Route of the Week: Route 9

With a diverse service area roughly the size of Rhode Island, Hillsborough County provides a great mix of urban, suburban and rural destinations for our riders. Think about the destinations that you can see and experience with the HART transportation network!

Today we're traveling between University Area Transit Center (UATC) and Marion Transit Center (MTC) on Route 9, our Route of the Week!

Route 9 operates 7 days a week, with weekday service from 4:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. and weekend service from 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Residential makes up a good portion of Route 9, and 5 public parks are served along the route. This emphasis on recreation areas, makes Route 9 the PERFECT route for summer days!

Copeland Park is accessible via Route 9 at 15th St./109th Ave.

Copeland Park will host a City of Tampa Summer Camp. Students will be able to play games and sports, make arts and crafts, go on field trips and more! Hop off Route 9 at 15th St. and 109th Ave.

Other parks along Route 9 include: Cuscaden Park (soccer fields/picnic area/playground), McDugald Park (baseball field/playground), Rowlett Park (trails/ball fields/picnic area/playground/racquet ball and tennis courts) and Sulphur Springs Park (pool/grill area/playground/volleyball).

Golfers will appreciate service to Rogers Park Golf Course. Opened in 1952, the public golf course features 18 holes over 160 acres, and is surrounded by the Hillsborough River on 3 sides. Let Route 9 chauffeur you to the course!

Hunger building after a day on the links? Route 9 serves a variety of awesome eats.

Original Taco Bus is a short walk from Route 9!

From one bus, to another. The bus that started all the fuss, the original Taco Bus is a short walk from the Route 9. Tortas, burritos, and quesadillas, oh my!

Tacos and tortas not your thing? Continue your trip a little farther south to the Ybor area. La Segunda Bakery has one of the best Cuban sandwiches in town (which is saying something). Spaghetti Warehouse for Italian, New World Brewery for lunchtime BBQ or late-night pizza, and The Bricks for eclectic food, such as the Elvis, featuring peanut butter, bananas, and bacon.

Route 9 connects to 3 transfer locations: UATC, Yukon Transfer Center, and MTC, which means you can connect to almost every route within the HART system!

From tortas, to trails, HART Takes You There.

Route 9 operates from UATC to MTC via 15th St.

Ride the (Heat)Wave with the TECO Line Streetcar this Saturday!

Tropical Heatwave this Saturday!

A Heatwave is expected to hit Ybor this Saturday - seventy-three bands across fourteen stages. Yeah, that's a Tropical Heatwave.

For over 30 years, WMNF 88.5 FM has provided the annual musical buffet of local and semi-local acts along with vendors selling food, drinks and other wares. The stages are as diverse as the performers with the Cuban Club in west Ybor; the Ritz in south central Ybor; and Centennial Park in east Ybor (among other venues) all housing acts throughout the day.

With so many venues spread throughout Ybor, your best bet is the TECO Line Streetcar. Four streetcar stations are located within 1 block of all 14 venues, so save your feet for dancing and hop on! The TECO Line Streetcar runs every 20 minutes and operates until 2 a.m. on Sunday.

Click for a map of Tropical Heatwave venues

Click the image to the right for a map of Ybor showing the Tropical Heatwave venues in relation to the TECO Line Streetcar. Visit the TECO Line Streetcar website for fare, map and schedule information.

Breakdown of streetcar stations serving Heatwave venues:

Centennial Park Station (Station #1)

• Centennial Park
• Collage

Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union Station (Station #2)

• Centro Ybor
• Crowbar 

Streetcar Society Station (Station #3)

• El Pasaje Plaza
• The Cuban Club (Band shell on the Patio, Ballroom & Cantina)
• The Ritz
• The Roosevelt 2.0

Cadrecha Plaza (Station #4)

• Creative Loafing's CL Space
• New World Brewery
• The Bricks

For more information on WMNF 88.5 FM's Tropical Heatwave, click here. Save your legs and some time with the TECO Line Streetcar! Enjoy the shows!

Things to Do in Tampa this Weekend: 5/4-5/6

Oh what a weekend...

You will absolutely LOVE this weekend if you're a music fan. Just perusing the event calendars yielded more than 5 decent sized music bills featuring a variety of genres at venues from Channelside, to Ybor and downtown. We'll begin with perhaps the biggest FREE music event taking place this weekend.

FRIDAY:

FREE music at Curtis Hixon Park! Photo: Tampa Bay Times

Rock the Park
Curtis Hixon Park - Whiting Station (Station #11 of the streetcar line)

Rock the Park is a monthly music series featuring some of Tampa's best bands. This concert normally taking place on the first Thursday of the month, has been bumped to Friday to take advantage of a big bill featuring 4 of *tbt's "Top 10 Tampa Bay area musicians".

• Sleepy Vikings
• The Groves
• Crash Mitchell 5
• Drake and Sofia

*Note the concert has moved this month from the lawn portion of Curtis Hixon to the Kiley Gardens area of Curtis Hixon.

And here's the reason it moved...

Burger Showdown
Curtis Hixon - Whiting Station (Station #11 of the streetcar line)

Rock the Park will be sharing Curtis Hixon with a good ol' fashioned Burger Showdown! The area's top restaurants will face off for bragging  rights for the title of Best Burger in the Bay.  Mayor Buckhorn is the honorary chair of the event featuring unlimited burger samples, dessert and non-alcoholic beverages.

Participating restaurants include Ashley Street Grille, Danny's All-American Diner, BGR The Burger Joint, Burger 21, Champions Bar & Grill, Chili's, Datz, Green Iguana Bar and Grill, Lee Roy Selmon's, Square 1 Burgers and Bar, Stacked Burgers and the Tampa Convention Center/Aramark. Proceeds benefit the Friends of the Tampa Riverwalk.

The cost for the event is $45 in advance, $55 at the gate and $95 for VIP, which includes a cocktail reception.

Celebrate the day at the Bricks of Ybor!

Star Wars Day at the Bricks: May the 4th Party 
The Bricks of Ybor - Streetcar Society Station (Station #3 of the streetcar line)

The Bricks is blowing out May 4th with a Star Wars-themed party ("May the 4th be with you") with specials, prizes for best costume and music. 21+ to enter. Party responsibly!

A few blasts from the past are in town at a number of venues in downtown this weekend...

New Edition
Tampa Bay Times Forum - Streetcar HSBC Station (Station #9 of the streetcar line)

New Edition with all six members are heading out on tour for their 30th anniversary. Wow! How old does that make you feel? A night with New Edition at the Tampa Bay Times Forum starts at $52.50.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Ritz Ybor - Streetcar Society Station (Station #3 of the streetcar line)

Another band that will show your age a bit, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are at The Ritz in Ybor Friday. The band is often credited as a progenitor of the ska-punk genre and are best known for their hit single "The Impression that I get," which reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in 1997 and has appeared in a number of movies.

Show starts at 8pm Friday with tickets costing $23.

SATURDAY:

"Surf's up" at the Straz Center Saturday night.

The Beach Boys
David A. Straz Jr. Center

The Kings of Surfer Rock are back! Touring together for the first time in two decades, the Beach Boys celebrate the band's 50th anniversary with a tour stopping at the Carol Morsani Hall at David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts.

Hear all their greatest hits! The show begins at 8pm on Saturday and tickets start at $49.50.

The War on I-4: Tampa Bay Storm vs. the Orlando Predators
Tampa Bay Times Forum - HSBC Station (Station #9 of the streetcar line)

The War on I-4 is back! Watch the Tampa Bay Storm take on the Orlando Predators at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The game kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $12.

Need help getting around? You can download a map of the HART/TECO Line Streetcar downtown network of service here.
  
Ticket to Dine

Don't forget you can score some savings with your Florida Aquarium admission receipt or Tampa Bay Times Forum ticket stub. Simply show the streetcar motormen your admission receipt or ticket stub for HALF off a round-trip fare on the TECO Line Streetcar! There are a couple events at the Forum in the list above - so get to saving!