Anne Madden, HART Board of Directors

Considering today's high gas prices, a two-person household in Hillsborough County on average saves $9,884 annually and $824 monthly by taking public transportation and living with one less car, according to a recent report by the American Public Transportation Association. Couple that with the fact that a solo commuter who switches from a private vehicle to public transit reduces their carbon footprint by 20 pounds -- save green and go green!

April 22 is Earth Day, so it's the perfect time to not only try transit, but take other actions that reduce your carbon footprint. As a small business owner, I always like to find creative and memorable ways to connect people to my business. After all, sooner or later, customers may forget the product that was sold to them, but they will never forget their experience as your customer. That's why, this month and especially on Earth Day, I encourage business owners to connect their websites to the carbon savings calculator accessible via the HART website. This allows your customers to find out how much they would reduce their carbon footprint if they used public transportation to arrive to your business. Find the calculator under the HART of Green section on www.goHART.org 

There is no magic bullet, but a good transit system adds value to a community. Whether it's riders who benefit from using the HART bus system, or businesses who benefit from increased accessibility to their product or service, HART adds environmental and economic value for each resident of Hillsborough County.

Anne Madden

Ms. Madden was appointed to the HART Board by the Hillsborough County Commission in October 2011. She has been a resident of Hillsborough County for 20 years and is a small business owner. She has previously served on the Hillsborough County Planning Commission and the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Effective Sunday, April 8, HART will make bus route and schedule modifications to the following: Routes 1, 6, 7, 14, 16, 19, 24X, 25LX, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39, 47LX, 53LX and 61LX.

Throughout the year, HART planners assess route productivity and update bus routes every spring, summer and fall based on improved safety and efficiency, ridership demands and trends, and customer feedback.

Some changes that begin tomorrow mean good news for customers because more trips were added on several routes! See the summary below of ROUTE modifications:

• Route 7 (West Tampa/Citrus Park): Added southbound 9:40 p.m. trip.
• Route 16 (Waters Avenue): Added westbound 5:35 a.m. trip.
• Route 19 (Port Tampa): Timepoints moved. (Consult schedule on www.goHART.org)  
• Route 24X (FishHawk/Riverview/MacDill Air Force Base Express): Added 6:15 a.m. westbound trip and 3:30 p.m. eastbound trip (this change was effective Dec. 5, 2011).
• Route 25LX (South Brandon/MacDill Air Force Base Limited Express): Route extended to Culbreath, at the Bloomingdale Park-n-Ride due to relocation or elimination of park-n-ride lot currently at Village Center near Bell Shoals Road and Glen Haven Drive. The Village Center Park-n-Ride will be available through April 27. 
• Route 31 (South Hillsborough County): Route modification at Winn Dixie in Apollo Beach for southbound trips only. (Consult www.goHART.org)    
• Route 32 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard): Routing change at the Mango Wal-Mart due to bus stop relocation. The bus will instead use the second entrance, and then make an immediate right to serve the bus stop.
• Route 34 (Hillsborough Avenue): Added eastbound 6 p.m. trip.
• Route 39 (Busch Boulevard): Added 5:35 a.m. trip and 6:30 p.m. trip.
• Route 47LX: Route modification at Winn Dixie in Apollo Beach for southbound trips only. (Consult www.goHART.org)  

SCHEDULE modifications to Routes 1, 6, 14, 33, 34, 37, 53LX and 61LX.

Customers may pick up updated route brochures at HART transit centers, or purchase schedule books for $2, also available at transit centers.

For complete information and to view maps for each modified route, visit www.goHART.org, or call HART Customer Service at 813-254-HART (4278).

Riding transit far exceeds the benefits of other ways that families go green, including using energy-efficient light bulbs or adjusting thermostats.

That's why on Earth Day, HART is offering Ride HART Free with a Friend. Current customers have an opportunity to invite a friend who is a newbie to transit, board together to ride free, and show them how easy it is to reduce their carbon footprint by leaving the car keys behind and taking transit instead on Earth Day -- building on the momentum of activities taking place throughout the nation!

HART is doing its part to help the environment. From recycling programs to EPA-certified low emission vehicles to bus shelters lit by solar power, and much more -- HART is always eco-friendly. Future green plans are also underway. Thanks to a federal grant that HART received recently to build a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station, HART will transition its entire fleet of more than 200 vehicles to CNG engines.

Natural gas is a clear, odorless and non-corrosive gaseous mixture of hydro-carbons. Natural gas vehicles show an average reduction in ozone-forming emissions of 80 percent compared to gasoline vehicles, according to a report from the California Energy Commission. Many transit agencies nationwide are transitioning to CNG vehicles, including DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit), which plans over the next three years to deploy more than 650 new CNG buses and paratransit vehicles as replacements for its current fleet of buses that began service in 1998. LA Metro (Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority) retired its last diesel bus in January 2011.

Cathi Davis

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I started taking the bus when gas prices started going up in early 2012. There are so many living expenses going up -- water, trash, etc. -- so this is one cost I can control. I used to spend about $400 every month to fill up my car with gas, but I only spend $60 for a monthly bus pass. It took about a week to get into the rhythm of my bus schedule and the transfers I needed to make to get to my job. At first, I didn't even know I could purchase my monthly bus pass online -- I thought I could only purchase them at transit centers -- which was not going to be convenient for me. The routes I use to get from near Britton Plaza to my job located near the airport are 4, 36 and 30. The commute is more than an hour, but I'm a voracious reader, so it actually works out well. I've downloaded a bunch of books on my I-Phone. I have also lost weight because of the additional walking I'm doing to the bus stop. I use HART Facebook because it allows me to see if there's a problem with a route, for example, because of the weather. HART social media also tells me about events coming up.