UPDATE (10.21.2024) - Fare-free service has been EXTENDED through Monday, October 28, 2024.
HART is pleased to announce that effective immediately, HART Bus, HARTPlus, and HARTFlex will operate fare-free until October 21st, 2024.
This initiative aims to provide transportation services to our community during the ongoing recovery efforts following Hurricane Milton.
The decision to implement fare-free service is driven by three critical factors:
Emergency Transportation: Residents traveling to Emergency Comfort Stations established by the County will also benefit from free transit, enabling access to vital services during this challenging time.
Aid for Displaced Residents: Fare-free transit will help displaced residents, ensuring they have the means to move around safely.
Support for Students: All school students will have access to fare-free bus trips, ensuring they can attend school without the burden of transportation costs.
With ongoing detours and route adjustments due to hurricane damage, our bus operators are facing increased challenges. Implementing a fare-free policy will simplify operations and allow our drivers to focus on safely transporting all customers, whether they are traveling for education or in need of emergency assistance.
Offering free transit during this extended Hillsborough County State of Emergency is a crucial step in supporting our community. By eliminating transportation costs, HART’s goal is to relieve financial pressure on families and ensure that students can continue their education while providing residents with access to emergency services without additional burden.
HART is committed to serving our community and encourages all residents to take advantage of this fare-free service during these critical recovery efforts.
For more information about routes and schedules, please visit www.goHART.org or contact HART Customer Service at (813) 254-4278.
The Regional Transit Feasibility Plan is not just another study!
The Regional Transit Feasibility Plan is underway! Headed by HART, the goal of the plan will identify:
Projects that have the greatest potential to be
funded (compete for federal grants) and implemented
Projects that are the most forward thinking and
make the best use of today’s technology
Projects that best serve our region today while
supporting tomorrow’s growth
The Florida Department of Transportation is funding the study, while Hillsborough (HART, Hillsborough County MPO), Pinellas (PSTA, Pinellas County MPO), Pasco (PCPT, Pasco MPO), and the Tampa Bay TMA Leadership Group are stakeholders on the project.
Step One was recently completed, identifying the top 5 "most attractive" corridors. An overview (with narration) of the identified corridors can be found here. The Technical Bulletin can be found here.
Step Two is now underway, focusing on a sensitivity
analysis of the five connections to assign transit modes that make the most
sense. This effort will continue into the coming months.
Once transit modes are assigned to the top performing
connections, the next steps will focus on evaluating the modes, developing high
level cost estimates, determining implementation feasibility, and estimating
ridership and mobility.
Want to be a part of the process? Please fill out this short online survey on your transit preferences!
For more information on the Regional Transit Feasibility Plan, visit the website: www.tbregionaltransit.com.
There has been no shortage of transit studies in the Tampa
Bay area in recent years. In fact, over the past 30 years, more than 55 plans
and studies for transit have been conducted by Tampa Bay area agencies.
But the question remains: How can we turn planning into
projects? Answering this question is the goal of the Regional Transit Feasibility
Plan.
Creation of the plan started in November 2016, with a review
of those 55 previous plans. After that work is complete, the process will move
into creating a plan for a regional transit network, culminating in
recommendations for improvements that address needs in the community and have a
solid chance of getting funding.
The ultimate goal: identify the top transit corridors in the
Tampa Bay region, while determining one “catalyst project” that would be
eligible for federal funding and could be implemented first.
The plan is being funded by the Florida Department of
Transportation (FDOT) and is being administered by the Hillsborough Area
Regional Transit Authority (HART).
“Our mission is to create a ‘route map’ to implementation,”
said Katharine Eagan, Chief Executive Officer of HART, the agency administering
the plan. “The result, we hope, will be a catalyst project that’s the first of
many projects that will be competitive for federal funding, forward thinking,
and makes the best use of today’s technology.”
The Tampa Bay region is defined for this plan as the
urbanized areas of Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties.
The Regional Transit Feasibility Plan will be conducted in
two phases. The first phase consists of a year of technical analysis to identify
the most competitive projects. During the first year, the milestones will
include identifying the most promising corridors for transit, then identifying
what type of transit mode can best serve those corridors, and finally,
determining which projects could potentially be implemented first.
How did we get here?
The starting point for the Regional Transit Feasibility Plan
is the adopted county and regional Long Range Transportation Plans and the more
than 50 plans and studies completed by Tampa Bay area agencies over the past
30-plus years. The step-by-step process will then determine which projects are
the most competitive for implementation.
During phase one, public involvement will be heavily focused
on digital communication (website, online surveys, social media, and e-communication)
but will also offer many in-person opportunities to get engaged (community
workshops, small group meetings, and a stakeholder working group).
Phase two will involve vetting and refining plans for those
specific projects to make sure the catalyst project selected is the best
project for the region and is supported by the community. During phase two, a
wide range of communication tools will be utilized, including public meetings,
workshops, special events, the website, social media, town halls, and regional
transit forums.
“The simplest way to describe what it takes to build a
premium transit project is by answering the following three questions: What is
the project? How is it funded? And who is responsible for building and
maintaining it?” Eagan said. “During this plan, we will be addressing the first
question and identifying possible next steps so the region can move forward
with answering questions two and three.”
To learn more about the Regional Transit Feasibility Plan,
and to participate in our transit preference survey, visit the project website
at www.tbregionaltransit.com.
With the launch of the Flamingo app on Monday, September 5, riders on both sides of the bay can now purchase a single fare for travel between both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties! The Flamingo app allows patrons to book a 3-day unlimited regional pass, valid for 3 consecutive days for only $11!
The 3-day pass is a test of the technology that will soon allow for the purchase of a variety of pass options, including 1-day, 31-day, etc.
E-fare will be animated and interactive
To pay with Flamingo, customers download the Flamingo
app, purchase a ticket on the app, activate it, and show the screen
to the Bus Operator upon boarding the vehicle. The mobile payment app will be
free to download and available in the iPhone App Store and Google Play Store.
Cash will continue to be accepted on both transit systems, but with a smartphone
app, patrons no longer have to worry about carrying the correct change or buying
separate fares for different legs of their trip.
Soon it will bring HART and PSTA into the future
by providing easier, faster, and more convenient ways for riders to pay their
fares on HART and PSTA.
The 3-Day (consecutive) unlimited ride ticket is valid on all HART and PSTA bus services, as well as, HARTFlex,
The TECO Line Streetcar System, Jolley Trolley, Looper Trolley. Flamingo Fares are not valid
on HARTPlus or PSTA DART.
This is just the beginning! Hernando, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota Counties are also
implementing the new technology for a future release. HART and PSTA expect to have the
total system, which will include smart card technology, up and
running by 2018.
After the test period, data from both agencies will be
analyzed to determine what concerns need to be addressed before the full system
is implemented in 2018.
A new region-wide electronic fare management system will soon streamline the transit ticket-buying process for the whole Tampa Bay region. Riders will buy a card in one county and use it to catch a bus in any of the other seven counties. The solution will not only make it easier for patrons to manage their fares, but it will also speed up boarding times and cut back on time spent counting coins and bills coming out of bus fare boxes.
With this long-overdue upgrade fare collection will be simpler, easier for patrons, and will also work seamlessly to provide one common fare media for all public transit passengers throughout the region. Transit agencies in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Citrus, Hernando, Manatee, Pasco, Polk, and Sarasota counties - which make up the Regional Working Group, have been partnering for nearly four years, to create this unified fare collection system to improve regional connectivity.
The region-wide fare collection system solution, which allows passengers to purchase fares for travel throughout the entire region on any bus, is one step closer to deployment.
For months a partnership coalition of various agencies has cooperated and collaborated to implement forward-looking smart technologies that benefit transit customers and the greater Tampa Bay region. "The Regional Working Group is excited to bring this innovative system to our riders," said Jeff Seward, HART CFO. "It will move our region into the future of transit fare collection and allow our riders an unparalleled, flexible rider experience. The project will provide great value to our region, improve on time performance, and reduce costs."
On March 3, the multi-agency Regional Working Group will meet with the technology vendor, INIT Innovations in Transportation, to officially kickoff the final phase of the innovative project. On that day teams and leaders, along with the vendor, will confirm the steps and details and share status reports to set things in motion for the groundbreaking project. The outcome of this effort will provide riders with technology that lets them purchase fares using a convenient mobile device app or reloadable, account based fare card. "INIT is excited to partner with the RWG to deliver a modern fare system that will provide passengers with better fare options and offer them greater mobility throughout the Tampa bay region", Roland Staib, CEO, INIT Innovations in Transportation, Inc., Chesapeake, VA.Within 6 to 8 months of the project kicking off riders will be able to use the mobile app across the Tampa Bay area by showing their purchased fare via the phone to the driver. By the end of the project fares will be validated using the new on-board validators that are to be installed.
The new $12 million system will provide seamless and common fare media for passengers throughout the Tampa Bay region and will replace the outdated and less efficient fare collection systems in the area - including the system used by HART for more than 25 years. "With our strong base of out-of-town customers brought in by our nationally acclaimed tourism, the ability to pay fares instantly and mobility via smart phones will be a real game-changer," said Brad Miller, CEO of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. "Soon your vacation will begin the moment you land at the airport by simply downloading the app, hopping aboard, and the next thing you see will be the white sands of Clearwater Beach."
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
As Florida Bike Month comes to an end, we wanted to give awareness for the often overlooked neighbors on the road - pedestrians and cyclists.
2010 was a rough year for pedestrians in the Tampa Bay area. 2011 hasn't started much better.
In 2010, 492 pedestrians were killed statewide with 78 deaths in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough locally, making Florida no. 1 per capita in the United States for pedestrian deaths. In 2008, 17.4% of fatal bike accidents reported nationwide, occurred in the state of Florida. Recently, the Top 10 list of most dangerous metro areas for pedestrians included four Florida metro areas.
Interior cards like this one were placed on all HART buses
Operating over 190 buses in Hillsborough County and logging almost 9 million miles a year on Hillsborough County roads, HART has a big interest in pedestrian/cyclist safety. Last year, Alan Snel, a local cycling advocate, approached HART about educating HART Operators and the general public about Florida state law known as "3 Feet to Pass," which requires motor vehicle operators to give cyclists 3-feet when passing. Last year in April, HART launched the educational campaign on all HART buses, goHART.org, and social media outlets. Interior cards like the one shown above were placed inside all HART buses, and buses were also wrapped with similar graphics.
Walkwise Tampa Bay is another pedestrian/cyclist safety initiative looking to educate the citizens of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas' Counties. The educational campaign has partnered with beach towns in Pinellas County and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to promote Pedestrian safety by introducing a new Pedestrian Flag program.
The program uses retro-reflective flags and vests on each end of a crosswalk to gain the attention of oncoming drivers. Pedestrians carry the flag across the crosswalk.
According to FDOT, a pedestrian is injured every seven hours in Florida, with one killed every five days. By law, bicycles are considered vehicles and cyclists are given the same rights as car drivers. So the next time you pass a cyclist or another car on the road, please treat them equally, and give 3 feet!
Click here to view a video on the 8 weeks of training that HART Bus Operators go through before they are allowed to transport passengers.
