* Who says Tampa can’t get its transit act together? Recent events underscore that big-thinking, visionary, elected officials are not taking a pass on joining the 21st century. Without raising any taxes, Hillsborough County commissioners recently made it official: Better intersections for Balm and Gibsonton are on the way.
* While downtown Tampa–absent city-only referendum help from the Legislature–remains transportation challenged, transit inroads are hardly out of the question. Exhibit A: the Downtowner, a new, three-year shuttle service. Funding for the free, app-driven, daily service is provided by the Tampa Downtown Partnership, the city of Tampa, the Florida DOT and local businesses.
The Downtowner is comprised of 12 electric vehicles that can accommodate five passengers. They can travel up to 25 mph. Call it a modest model of multi-party cooperation. Also call it what qualifies as transit progress around here.
* I’ll admit I’m still in the skeptics’ camp when it comes to self-driving vehicles. In fact, news of the first commercial shipment by a (Uber Technologies) self-driving truck–making a Colorado beer run of 51,000 cans of Budweiser–seemed like entrepreneuring under the influence.
“Our professional driver was out of the driver’s seat for the entire 120-mile journey down I-25, monitoring the self-driving system from the sleeper berth in the back,” noted a Uber Technologies statement.
Good, I’m glad there were no unexpected glitches such as the one that led to that fatal crash of a Tesla Model S on autopilot earlier in the year. But, one question is blatantly begged. As long as he’s in the truck, why not have that professional driver behind the wheel?