://www.psta.net/media/4305/psta-map-fall-2019.pdf.  How does this trip look for you?  Is it pretty easy to figure out how you would get to campus on the bus from your home?  How about from work?  For those who used transit regularly, have you already stopped reading this map and looked it up on google maps to see what routes and times to take?  How might this compare to other places you have visited?  

To take the bus here there is only one route that goes directly.  Fortunately, there are stops that are convenient to both campuses along this route.  There are also other routes that serve the neighborhood if you are willing and able to walk a short distance.  Let’s have a look, once again connecting from Grand Central for convenience:

Drive: 5 mins (1.8 miles along 31st St S, 5th Ave S and 22nd St S)

Bike: 10 mins (1.8 miles along Central Ave and 22nd St S)

Walk: 35 mins (1.8 miles along Central Ave and 22nd St S)

Bus:

  • Route 7: 9 min ride plus about 1 min to walk: 10min trip time  + up to 60 min wait time for frequency.
  • Route 15: 9 min ride plus a 5 min walk: 14 min trip time + up to 60 min wait time for frequency.
  • Route 14:  13 min ride plus an 8 min walk: 21 min trip time + up to 30 min wait time for frequency.

Looking at how to connect to the Allstate Campus on transit let's assume we connect from PSTA's Grand Central terminal.  Please take a look and think about how you might connect to this campus.  What happens if your bus is late and you miss the connection?  Does google give you routes that might not operate more than once or twice per day?  Is that totally clear?  How might that change if you lived in a different county? 


Drive: 7 mins (2.5 miles along 34th St S)

Bike: 18 mins (3.3 miles along 31st St S)

Walk: 50 mins (2.5 miles along 34th St S)

Bus:

  • PSTA Route 34: 10 min ride plus about 5 min to walk: 15min trip time  + up to 30 min wait time for frequency.​

St Petersburg College

Mobility Audit


Welcome and thank you for your interest in the St. Petersburg College mobility audit! SPC is conducting a study to identify transportation barriers to accessing its St. Petersburg campuses.

A mobility audit is when people get together for a close-up look at a street, intersection, or other aspect of transportation to: 1) learn about how those things are working for users and 2) figure out fixes to things that are not working. Normally, a group would walk and talk about what they see in an area and their experiences traveling there. Given current circumstances, the mobility audit is being offered here virtually. The SPC mobility audit will look at the area around each of the St. Petersburg campuses.

There are two ways for you to participate in the mobility audit. The first is through this webpage. Here you can explore pathways to campus and surrounding areas using Google Street View and type your observations in a Survey form available at the end or through the link below. The second opportunity will be a live virtual tour of the campuses that will take place over one or two days. The study team will go through the observations submitted via the survey form. All participants will be invited to take part in the discussion.  

We encourage you to participate in both opportunities if you can. You are the expert on your trips to campus so please help us understand how the journey can be improved! 

To get started, scroll down this page to see the Google Street View for each campus. The first view is of the Gibbs campus, followed by the Midtown, Downtown, and Allstate campuses. As you pan around and notice things that we should be aware of, type your observations in the Survey Monkey input fields at the bottom of the page or in the survey form at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SPCMobilityAudit. More than one survey may be submitted by clicking the link again or refreshing the survey page.   

 

Find the SPC Gibbs campus on the map. Look for the routes that go there.  Depending on the schedule of your connecting route and how easy it is for you to walk or bike there are several options available to you.  You might choose routes 5, 7, or 79.  


Lets compare how long those trips might take from Tyrone Mall, one of PSTA's transfer hubs and the closest one to the Gibbs campus:
 

Drive: 4mins (1.7 miles via 66th St)

Bike: 6-8 mins (1.6 miles via 66th St or 1.5 miles via the trail, shorter routes available through private property)

Walk: 28-30 mins (30 mins, 1.5 miles via 66th St, 1.4 miles, 28 mins via the trail, 1.4 miles, 28mins via local streets)

Bus:   

  • Route 79: 3 min ride, 10 min walk: 13 mins + up to 60 min wait time and 2 mins for 66th St crossing signals.  
  • Route 5: 8 min ride, 2 min walk: 10 mins travel + up to 60 mins for wait time. 
  • Route 7: 6 min ride, 12 min walk: 18 mins = + up to 60 min wait time and 2 mins for crossing signals.


Lets look at what that might look like from the Grand Central Terminal:

Drive: 10 minutes for 3.7 miles on 5th Ave N, many similar routes available with comparable distances and travel times. 

Bike: 21 minute ride via Central Ave/1st Ave North (or neighborhood streets if you value safety) with several major crossings, for a distance of 3.7 miles

Walk: 75 minute walk via Central Ave/5th Ave N, some without sidewalks and with many major road crossings for a distance of 3.7 miles. 

Bus:

  • Route 7: 16 min ride, 4 min walk: 20 min trip, + up to 60 min wait time + up to 2 mins for 66th St signal. 
  • Central Ave Trolley (CAT): 13 min ride, 20 min walk:  33 min trip, + up to 30 mins wait time
  • Route 79: 26 min ride, 5min walk: 31 min trip, + up to 60 mins for frequency, + up to 2 mins for 66th St signal. 
  • Route 5: 11 min ride time, 2 min walk time: 13 min trip, + up to 60 mins for frequency.