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FishHawk Bus Stop To Move

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

LITHIA - Express riders in the FishHawk Ranch area will be picking up the bus at a new location starting Monday.

The Park-N-Ride lot is moving from the FishHawk Fellowship Church to the FishHawk Sports Complex west of Randall Middle School.

"The church was always intended as a stopgap measure until the park facility was available," said Ed Crawford, a spokesman for the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority.

Commuters use the lot to board the 24X express route from FishHawk and Riverview to MacDill Air Force Base and the 27X route that runs through Brandon before ending in downtown Tampa.

Crawford said the new stop at the front of the sports complex, away from the baseball and soccer fields, is larger and will have more parking spaces. He also said it was built to be more accommodating for disabled riders.

Accommodating riders is important as more take the bus to combat rising gasoline prices, Crawford said. He said annual ridership for the 24X route increased 7.5 percent from 2007 to 31,901 fares this year. The 27X route has seen a 9.3 percent increase to 22,287 this year.

Newland Communities, the developer of FishHawk Ranch and new nearby subdivisions yet to be named, donated the land for the lot and $100,000 for construction.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 657-4528 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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