HART Announces Selection of Jeffrey Seward as Interim CEO

Today the HART Board of Directors appointed Jeffrey Seward to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective December 4, while the Board conducts a national search for a permanent replacement.

The Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve Seward, a 6-year HART employee who currently serves as Chief Financial Officer, to succeed Katharine Eagan who recently announced her departure after nearly eight years of service, to be CEO of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, Pa. Her last day at HART will be January 5.

A graduate of Columbia College, Seward also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from California Lutheran University. Prior to joining HART, he made valuable contributions while working as the Chief Financial Planning Officer for Sarasota County. As Chief Financial Planning Officer, he was responsible for the management and execution of the County's billion dollar annual budget, managing to build reserves to the point where very few services were required to be cut during the height of the recession. He also was instrumental in the financing strategy and planning for a $32 million major league baseball facility, which led to the Baltimore Orioles' making Sarasota its new spring training home.

"Jeff is a highly respected individual with the experience necessary to manage an agency as complex as HART," said HART Board Chair Commissioner Lesley "Les" Miller. "His 31 years of  experience in local government, private-sector and military experience makes him the perfect fit, and his already strong knowledge of HART and plans for the future of the agency will help ensure a smooth transition period for the agency. We are grateful for Jeff's strong commitment to HART."

Seward originally joined HART in 2011 as Chief Financial Officer, where he is responsible for account & financial reporting, budget, cash management, internal audit, procurement, contracts administration, grants & planning, environmental management sustainability and project management.   

Seward has distinguished himself as a dynamic and results-driven CFO who has consistently developed balanced budgets, developed strong financial policies,  ISO 14001:2004 certification for its Environmental Sustainability and Management System (ESMS), established project management, joint procurements with PSTA, negotiated deals with MegaBus and Red Coach. Also, spearheaded the Regional Fare Collection System which will allow riders to travel throughout the greater Tampa Bay area using a single fare processing system.   

Driven by a profound commitment to public service, Seward was named 2014 CFO of the Year in the Tampa Bay Business Journal's government agency category. Seward speaks nationally and internationally on the agency's sustainability and carbon reduction initiatives to reduce the agency's impact on global warming. He was recently a guest speaker at the Annual Climate Change: Impacts and Responses conference at Anglia-Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.

He and his wife Theresa have four children; Noah 17, Tyler 23, Jordan 24, and Zachary 27.

HART Wants Your Feedback!

HART is looking for feedback on our service.

How can HART improve its services to best meet your travel needs? That's one of questions the agency will be asking random riders starting today. HART wants to know how satisfied its customers are with their bus service.

Beginning Tuesday, December 8, and continuing through next week, an on-board survey team from TransPro Consulting will be traveling the HART system talking with riders once again and asking questions about how they use HART services and its performance. 

Members of the survey team will be identifiable by name badges and will select riders at random. The information collected is the second round of the HART 2015 Customer Service Satisfaction Survey which will be used to better understand its customers' opinions of existing service and areas of priority that need improvement.

"We know that people are busy these days, but we really hope they take the time to talk to the members of the survey team and take the survey," said HART Chief Financial Officer Jeff Seward. "The more input we get from the public on different transit issues, the better job we can do in meeting passenger needs."

The information collected from this second on-board survey will be part of the overall customer service satisfaction data which will be used to inform future planning, communicate more effectively with customers and market HART to infrequent riders. Once complete HART will have a robust voice of customer (VOC) scorecard to continually measure customer satisfaction.

HART and Coast Bike Share Partnership Helps Tackle the 'First Mile, Last Mile' Problem

Three Coast Bike Share bikes will be stationed at MTC

May is National Bike Month and HART makes connecting to the bus by riding a bike a breeze.
 

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) and Coast Bike Share are formally announcing that we have teamed up to add three Coast Bikes at the Marion Transit Center (MTC).

 

Through this partnership, bicycle racks with quality Coast Bikes are set up at high-activity hubs such as MTC, and dozens of additional hubs in the Downtown area, Ybor City, and Hyde Park. The MTC location will help residents, students, businesses and visitors to get around by combining HART and Coast Bike Share trips to explore the Tampa Bay area.

HART works hard to promote the growth in cycling around Tampa and seek proactive, long-term solutions to accommodate a growing market of transit users who travel by bike. Bicycle friendly transit provides cyclists with increased options to travel, and it also expands transit ridership.        

 

"The Coast Bike Share connection helps make HART a more convenient option for customers needing a way to start or complete their trip," said Jeff Seward, HART Chief Financial Officer. "With the additions of Coast Bike Share, RedCoach, to compliment the Megabus.com partnership, MTC has now become a busy inter-modal hub for Bus Rapid Transit in Tampa and a catalyst for travel throughout the state of Florida."

Coast Bikes can be reserved on Coast's mobile app, online at app.socialbicycles.com, or at the bike using its keypad. Coast to your destination and lock it to any hub or public bike rack. It's that easy!

Purchasing a monthly or annual membership to this program would provide a convenient, healthy transit alternative to run errands, make it to class on time, or simply sight-see. On a larger scale, the availability of public bikes would offset the costs of car pollution, parking lot use, add convenience to multi-modal travel, and strengthen the local culture of health and environmental sustainability.

  

This partnership is just one more example of how HART staff is focused on attracting new ridership, fueling revenues, and enhancing service through strategic innovation. The HART inter-modal approach strives to connect various modes of transportation such as walking, bicycling, and using the TECO Line Streetcar System, Park-n-Ride facilities, and paratransit system.  

HART Seeks Grants for Regional Fare Initiative

Smartcards such at the Orca card allow Tap N' Go verification!

Imagine grabbing a HART or PSTA bus and paying with the same fare media that you just used to ride MCAT and Polk Transit. Later, you head to Pasco County and use the same fare media to ride the bus there. Moving to such a system is in the works in the Tampa Bay area.

HART is leading the push to secure important federal and state funds for the completion of a long-awaited regional fare collection system upgrade that will benefit a regional connectivity in the Tampa Bay region.

HART has applied for two separate grants that would provide more than $20 million to fund the Regional Revenue Collection and Inter-Jurisdictional Mobility Project.

The initiative, led by HART, represents a collaborative partnership between Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, and Sarasota counties. Once it is finalized, patrons will be able to travel across the entire multi-county Tampa Bay region using one single ticket in the form of a smart card that can also be instantly downloaded wirelessly to carry on mobile devices.

The Regional Working Group has spent more than two years planning and strategizing to ensure a smooth and timely transition to the high-tech system. The upgrade will allow transit passengers, including those with disabilities and the elderly, easy access to transportation throughout a multi-county region.

"This is a transformational moment for regional cooperation in the Tampa Bay area," said HART Chief Financial Officer Jeff Seward. "The benefits of a more connected fare collection system would be evident from the start from a regional standpoint, and would also help others upgrade their systems so that we all can be compatible. Eventually the customer that's out there would be able to use a smart card technology that would work seamlessly across all systems."

Customers will be able to check their smartcard balances at any time and buy or reload the cards at multiple, convenient card outlets or even online. Because the cards can be scanned instantly on transit vehicles with a digital fare reading device on board, the process of boarding will be accelerated for increased efficiency with a more accurate system that saves HART and its customer's time and effort.

Although $2,367,907 million of funding has been received to-date from a combination of State and TBARTA grants, there remains a shortfall of $10,232,093 based on full smartcard technology implementation at an estimated cost of $12,600,000 for hardware, infrastructure, and integration