A Toll Lane for Transit?

HART, Expressway Authority to Study Innovative New Solution
Last week, HART and the Tampa Hillsborough County Expressway Authority announced that they had partnered up to win a federal grant to study Bus Toll Lanes for Tampa Bay.

What's that, you say? Transit and highway agencies working together? What's next, dogs and cats getting along?

Actually, this is a perfect partnership. Bus Toll Lanes (or BTLs) can offer a solution that works for drivers and riders alike to help ease congestion, promote transit ridership and make for a quicker commute.

Here's how it works. The BTL creates dedicated lanes for transit on local highways that automobile drivers can also use for a toll. Price management of the toll lanes, in which costs increase or decrease based on the amount of traffic, keeps the lanes flowing smoothly. So, if you want to hop off a heavily congested highway, you can pay a little more to get where you're going a little sooner. At times of lighter congestion, you might choose to stay on the main roadway.

Nothing really new so far, right? You've probably heard of price-managed toll lanes before. The difference with a BTL is the incorporation of public transit with a pricing strategy that puts transit first, giving customers the best service for the lowest price.

The $800,000 grant awarded by the Federal Highway Administration will allow HART and THEA to conduct a study assessing the benefits and costs of a BTL network in the Tampa Bay area. The study will identify a sample set of corridors where BTL may be implemented and also provide initial estimates of the social and economic benefits of the program.

You can read news coverage of the BTL study at the Creative Loafing website, and on TBO.com.

SPANISH CARAVAN

Here are a couple fliks of us posted up at the place Lifestyle C.C. named "The Lot" and the place we have held meetings for over 35yrs..

A Tale of Two (Rail) Cities

Tampa and Orlando Get Ready for Rail
Last year, the federal government had a decision to make: which regions of the country would share in the $8 billion it had decided to put toward high-speed rail?

High-speed rail is coming to Florida, and local agencies
are making plans for it.

After reviewing plans and hearing arguments, a proposed line linking Tampa and Orlando was one of the final choices. Today, we here in Tampa Bay and our friends in Central Florida are working with the state agency developing the HSR system. And things are really moving along.

An article on the Huffington Post website (thanks to the Tampa Downtown Partnership for pointing us toward this piece) sketches the efforts of the two communities to integrate the high-speed system into local projects, and the different approaches they're taking.

How important is coordination with the high-speed line? For HART, it's very important.

As the author notes, Tampa and Hillsborough County have been keeping a close eye on the state's plans. The location of the new HSR station will be a stone's throw from HART's Marion Transit Center, a major transit hub that also figures prominently into the light rail line proposed as part of the agency's Rapid Transit Investment Plan. Ideally, passengers would be able to hop off the HSR line after the speedy and relaxing trip from Orlando and hop aboard a bus or train to hit a local destination. The transition should be convenient and as nearly seamless as possible. Much coordination still needs to be done, but rest assured the HSR project is certainly factoring into HART's plans for the future.

AA Study Findings Released at Board Meeting
HART's Board of Directors met this morning to get a first look at some of the findings from the Alternatives Analysis. For complete coverage of the results, check out these reports in the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times.

HOLE IN THE HEAD

Trip out on this recent piece inspired by a classic record by Cypress Hill..

SOUL SUNDAY

We are going to give you some double up of The Continental IV for all you loyal
Soul Sunday followers!

TRAILER OF THE WEEK

End of Summer Deals from HART

Take a bite out of the dog days of summer with HART

Ahhh...can you feel that touch of fall in the air?

OK, this is Florida, where summer feels as though it could last forever - but HART does have some deals to thank our wonderful customers for making this year a great one, and to help take the bite out of those seemingly never-ending dog days of summer.

Today, August 13 - Sunday, August 15
BOGO Your Ride during the state sales tax holiday! Everybody loves the BOGO - which, of course, means "buy-one-get-one." This weekend only, hop aboard HART buses with a friend, neighbor, relative, or whoever you want to bring along, and one of you rides free with cash fares or when you use your 1-Day Unlimited Ride fare card.

Friday, August 20
Attention Brandon and East Tampa passengers! Ride Route 37 FREE all day on August 20! If you're traveling between Netpark, the Grand Regency shopping center (across from Westfield Brandon mall), and the Brandon hospital, we've got you covered. Plus, you can enter to win a free restaurant gift card on Route 37 buses. Click here for the Route 37 schedule, and here for a PDF map.

Friday, August 27
Frequent riders - here's your chance to save. For one day only, you can buy one 10-pack at any HART sales outlet and get another 10-pack for half price!

Saturday, September 11
Leaving on a jet plane? Find out how to get there with HART! We'll take you on a travel training tour of HART's airport service on Route 30. You'll get a free fare card for a future trip, and you can visit the great shops and restaurants in and around the airport while you're there.

Monday, September 13 - Friday, September 17
Flex your transit pride in South County! If you haven't tried the brand new HART Flex service in the Ruskin, Sun City Center and Wimauma area, here's your chance to ride for FREE! Call (813) 449-4555 to make your reservations up to one week in advance. For more information about HART Flex, click here.

Monday, September 20 - Saturday, September 25
Brandon Flex-ers, it's your turn to try out the new service for free!

Free Field Trips in September
Teachers, parents, school administrators, youth group leaders, here's an assignment for you. Take note that in the month of September you can get your whole group to a local field trip destination for free! HART will be offering complimentary fare cards for groups of up to 25 to use regular HART service to get to your field trip destinations. Call HART's community relations department at (813) 449-4747 for details.

If you have any questions about the Dog Days of Summer deals, you know who to call - the HARTinfo Line, (813) 254-HART (that's 4278 if your phone doesn't have those handy letters on the dial).