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Transit Pinellas Glossary
Having a brief familiarity with these terms will help in understanding the following descriptions of the transportation resources available to you in Pinellas County. While the list is somewhat long we felt that you, the user, needed to not only know the terms that would help with your own transportation but those that could help you follow the discussions of the various governing bodies that relate to transportation in the county. We encourage you to attend the meetings of these bodies and give your opinion at the appropriate times.
Accessibility
The extent to which facilities are barrier free and useable by persons with disabilities, including wheelchair users.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
(ADA)- A civil rights law passed by Congress in 1990 that makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities in employment, services provided by state and local governments, public and private transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications.
Base Period
The period between the morning and evening peak periods when transit service is generally scheduled on a constant interval. Also known as "off-peak period."
Base Fare
The price charged to one adult for one transit ride; excludes transfer charges, zone charges, express service charges, peak period surcharges, and reduced fares.
Brokered Transit System
A methodology by which one entity acts as the path way through which individuals are qualified for a transportation program and then their needed trips are assigned to various providers through a proscribed methodology.
Carpool
An arrangement where two or more people share the use and cost of privately-owned automobiles in traveling to and from pre-arranged destinations together.
Community Transportation Coordinator
(CTC) - The Community Transportation Coordinators are businesses or county departments that are responsible for the arrangement of the delivery of transportation services to the transportation disadvantaged. The Coordinator may provide those trips itself, as a sole source, or the Coordinator may provide some trips, and subcontract some (partial brokerage) or, the CTC may subcontract out all the trips to approved operators, as a complete brokerage.
Corridor
A broad geographical band that follows a general directional flow connecting major sources of trips that may contain a number of streets, highways, and transit route alignments.
Dial a Ride Transit
(DART) - Non-fixed-route service utilizing vans or buses with passengers boarding and alighting at pre-arranged times at any location within a system’s service area. Also called "Demand Responsive."
Demand Responsive
Non-fixed-route service utilizing vans or buses with passengers boarding and alighting at pre-arranged times at any location within a system’s service area. Also called "Dial-a-Ride."(Note, we have chosen to use the term DART when referencing PSTA Paratransit service. This is because we do not believe that Demand Response is appropriate because the DART program does not respond on demand. This would imply that it would be same day service which it is not.)
Fare Structure
The system set up to determine how much is to be paid by various passengers using a transit network at given times for specific trips.
Feeder Service
This program is designed to provide transportation to and from a pick up point to a location where a passenger can utilize an accessible fixed route bus.
Federal Transit Administration
(FTA) - Formerly known as the Urban Mass Transportation Administration; FTA is the agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation that administers the federal program of financial assistance to public transit. It is the FTA office of Civil Rights which investigates complaints related to the ADA and transit on federally funded public transit systems in the United States.
Fixed Route
Service provided on a repetitive, fixed-schedule basis along a specific route with vehicles stopping to pick up and deliver passengers to specific locations; each fixed-route trip serves the same origins and destinations, unlike demand responsive and taxicabs.
Greater Pinellas Transportation Management Services
(GPTMS) - The private call center or brokerage operation that has been contracted by the MPO to provide the eligibility, call center and ride assignment services for the TD program. They are also contracted through MPO to provide the same services to eligible Medicaid beneficiaries in need of non-emergency transportation.
Headway
Time interval between vehicles moving in the same direction on a particular route.
Intermodal
Those issues or activities which involve or affect more than one mode of transportation, including transportation connections, choices, cooperation, and coordination of various modes. Also known as "multimodal."
Layover Time
Time built into a schedule between arrival at the end of a route and the departure for the return trip, used for the recovery of delays and preparation for the return trip.
Local Coordinating Board
(LCB)- The local body given limited input into the management of the transportation disadvantaged program and the Medicaid non emergency transportation program. Douglas Towne represents the disabled on the Pinellas LCB and can be reached at 727-531-1000.
MEDICARE
The federal health insurance program for: people 65 years of age or older, certain younger people with disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure with dialysis or a transplant, sometimes called ESRD).
MEDICAID
A joint federal and state program that helps with medical costs for some people with low incomes and limited resources. Medicaid programs vary from state to state, but most health care costs are covered if you qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Metropolitan Planning Organization
(MPO)- The organization designated by local elected officials as being responsible for carrying out the urban transportation and other planning processes for an area, including the programming of federal transportation funds. In Pinellas County the MPO is also the Community Transportation Coordinator for the Transportation Disadvantaged program.
Non Emergency Transportation
(NET) - The term applied to transportation related to medical trips that are not of an emergency nature.
Paratransit
Comparable transportation service required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, for individuals with disabilities who are unable to use fixed-route transportation systems.
Personal Care Attendant
(PCA) - A person who accompanies a person with a disability to see to there personal needs and requirements.
Peak Period
Morning and afternoon time periods when transit ridership is the heaviest.
Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) - This is the federally and locally funded transportation authority that provides public transit including that required under the ADA.
Public Transit System
An organization that provides transportation services owned, operated, or subsidized by any municipality, county, regional authority, state, or other governmental agency, including those operated or managed by a private management firm under contract to the government agency owner.
Public Transportation
Transportation by bus, rail, or other conveyance, either publicly or privately owned, that provides to the public, general or special service on a regular and continuing basis. Also known as "mass transportation," "mass transit," and "transit."
Rapid Transit
Rail or motorbus transit service operating completely separate from all modes of transportation on an exclusive right-of-way.
Ridesharing
A form of transportation, other than public transit, in which more than one person shares the use of the vehicle, such as "vanpooling."
Ridership
The number of rides taken by people using a public transportation system in a given period of time.
Shuttle
A public or private vehicle that travels back and forth over a particular route, especially a short route or one that provides connections between transportation systems, employment centers, etc.
Transfer Center
A fixed location where passengers interchange from one route or vehicle to another.
Transit System
An organization (public or private) providing local or regional multi-occupancy-vehicle passenger service. Organizations that provide service under contract to another agency are generally not counted as separate systems.
Transportation Disadvantaged Program
A state funded program that provides low-cost transportation throughout Pinellas County to individuals who qualify as "transportation disadvantaged" as defined by Chapter 427, Florida Statutes. To be qualified as "transportation disadvantaged" and to receive TD services, a person must have no means of transportation available, including family and friends, and have an income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
Trip
The one-way movement of a bus along a route, usually either outbound/inbound or north/southbound, east/westbound, etc.
Trust Funds
Funds collected and used by the government for carrying out specific purposes and programs according to terms of a trust agreement or statute, such as the Transportation Disadvantaged, the Social Security and highway trust funds. Trust funds are administered by the government in a fiduciary capacity and are not available for the general purposes of the government.
Urbanized Area
(UZA) - A U.S. Bureau of Census-designated area of 50,000 or more inhabitants consisting of a central city or two adjacent cities plus surrounding densely settled territory, but excluding the rural portion of cities.
Vanpool
An arrangement in which a group of passengers share the use and cost of a van in traveling to and from pre-arranged destinations together.
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