TROLLEY IN INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, FL; OLD PEOPLE LEARN!

Indian Rocks Beach, FL Trolley

Old People have a love/hate relationship with cars. They want the freedom to drive, but are also afraid when they do. They don’t like to drive after dark, on freeways, in busy traffic and in strange places. They live in fear that their kids are going to ride with them; and, then want to take away their licenses.

Old People should plan ahead and learn to move about without cars and without fear.

We were recently vacationing for two weeks in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. Our Airbnb home was a block and a half from the beach in a quiet neighborhood. It was perfect for four of us. Of course, each couple rented  a car. How else would we get around? But at 75, I started thinking down the road. (No pun intended.)

We could walk to the beach, walk to restaurants and walk to small shops for essential supplies. UBER was available for longer journeys; like the grocery store. The Indian Rocks Beach Library was only a block and a half away, complete with computers, wi-fi and a small bookstore with 25 cent paperbacks.

On Gulf Blvd. the Suncoast  Beach Trolley runs every half-hour  from St. Petersburg Beach to the bus terminal in downtown Clearwater. It is easy and cheap.

The  PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority) senior fare is $2.50 per day or $35.00 for a month of unlimited travel. Each Trolley has free wi-fi, so if the place you are staying doesn’t have free wi-fi, you can just ride the bus with your  computer all day for $1.

It is a good deal, takes more time than a car, but…. I may soon be old. Parking is another problem, but that is for another blog.

My Indian Rocks Beach experience can be applied anywhere.

Any city that has a bus, trolley or cable car line, probably has a senior fare and a pass good for one-day to a year. In San Francisco, a pass good for bus, cable car and street cars within San Francisco is $15 per month.

In Albuquerque. New Mexico the  senior pass is $12 per month if you are over 62.

You can check out any city you are going to by doing a Google search:

bus+name of city+schedule

This will lead you to the appropriate web page.

One work of caution, at least in Indian Rocks Beach, the bus stop sign that gives you search message sites doesn’t work. I sent a message and scanned in a code. Didn’t work. So, I waited on a bench, and pretty soon the trolley came.

THINK OLD!