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Founded | July 1, 2007 |
---|---|
Ceased operation | December 30, 2023 |
Headquarters | 4350 West Cypress Drive, Suite 700 |
Locale | Tampa, Florida |
Service area | Hernando County, Hillsborough County, Manatee County, Pasco County, Pinellas County |
Website | http://www.tbarta.com |
The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, or TBARTA, was a regional transportation agency of the U.S. state of Florida which was created on July 1, 2007. The transportation agency ceased all operations on December 30, 2023, after the governing board voted unanimously to disband. [1] The purpose of the agency was "to plan, develop, finance, construct, own, purchase, operate, maintain, relocate, equip, repair, and manage multimodal systems in Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties." [2] The agency coordinated its efforts with the Florida Department of Transportation to improve transportation in the Tampa Bay Area.
TBARTA adopted its first Regional Transportation Master Plan in 2009. The inaugural master plan identified the vision for the regional transit network. An update was completed in 2011 that introduced a regional freight and a regional roadway network to the plan.
The 2013 Master Plan Update was a minor update to refine all three networks, and incorporate the progress made locally and regionally towards implementing the regional vision.
The 2015 Master Plan Update was developed by TBARTA’s Board and Committees in collaboration with the West Central Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Chairs Coordinating Committee (CCC) — representing each of the region’s MPOs and TPO. The 2015 Update ensures consistency with the MPOs’ Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTPs) and updates the CCC’s Regional LRTP.
For 2015, TBARTA and the CCC eliminated duplication of efforts for the Master Plan and Regional LRTP Updates by making them one and the same.
During its 2017 legislative session, the Florida Legislature installed TBARTA as Tampa Bay’s regional transit facilitating arm. In March, 2018, Gov. Rick Scott authorized $1 million allowing the authority to develop a business strategy to implement regional transit. [3]
On June 22, 2018, Executive Director Ray Chiaramonte announced his plans to resign, due to his decision to run for Hillsborough County Commissioner. [4]
In September 2018, David Green, former CEO of the Greater Richmond Transit Company, was named as the new executive director, replacing Ray Chairmonte. [5]
In June 2020, TBARTA released another master plan for fiscal years 2021-2031 marketed as Envision 2030: The Future of Transit in Tampa Bay.
The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA) was disbanded on December 30, 2023, after the governing board voted to do so unanimously. [6] The reasons for the disbanding of the agency was due to a lack of state funding. [7] According to Florida State Representative Jeff Holcomb, in a email to the Tampa Bay Times the representative said the agency had “unrealistic transportation options, like unmanned multi-passenger helicopters.” And that the agency “tried to gain access to CSX rail lines, which never materialized and we heard Hillsborough and the city of Tampa refuse to work with the authority.” [8] The Florida House and Senate had bills to dismantle the agency at the time of the disbanding. The counties that contributed funds to the agency were reimbursed with the funds left in the TBARTA account which was estimated to be around $200,000. [9]
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As of 2023, TBARTA does not operate any transit system, but the agency was discussing developing various modes of premium transit service, including express bus, bus rapid transit, light rail, and commuter rail. [10] [11]
In 2017, The Florida Legislature renamed the organization to The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority.
In November 2018, TBARTA's board approved the Regional Transit Feasibility Plan, with a focus on establishing a 41-mile, bus-rapid transit option connecting Wesley Chapel to St. Petersburg via Interstate 275. The project is designed to serve as a catalyst for other transit options designed to reduce congestion on roads. [12]
As of 2019, TBARTA managed a range of commuter services in the Tampa Bay region, designed to help commuters save money, reduce traffic congestion, and help the environment, These services include Vanpool, Carpool, BikeBuddy, a regional school commuter program, and an emergency ride home program.
After the Regional Transportation Master Plan was adopted in 2009, several high-priority corridor studies were initiated by TBARTA, including: [13]
In cooperation with its regional partners, TBARTA identified eight Regional Priority Projects for 2015, based on factors such as connectivity, regionalism, ability to implement, mobility, and support, among others. These projects are: [14]
On February 28th, 2022, the Suncoast Parkway 2 (phase 1) extension opened. It extended the previous terminus of US. Highway 98 in Hernando County to State Road 44 in Citrus County. [15]
Managed lanes are an important part of step-by-step implementation of the regional transportation vision. Managed lanes are commonly referred to as "express lanes", where operational strategies such as pricing, vehicle eligibility, and/or access control are implemented to regulate demand and utilize available capacity. Examples of managed lanes include toll lanes, reversible lanes, value priced lanes, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and thru lanes (where managed lanes on a toll road are not an extra toll). The TBARTA Managed Lanes network includes the existing toll facilities in the region as well as a mid-term and long-term network of managed lanes identified by the TBARTA Master Plan and by FDOT.
On April 30, 2010, TBARTA merged with Bay Area Commuter Services, the state-funded provider of commuter options programs in five of the seven TBARTA members counties (Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas). In doing so, TBARTA became the official Tampa Bay Area regional provider of commuter options including: carpool, vanpool, Schoolpool, Bike Buddy, Emergency Ride Home (ERH), remote work, compressed work schedule, and commuter benefits. [16]
The One Call, One Click program underscores transportation support needs and services for veterans, through a $1.1 million grant from the Federal Transit and Veterans Administrations. The aim of the grant is to better connect veterans, military families, the disabled, and regular citizens with the available transportation resources across the seven-county region, in one convenient online and call-center portal. Work continues on this program, with staff working to identify transportation service providers, contract services for call center activities, and develop a more robust online element. TBARTA was also successful in obtaining a secondary FTA grant to be used to promote and market the One Call/One Click program. The funds must be expended by September 2017.
Citrus County Transit, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), FDOT District One Commuter Services, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART), Hernando County MPO, Hillsborough County MPO, Manatee County Area Transit (MCAT), One Bay, Pasco County MPO, Pasco County Public Schools, Pasco County Public Transportation (PCPT), Pinellas County MPO, Pinellas Realtor Organization, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), Polk County Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), Sarasota-Manatee MPO, Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT), Tampa Bay Partnership (TBP), Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC), Tampa Downtown Partnership, Hernando County Transit (TheBus), West Central Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Chairs Coordinating Committee (WCFCCC).
The governing board of TBARTA has 17 members (15 voting members and two non-voting advisors). The voting members consist of the following:
The members appointed by the respective Commissions, TBARTA MPOs CCC, or Mayors serve two-year terms and may serve no more than three consecutive terms. The Governor-appointed members serve three-year terms and may serve only two consecutive terms.
The TBARTA Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is made up of residents and business persons from around the region. Members are appointed by the TBARTA Board members and volunteer their time to advise the Board on a range of issues that affect TBARTA and the region.
The TBARTA Transit Management Committee (TMC) is made up of the region’s transit agency directors, who advise the Board on implementation of the Regional Transportation Master Plan.
TBARTA maintains an ongoing public conversation about regional transportation, via social media on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. During periods of work to update the Regional Master Plan, TBARTA also holds telephone-based town hall meetings, which garner thousands of participants. The public is always invited to TBARTA's regularly-scheduled Board and Committee meetings as well.
Hernando County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 194,515. Its county seat is Brooksville, and its largest community is Spring Hill.
Hillsborough County is located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metropolitan area. A 2021 estimate has the population of Hillsborough County at 1,512,070 people with a yearly growth rate of 1.34%, which itself is greater than the populations of 12 states according to their 2019 population estimates. Its county seat and largest city is Tampa. Hillsborough County is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Pasco County is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the 2020 census, the population was 561,691. Its county seat is Dade City, and its largest city is Zephyrhills. The county is named after Samuel Pasco.
The Tampa Bay area is a major metropolitan area surrounding Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 17th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 3,175,275 as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
Hillsborough Area Regional Transit provides public transportation for Hillsborough County, Florida. The agency operates fixed-route local and express bus service, paratransit service, demand-response service, MetroRapid service, and the TECO Line Streetcar system. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 12,929,700.
Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Greater Orlando area, though in recent times the Tampa Bay area has often been described as its own region, with "central Florida" becoming more synonymous with the Orlando area.
Area codes 813 and 656 are area codes in the North American Numbering Plan for the U.S. state of Florida in the city of Tampa, Florida, and its surrounding areas, such as Zephyrhills and Oldsmar. In 2022, due to exhaustion of central office prefixes, area code 656 was added to the service area forming an overlay complex.
Timeline of Pinellas County, Florida history.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District is one of five regional agencies directed by Florida state law to protect and preserve water resources. Established in 1961, the agency operates and maintains several large properties and flood protection projects, sometimes with other agencies. The District's responsibilities have expanded to include managing water supply and protecting water quality and the natural systems — rivers, lakes, wetlands, and associated uplands. The district's stated mission is to protect water resources, minimize flood risks, and ensure the public's water needs are met.
The Tampa Bay Area Beltway was a proposed beltway in Tampa, Florida. The plan was originally spearheaded by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority and would have provided an alternative to Interstate 75, Interstate 275, and parts of Interstate 4. Though the beltway still officially sits on the books, there are currently no plans to build it in the near future.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) is a government agency that provides public transportation for Pinellas County, Florida. The authority manages a fixed-route bus system that encompasses over 40 bus routes - including two express routes to Tampa; the Central Avenue Trolley; the Suncoast Beach Trolley; and the bus rapid transit service, the SunRunner.
U.S. Route 301 in Florida runs from the Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area northeast to the Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan Area. The road is a spur of U.S. Route 1, which it intersects in Callahan.
The Tampa Bay media market is Florida's second-largest metropolitan area with a variety of print, online and broadcast media outlets serving the region. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population for the Tampa-St. Petersburg Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) at 3,194,831 according to the 2019 est. The Tampa Bay media market also includes Citrus, Manatee, Sarasota and Polk counties which is over 5,000,000 when combined with the Tampa Bay (MSA). Polk County is also served by media from Orlando.
Transportation in Florida includes a variety of options, including Interstate Highways, U.S. Highways, and Florida State Roads; Amtrak and commuter rail services; airports, public transportation, and sea ports, in a number of the state's counties and regions.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Florida.
The Safety Harbor culture was an archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula, from about 900 CE until after 1700. The Safety Harbor culture is defined by the presence of Safety Harbor ceramics in burial mounds. The culture is named after the Safety Harbor site, which is close to the center of the culture area. The Safety Harbor site is the probable location of the chief town of the Tocobaga, the best known of the groups practicing the Safety Harbor culture.
The Florida High Tech Corridor Council is a regional economic development initiative of the University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of Florida (UF) whose mission is to grow high tech industry and innovation through partnerships that support research, marketing, workforce and entrepreneurship.
Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC), with headquarters in Tampa, Florida, is a nonprofit library cooperative that assists hundreds of libraries in the Central and West Florida regions. TBLC serves public libraries, academic libraries, school libraries and special libraries. The TBLC membership serves 6.3 million people in the State of Florida.
Greater Tampa Bay Area Council serves Scouts in West-Central Florida with the council headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Youth are served in the following nine counties: Citrus, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sumter. Greater Tampa Bay Area Council was formed on May 1, 2016, by the merger of Gulf Ridge Council with West Central Florida Council.