Fran Davin, HART Board Chair

Leading Regionally While Serving Locally 

Today, the HART Board unanimously voted on several recommendations to submit to the Florida Legislature that will effectively and responsibly improve regional connectivity in the Tampa Bay area:

• Hold formal, regularly scheduled joint meetings of the HART and PSTA Boards; and
• Develop a Strategic Coordination Plan to identify projects that make sense for HART and PSTA to undertake together, such as information systems and customer information; and
• Jointly set benchmarks, cost-efficiencies, policies and a timeline for continued collaboration.

It is HART's mission to provide transit service to Hillsborough County residents. While HART partners with nearby transit agencies to lead and improve regional connections, protecting and expanding our local service used by thousands every day to get to work is our priority. So when state legislation in 2012 mandated a study for the potential consolidation of HART and Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), the bottom-line question was: Does a merger improve or deliver more services for our constituents?

The study concluded: "There are virtually no areas of duplicative service, and therefore, there are no cost-savings opportunities in service." The study noted that a merger would be very costly and time consuming, with benefits that could be achieved through an informal partnership between our agencies. In fact, of the areas identified in the independent study for future collaboration, none add additional bus service to our counties. For that reason, shifting our limited resources towards the formal consolidation of the two agencies at this time does not appear to enhance services to riders, which is our primary goal.

The study's recommendations did outline ways to strengthen the already robust coordination between HART and PSTA, and HART enthusiastically supports these recommendations. In fact, many are already under way, such as conducting joint procurements and working towards developing common farecards and farebox technology. Therefore, we believe the recommendations to the Florida Legislature listed above are a measured, fiscally responsible approach towards achieving these types of regional initiatives.  

HART is sincerely committed to improving transit in this region, so just as important to note is that HART and PSTA also agreed today to continue meetings of a committee made up of members from each transit board of directors. This committee will discuss strategic collaboration initiatives that will benefit both Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties.   

Ms. Davin's service to HART begins in the 1980s, when she was a member of the agency's founding Board of Directors. She joined the HART Board again in 2007 when she was appointed by the Mayor of Tampa, and she was reappointed in 2011 for a four-year term. She previously served as vice chair and secretary of the HART Board, and was elected by her peers as chair in 2012 and again in 2013. Ms. Davin has been a long-time resident of Tampa and has provided service to many government and non-profit agencies, including two terms to the Hillsborough County Commission, Tampa City Council (appointed), and the MacDonald Training Center. She currently resides in New Tampa.

Transit Workshop

02/01 @ 8:30 a.m.

County Center

601 E. Kennedy Blvd., 26th Floor

Tampa, FL 33602

HART Board Regular Meeting

02/04 @ 9 a.m.

HART Ybor Office

1201 E. Seventh Ave.

Tampa, FL 33605

HART Board Audit Committee Meeting

02/18 @ 9 a.m.

HART Ybor Office

1201 E. Seventh Ave.

Tampa, FL 33605

HART Board Finance, Governance & Administration

02/18 @ immediately following the Audit Committee Meeting

HART Ybor Office

1201 E. Seventh Ave.

Tampa, FL 33605

Ever step on a bus and it's just a little chilly? Before a HART bus is dispatched from the operations facility, the temperature on the bus is set on cool, considering the bus will naturally warm up as it opens and closes its doors hundreds of times a day for pick-ups-and drop-offs. In addition -- especially during cold and rainy/humid weather -- keeping the bus cool inside helps to keep the windshield defrosted so that bus operators have clear line of sight to drive safely. HART bus operators are not authorized to adjust the temperatures on the bus, so riders are encouraged to dress in layers.

Last year's bus ridership closed out at 14,414,008 million, a 3.4 percent increase compared to 2011 and the highest in HART history! 2012 bus ridership marks nearly 500,000 more bus trips than 2011.

In 2012, two months set monthly bus ridership records: In March, ridership reached 1,278,876, the highest monthly ridership in HART history. This record was surpassed in October when ridership reached 1,344,854, the first time HART monthly ridership marked more than 1.3 million.

Some bus routes have demonstrated double-digit ridership growth over the past year,* showing that public transit use is up across all areas of Hillsborough County:

• Route 16 (Waters Avenue, between Northeast Tampa and Town 'N Country): 20 percent increase
• Route 31 (Brandon to SouthShore via Gibsonton/Apollo Beach): 19 percent increase
• Route 41 (Sligh Avenue, between West Tampa and NetPark): 17 percent increase
• Route 10 (Cypress Street, between Downtown Tampa to Social Security Administration, near Westshore): 12 percent increase
• Route 37 (Brandon to Netpark via Grand Regency Plaza): 12 percent increase

Thank you for boarding with HART in record numbers.  

(*January - November 2012)

I moved here from Pensacola over a year because there's a lot more going on here for my three kids and me. I no longer have a car, so I learned to ride HART. The bus system is much better here -- you can get to work on time. Plus, I save a lot of money. I take Route 19 to Tampa General Hospital, where I work early morning to mid-afternoon. I usually work every other weekend too, so I would like Route 19 to run earlier on Sundays. I also take Routes 2 and 12, especially for my kids' doctor appointments, and Route 9 whenever they want to go to the mall. My kids love riding the bus -- they say it's different and more fun than riding a car.