TAMPA, Fla. — Of the 33 current HART routes, 8 of them currently reside outside the city limits of Tampa. Another 7 have the majority of their route outside of Tampa.
A proposed change to HART would include dissolving it and replacing it with a new organization based solely within Tampa city limits.
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A majority of HART riders currently live within city limits. The split is 56% in city limits and 44% outside of city limits.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Joshua Wostel says, the plan to 'modernize' HART would generate more money across the board.
"The Proposal to Modernize HART, as I've read it, would:
1) Reduce Property Taxes for 1.6 Million Residents and Business Owners.
2) Allow for triple the current Transit funding through sales taxes in the city of Tampa, while still allowing it to provide adjacent body governments that want to leverage their service.
3) Give our sole urban core more control over its own destiny for transit solutions.
Riders at the Marion Transit Center in downtown Tampa say they do not support a change that would completely dissolve HART.
"I feel like they shouldn't just bring it in just to Tampa. It needs to be more expansive if you ask me," says Joshua Jennings, "I feel like maybe you guys need to have 24-hour buses as well."
The city limits of Tampa do not include communities like Brandon and Temple Terrace.
Something riders are worried could leave a void for their commute.
"If they had a transfer station, for example, because it's nice to get on the one and ride it all the way to university center and not have to switch buses, which might happen if they change it to just downtown Tampa," says Ellie Hunt.
“As it stands today, our responsibility remains delivering high-quality transit service as efficiently as possible to the people of Hillsborough County. HART has not seen any formal proposal to date," says Frank Wyszynski, spokesperson for HART.
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