Almost 15 Million Trips taken in FY2013!

HART has had a banner year in FY2013 - and has met or exceeded all ridership expectations! MetroRapid North-South has caught the public's attention and many people in the County are realizing that riding the bus is a great way to get around town. That's apparent in the most recent ridership reports, which show total ridership at HART exceeded 14.6 million passengers during the fiscal year that ended September 30, a year-over-year increase of approximately three percent.  This total represents the fourth straight year of setting another record for the authority. We've hit record ridership 9 of the past 10 years.         Almost 15 million trips were taken in FY2013! Ridership highlights:   FY2013 bus ridership was up by nearly 422,000 trips or three percent, compared to last year (FY2012: 14,218,868; FY2013: 14,640,375).  Combined mode ridership exceeded 15 million for the first time and was up 2.8 percent compared to FY2012. FY2013 bus ridership marks an all-time high for HART and breaks the annual record for the fourth year in a row! FY2013 bus ridership breakdown: Weekday average ridership up 7.3 percent Saturday average ridership up 4.2 percent  Sunday average ridership up 7.7 percent "These ridership numbers bring into focus how important public transit is to residents," said HART Board Chair Fran Davin. "We will continue to make the public transportation options the best they can possibly be and to provide our riders with an experience that will make them continue to think of HART as their primary mode of transportation."   HART Highlights in FY2013:  On June 10, HART launched the highly anticipated MetroRapid North-South bus service. MetroRapid N-S is the first public transit system of its kind in the State of Florida.  60 shelters on MetroRapid N-S along with 14 bus bays, one intermodal platform and ADA upgrades at 59 locations including sidewalks, 6 pedestrian crossings in Telecom Park with rapid flashing pedestrian warnings and one regional park and ride (Hidden River).    40 shelters, 200 ADA landing pads, 10,200 linear feet of sidewalk constructed in the City of Tampa, and four bus bays were built and/or installed by HART HART launched the innovative OneBusAway Tampa app, which provides a suite of tools to deliver real-time bus tracking information to HART riders on the go. HART was selected to participate in the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) 2013 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Training and Technical Assistance program   New, smaller HARTPlus vans were added to the fleet, providing cost-savings and flexibility to operations.   A new, technologically advanced, seamless fare collection system was planned thanks to a regional collaborative partnership first initiated by HART.     For more information about HART, visit www.goHART.org

Another Record Year for HART!

14.3 million trips were taken on HART buses in FY 2012! The latest numbers are in to close out HART fiscal year 2012, which ended Sept. 30. Ridership highlights: Fiscal year 2012 bus ridership was up by nearly 600,000 trips or 4.3 percent, compared to last year (2011: 13,730,705; 2012: 14,314,610) Fiscal Year 2012 bus ridership marks an all-time high for HART and breaks the annual record for the third year in a row! Fiscal Year 2012 bus ridership breakdown: Express average ridership up 11.4 percent Saturday average ridership up 4.7 Sunday average ridership up 2.2 percent "Transportation has occupied the attention of this community for the past few years, and although we may not yet have light rail to serve commuters and visitors, record ridership for the third straight year in a row shows that this community has noticed HART's transformation from the bus system of an earlier time," said HART Board Chair Fran Davin. "HART is on pace for even greater transformation next year, as we move forward with significant transit system improvements, including upgraded facilities, MetroRapid North-South, and a compressed natural gas fueling station."  HART Highlights in fiscal year 2012:  Secured $6.3 million in federal grants to build a compressed natural gas fueling station and purchase buses powered by CNG. Design-build of the fueling station is scheduled to begin early 2013. 54 shelters installed, 319 stops improved (i.e. landing pads, sidewalks, etc.) throughout Hillsborough County, including Cities of Tampa and Temple Terrace 2012 Summer Blast Pass ridership increased by 48 percent! This year, 66,215 trips were taken as part of this program, compared to last year's ridership of 44,732. New, smaller HARTPlus vans were added to the fleet, providing cost-savings and flexibility to operations. These vehicles are less expensive to purchase and operate, and can be assigned to paratransit trips with fewer passengers.   For more information about HART, visit www.goHART.org