Tampa Council Adds $150K to HART Route 1, Pushing Funding to $1.5 Million

Tampa City Council voted unanimously Sept. 11 to add $150,000 to the city's funding for HART's Route 1 bus line, raising next year's contribution from $1.3 million to $1.5 million. The vote came at the first of two public budget hearings, after riders and advocates warned that without the extra money, the Hillsborough Area Transit Authority could be forced to cut back service on one of the county's busiest routes.

Route 1 runs from the Marion Transit Center downtown, north on Florida Avenue and east on Fletcher Avenue to the University Area Transit Center near USF. It connects to roughly 70% of the HART network and links directly to the free downtown streetcar, making it one of the few local bus lines that can get someone across the city without a car.

Dayna Lazarus, co-founder of Transit Now Tampa Bay, told council the route needs $55,000 to hold onto the frequency the city funded last year and another $95,000 for marketing and system improvements, for a total ask of $1.5 million. She described a friend who relied on Route 1 and a bicycle for more than a decade to get to work, the grocery store and appointments around the city, and said the underfunded state of the system had made that commute increasingly unreliable.

Lazarus told council the route's value goes beyond the USF-to-downtown corridor. It is, she said, a stone's throw from the streetcar once riders reach downtown, giving them a free connection into Ybor City.

Not everyone is sold on the city footing the bill

Councilman Bill Carlson pushed back during the discussion, arguing that Tampa residents already pay into regional transit funding through HART's own taxing authority and shouldn't effectively be taxed twice through city dollars on top of that. He said HART has the ability to raise its own revenue, and if that's not workable, the region needs a different funding structure altogether.

Council Chair Alan Clendenin backed the increase but was blunt that it doesn't solve the underlying problem. He said the long-term fix depends on elected officials at both the city and county level standing up and doing right by the region's transit systems, something he said hasn't happened yet. Council did approve the $150,000 boost, but directed Transit Now Tampa Bay to keep pressing county commissioners for their own commitment, since HART is a county-level authority that the city has been propping up with municipal money.

What riders pay now, and what comes next

Route 1 was fare-free for much of the past two years as part of a pilot meant to boost ridership, but fares returned in January. Riders now pay $2 per one-way trip, with a $4 daily cap and a $65 monthly cap. Advocates argue the added frequency and marketing money is what will keep ridership gains from the free-fare period from sliding back once people are paying again.

The Sept. 11 vote is not the final word on Tampa's roughly $2 billion budget for the coming fiscal year. Council holds its second public hearing and expected final vote on Sept. 22, with a separate financial resolution formalizing the transit funding expected to come before council again Oct. 15. Whether Hillsborough County commissioners agree to share more of the cost remains an open question, and one that transit advocates say will shape how reliable Route 1, and the rest of HART's network, stays over the next year.

Stay with Tampa Community Website for updates on the Sept. 22 budget vote and what it means for HART riders. Follow us on Facebook for breaking updates, and join the conversation in our Community Forum to share how the funding change affects your commute. For more coverage of decisions shaping the city, visit our government and politics section.

Header photo: Wslupecki at en.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)