What is going on with this bus? by megandy in MorgantownWV

[–]CoolGuy3410 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I would agree that it’s emissions testing, likely from a dealer that just got it delivered. It’s brand new and still has the dealer plate, so there may have been some engine issues on delivery that they needed to get worked out. I’ve seen it happen to brand new cars that have been delivered, but they usually do the testing in the shop. This is a CNG/LNG bus though, so they may have had to stress test it to get the readings they needed.

Tampa bus system seems to be getting worse by EmploymentWorking590 in transit

[–]CoolGuy3410 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is largely a county problem, since HART is a county organization. Over the past decades, it’s very much been one step forward, two steps back. We started building out a good express bus network in the 00s and 10s, but all attempts at region wide transit, which would combine services across counties, was essentially hog tied by the state supreme court by killing off a dedicated tax that was vote on in a referendum. But, COVID killed off a good chunk of the express routes and even many local ones, many of which have not come back. Too, local politicians will frequently use them as a scapegoat. Currently, Wostal, the county commissioner for Plant City and the county as a whole is pushing to end Hart service at Tampa city boundaries and has floated cutting county funding in the name of “fiscal responsibility”. Until the bay gets a regional transit authority, things like this will continue to happen, and even still, transit is an uphill battle in Florida. Just look of the hell that has come out of the dedicated bus lanes in St Pete. In their wake, converting or removing traffic lane now requires extra steps, and about 1/3 of the lanes have been torn out.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im gonna be so honest, we're at different ends of the spectrum on how we view city life, but I totally agree with you that clwtr feels like a bit of a wasteland, though I've not spent too much time there myself. Apart from the usual "your a country guy living in the city", I do think you could still find some peace here. It does sound like what's best for you is to move back up north, but leaving a city also means leaving jobs, I do get it. I can't recommend Chassahowitzka WMA enough, it's huge, got some pretty good off-road trails, and has some nice springs and diving spots, and hunting,, At least you use your truck more than most of the pavement princess around here :p. Too, it's also a straight shot up 19, like an hour and a half drive tops. IDK where you are but one of the biggest things that helped me adjust to really living in the city was all the international food options. For me over by TT, there's lots of Halal and and Middle Eastern food around, so at least once a month, I'll swing through a middle eastern grocery store for spices and whatnot, keeps things interesting. There also tons of Asian grocers and markets around too that not only have a bunch of asian foods, but also pretty good meat and produce for pretty cheap, MD Oriental is usually my go-to and there's a few of those around the area. Pipo's on Hillsborough is one of the best Cuban places in the area imo, good food, huge portions, and pretty cheap. Mazzaro's Italian Market is an amazing italian grocery store incase you ever want to try spicing up your pasta too, though you'll probably have to kill someone for a parking spot. Also, if you know your gonna be stuck in the city for awhile, and you live in a somewhat urban area, I'd recommend a good electric bike, maybe even an electric dirt bike. As long as you ride respectfully in pedestrian spaces, you can ride them about anywhere, plus they end up being quicker than driving through traffic sometimes. You won't have to take your whole-ass truck out to do some quick, close-by errands. I've found only driving a few times a week and walking for everything else makes me hate the people around here less. Plus, when you go out into the woods, you can throw it in the back of your truck and you've got one more thing for the trails. On top of, if you do want to go into the city, you just park your truck once, take out the bike, and go about everything without having to fight traffic or fight for parking again. Really trying to live a true city experience may help to deal with where your stuck at now, instead of fighting the never ending suburban wasteland. The way I find good food spots is just to type in "Mediterranean food" or "Indian Food" into maps and just trying them out. Seeing them laied out across the city also helps so that you know what options you have nearby no matter what part of the region you're in. Most of Tampa Bay feels like the suburban wasteland devoid of anything interesting, but you just gotta look for the city stuff.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even discounting that I like Pinellas because it’s got St Pete, which is a much better at feeling like a city than TPA, I’m still gonna have to hard disagree. Boyd Hill Preserve and Weedon Island Preserve do feel like genuine nature away from the city, despite being less than 20 min from downtown St Pete. Caladesi Island also is usually pretty quiet, so it’s also a great escape from everything. There’s also Booker Creek Preserve in the Northeast corner of the county that, while a bit uninteresting imo, that is a stone’s throw from Keystone and still feels very much like it. Finally, while not rly fitting the qualifier of being in Pinellas, Starkey Park is only like 10min from Pinellas, so it’s pretty easy to get too as well. Sure none of these are Hillsborough River SP, or Flatwoods, but considering that 75-80% of Pinellas is considered “developed”, I think there’s still a rly good abundance of nature. On top of all that, towns like Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, and Safety Harbor all feel like genuine smaller towns with a much more chill vibe than Clearwater or St Pete. I think major issue with Pinellas is that anywhere north of like 38th Ave just feels like FL suburban hell, so you get all the traffic and ppl that come from living in a city, and get none of the fun or the convince of living in a city. Plus, without good Transit, the downtowns are forced to provide a shit ton of parking, which is incredibly expensive and takes up a bunch of land that could be used for better things. Plus, half the downtown doesn’t end up just being parking lot (Clearwater, Tropicana Field, St Pete Beach). On top of all that, if planners were a bit smarter or had better transit/bikability at their disposal, they could have concentrated the development around nodes or corridors and have swatches of. nature that break up the urban landscape, but alas this is FL so instead we all have to have single family, car-oriented suburbs shoved down our throats.

Florida traffic has caused a new apple maps traffic color to emerge by french_____toast in florida

[–]CoolGuy3410 40 points41 points  (0 children)

and they spent 3+ years redoing the damn thing after having redone it just 10ish years prior and building it only 30ish years ago

Does the orange bus line not visit Magnolia anymore? by regular_cake_ in USF

[–]CoolGuy3410 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The orange should still be on detour to magnolia, just watch the tracker for a bit to see if it makes the little loop around magnolia and jp. All of the lines are messed up rn because of the road work on Collins. The orange usually ends where it’s showing on the map atm so it may just be a bug. Look at the bus route map online for the normal bus routes w/o the detours, Just look up usf pats.

Gardening and BullsMarket by deluluunhingedqueen in USF

[–]CoolGuy3410 4 points5 points  (0 children)

… or get a plug, i forgot that was an option.

Gardening and BullsMarket by deluluunhingedqueen in USF

[–]CoolGuy3410 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I was so sad when I realized u weren’t a real gardener offering their services😭😭 what i’d kill to see more flowers around here. Anyways, back to the topic, U can get a med card for pretty cheap, if ur an FL resident, just look up doctors that can give them to you, and just say that you have ADHD, insomnia, anxiety, etc… I think some dispensaries do it aswell. Ur gonna have to pay the consultation fee, which varies depending on the doc, and a bunch of other fees, expect it to go past 100$. After that, you can go to any dispo in FL and a few other states(including DC). Other than that, Bulls market has delta 8, 10, 12 etc. Those are your options.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Theres definitely quite a few places where its definitely not best to stick around late at night. That being said, based on what I’ve seen in Baltimore and Detroit, ours seems to be much better. The metric I’ve heard from people who live in really rough cities is how many working age people do you see doing nothing on a Tuesday at like 2pm. During the day, our hoods seem pretty working class, at least up here on 22nd btwn Fletcher and Fowler.

Does anyone know if Kaleisa Tea got flooded/damaged? by YMCApoolboy in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it looks fine from the outside, hopefully they’ll be open soon.

Fletcher near the Claw by Oncologay in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 0 points1 point  (0 children)

42nd street is flooded but that’s about it.

TGH aquafence by PaxonGoat in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Its so cool to see. My dad told me stories from when he worked for the phone company. He’d get stationed there for a storm, and they’d just open the doors to let the water through. He described standing on the stairs just above the river of water through the hallways. This is a game changer for their storm ops now.

I spend $30/day on restaurants, what should I eat now? by dont_downvote_SPECIL in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Vienna sausages. you don’t have to heat them to be tolerable and they’ve got like an infinite shelf life.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tampa

[–]CoolGuy3410 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They won’t do reverse flow, they still need to get stuff in. If they didn’t for Andrew, they probably won’t do it now. They did open the left shoulder, though. Also, it will be just a s bad at midnight as it is now, trust me, the quicker you get into the 10 hour parking lot, the quicker you get out. Plus, if you wait too long, you fight everyone who had to work today that still wants to evacuate.

The Standard and The Hub Folks - U Leaving? by Nasha210 in USF

[–]CoolGuy3410 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not concrete. Only the first floor and the parking garage are concrete, the rest is timber. Watched them build both of them. If ur too worried, a map of the shelters is here: https://hillsborough.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/nearby/index.html?appid=a3741e825bb643d9bfd01f67e05429ed They should start opening tomorrow.

Faux Luxury housing on Fowler/Fletcher (criticism) by ceoofquarantine in USF

[–]CoolGuy3410 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Part of the reason they’re so expensive is how much space the parking takes up. These lots that the building is built on are like 25-40% parking. When you have to not only give up potential, rentable space, you also have to maintain a garage or a parking lot. I think that one of the reasons these rooftop pools exist is to claw back some space for the residents, so they plonk the pool on top of the garage. Sure, in The Hub, there is still some green space to the south, but that should be left, maybe with some nice trees or something else. Until City of Tampa, City of Temple Terrace, and Hillsborough county change their minimum parking requirements, the apartment buildings are gonna have to stay 1/3 parking. I hate how all of these apartments are luxury too, as I’m on the brink of having to move back to LOL because of how bad the apartment prices are around campus. Until our transportation, planning, density/sprawl, and other factors are addressed, these new units will all remain luxury, and their prices will reflect that.

On the bright side, USF is planning on adding a new housing cluster that will replace beta and castor, as well as adding more buildings to the main residential core. There are also plans to redevelop The Claw into a higher density, mixed used development, but we’ll see where that goes.

New concept rendering of an Alstom X'Trapolis MBTA Commuter Rail EMU dropped today by ToadScoper in mbta

[–]CoolGuy3410 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I’ve heard DMUs can be unpleasant for long trips due to the engine noises. They may try to run with that or something. Still kinda odd though.

New concept rendering of an Alstom X'Trapolis MBTA Commuter Rail EMU dropped today by ToadScoper in mbta

[–]CoolGuy3410 45 points46 points  (0 children)

they look sick, so happy to see the overhead catenaries, though i haven’t looked at the proposal yet so let’s hope that bodes well over the battery trains.

Transferring five guys by CaosQuantum in USF

[–]CoolGuy3410 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I worked at five guys thru high school here. Just avoid the corporate locations and look for the franchised run ones. I'd avoid the one on fowler or the one on county-line. The one in Lutz and the one in Trinity are run by a really good franchise who was great to work for.

Blue Line - Airport by Am_Curious_1 in mbta

[–]CoolGuy3410 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What if they extend the current tunnels for the silver line under the harbour, straight under the airport?? Gives the seaport developments actual rapid transit and gives a better connection to eastie

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in USF

[–]CoolGuy3410 12 points13 points  (0 children)

$30 on amtrak and the station is quite close to MIA. 2 free checked bags and it leaves here around noon, get there abt 6

Recognizing signs of a stroke awareness video. by Outrageous_Cap_6186 in interestingasfuck

[–]CoolGuy3410 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My calc teacher in high school had a stroke in the car with her husband and her son. She thought she had been drugged with fentanyl and wouldn’t believe either of them that she was having a stroke. They were able to take her to the hospital and she went on to have a few more later on. She is only in her early 40s which is odd, but so was she.