How do you get to St. Petersburg from Tampa with no car?
July 20, 2006 2:40 PM   Subscribe

What form of transportation can one use to get from partying in Tampa then getting back to a hotel in St. Petersburg without a car?
posted by smallsociety to Travel & Transportation around Tampa, FL (16 answers total)
 
Without a car? I don't think there is a way. You need to get a car- rent one, or hire a cab/limo. I assume you're talking about Ybor, yes?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:05 PM on July 20, 2006 [1 favorite]


Where in Tampa? Where in St. Pete?

You could take a taxi, but I don't think there's any public transportation that's going to make that trip easy, especially not late at night.
posted by bshort at 3:05 PM on July 20, 2006


Hmmmm, if you could get from Ybor to the airport, there might be some options in terms of shuttle services, vans, etc.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:06 PM on July 20, 2006 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Pretty much want to get from Centro Ybor to Chattaway Inn Restaurant (close to a friends house). Don't want to drink and drive.
posted by smallsociety at 3:27 PM on July 20, 2006


People, there is always a way to get between just about any two cities in America, and that way is called: the bus. Distasteful, I know, but it works.

I just checked Greyhound and they each day they have six buses leaving St. Pertersburg for Tampa. The trip takes an hour and costs $13.50 round trip.

That doesn't even include local and regional carriers, who probably have more frequent service and weirder hours. Anyone local know the names and/or websites of bus lines in the area?
posted by ChasFile at 5:41 PM on July 20, 2006


Chas, et al; they wanted to go out *partying*.

That ends, usually, around 2-3ayem.

At that time of night, in this area, unless you rented a limo in advance: cabs.

Won't be cheap. Cheaper than an accident.

Might *be* cheaper to rent a small party limo; that's at the point where it's worth making half a dozen phone calls to get some prices.
posted by baylink at 7:14 PM on July 20, 2006


PS: Welcome to the Suncoast! Hope you enjoy your stay.
posted by baylink at 7:14 PM on July 20, 2006


Chas, et al; they wanted to go out *partying*.

That ends, usually, around 2-3ayem.


Maybe for you. The first bus out St. Petersberg each day leaves at 5:05AM, which would be perfect for most people I know who are *partying.*

And anyway, how do you know this isn't a daytime, BBQ type party? He said he wants to go back to a returaunt, maybe its party then dinner then bed. He never actually stated times.

And further, I know lots of buses that run at weird hours, especially - as I mentioned - local and regional carriers looking to service needs the big boys like Greyhound don't fill. In college I took a Short Line bus that left Ithaca, NY at 3AM several times a year b/c it got you in to NYC at 9 and you had the whole day ahead of you. I don't know about Florida, but buses certeinaly do run, at least in the abstract, at 3AM.

The point is, at least I'm trying to be helpful, and actually providing resources rather than providing a bunch of "maybes" and "short answer: you can'ts." So back off.
posted by ChasFile at 8:31 PM on July 20, 2006


ChasFile - See the thing is, several of us here either live in Tampa or we've lived there in the past. We actually sort of know what we're talking about. To get between the two places the poster is talking about, at that time of night, you're almost going to have to take a taxi, as taking a taxi to the bus station, taking the bus to St.Pete, and then taking a taxi from that bus station to the final destination is going to be a massive waste of time and money.
posted by bshort at 8:44 PM on July 20, 2006


Cab should cost you $40-$50 and is really the only way to get where you're going late at night in the TBA. Better option would be to grab a room at the Marriot Riverside and take the trolley to and fro IMO. Better yet, just stay in downtown St. Pete and do your drinking. Ybor is full of chuckleheads.
posted by photoslob at 9:55 PM on July 20, 2006


As someone who lived in Tampa for over 15 years, I concur with photoslob and bshort. Cabbing is really the best option and there are tons of hotels within a 20 minute cabride of Ybor. (I'd check out South Dale Mabry for some reasonably inexpensive, good to crash in hotels.)

Also, basically no one uses public transportation in Tampa-- because it doesn't really exist.
posted by Flamingo at 10:21 PM on July 20, 2006


Also, thepinksuperhero's Ybor to the airport idea is a pretty good one, and is worth looking into.
posted by bshort at 10:27 PM on July 20, 2006


I live in St Pete; and I'm voting for cabbing it.
Yeah, it's more expensive, but it will get you from point A (Centro Ybor) to point B (Chattaway) with a minimum amount of fuss and bother. And hey - you can take a small nap while they take you across the Howard Frankland bridge.

Have a great time!
posted by willmize at 4:03 AM on July 21, 2006


bshort and flamingo are correct- smallsociety could take the Greyhound bus. He could also walk, but I don't think either of those ideas are as good an idea as hiring a cab/limo/car service, etc.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:16 AM on July 21, 2006 [1 favorite]


Is cold swim, Comrade.
posted by yerfatma at 10:06 AM on July 21, 2006


Publick transportation sucks in the Tampa Bay Area. I decided this summer to use the PSTA to go from home (in Dunedin) to Downtown Clearwater, and then work in St. Pete. So inconvenient and I wasted more time waiting for buses that I dropped my plan and instead drove.

So yeah, use the cab.
posted by Number27 at 11:20 AM on July 21, 2006


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