More people are taking public transportation in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) saw a 2.8 percent increase in bus ridership last month as compared to the same time last year.
Though bus ridership was about average during the Republican National Convention, streetcar ridership did go up.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority also saw in increase in ridership, a 10 percent jump from August 2011.
PSTA Spokesman Bob Lasher says that's pretty significant.
"In transit, anyone will tell you across the country, 2 to 3 percent increase from year to year is considered very strong so 10 percent is wonderful," he says.
"With the people who say that people in Florida aren't going to ride transit and aren't going to get on buses, there's not a lot of water in that argument because we're seeing to the point where we're having standing remotely only buses at rush hour and sometimes during lunch hour," says Lasher.
PSTA is on its way in breaking its all-time annual ridership record for this fiscal year. Lasher says rising gas prices are bringing more people on board.
