Throughout the summer, St. Petersburg residents can hop aboard a grocery shuttle from Tangerine Plaza to the nearest Walmart. The free transportation service from the city, called the Midtown Grocery Pilot Program, kicks off at 9:45 a.m. Saturday and comes after the plaza's Walmart Neighborhood Market closed in February.
Twenty-five passengers at a time will leave Tangerine Plaza on a mini shuttle bus to the Walmart Supercenter at 201 34th St. N., traveling 2.5 or so miles. Every Saturday in May, June, July and August, four plaza pickups are expected at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m., while four Walmart departures are planned for 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The city plans to give out reusable Healthy St. Pete shopping bags and a voluntary survey to passengers to determine the interest and need of the service, plus a future Tangerine Plaza grocer.
"For those facing transportation challenges, and especially for those St. Pete residents who relied on the Walmart in Tangerine Plaza, I am pleased to be able to offer this free service," said Mayor Rick Kriseman in a statement. "Offering this service to our south St. Petersburg residents is an effort to address food insecurity while gauging demand for a future grocery store in Tangerine Plaza."
This article appears in May 11-18, 2017.