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HARTline finds route to New Tampa vexing

Serving the growing area is a given. How to get people back and forth to the area is the problem.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published June 10, 2005

NEW TAMPA - After three rounds of public comment sessions and months of planning a new express bus route, HARTline is still grappling with the same issue that New Tampa residents face every day: How to get to the area quickly and efficiently when road choices are limited.

"We know we've got to get out to New Tampa," said HARTline employee Bob Potts, who attended a Monday public hearing to discuss proposed express route changes. "But the pattern to New Tampa is what we have to work out."

The most recent plan has the New Tampa Express (Route 51X) originating in Pasco County at Interstate 75 and State Road 56, picking up New Tampa riders just north of I-75 on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, and then heading straight downtown via I-75 and I-4. On the way back, however, New Tampa riders would have to take I-275 up to Pasco County before reaching their destination.

"New Tampa riders are kind of going around the mulberry bush before getting back home," HARTline spokesman Ed Crawford said. "That's probably not going to work for most people."

Alternative return routes, such as one that takes I-275 to Fletcher Avenue to Bruce B. Downs and another that returns the same way it comes, were discussed. Potential New Tampa riders can log on to www.hartline.org to view maps of the alternate routes and vote on which one they prefer. HARTline also is conducting its own studies to find the most efficient route.

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority board of directors will vote on the proposed routes on Aug. 1. If approved, service to New Tampa would start in January 2006, beginning with two routes in the morning and two in the evening.

Another possibility discussed at the hearing was the addition of an express route from New Tampa to MacDill Air Force Base, but Crawford said HARTline has no plans to do that for 2006.

The good news, Crawford said, is that the city of Tampa appears willing to fund Route 51X, "so we're feeling pretty good about that." If the two morning and evening routes are successful, HARTline will consider adding more.

New Tampa taxpayers are assessed the same 0.5-mills that the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority levies against other communities, but they have not had bus service. Crawford said HARTline has received a very enthusiastic response to the addition of bus service based on surveys taken from New Tampa residents.

HARTline will take comments and suggestions from the public through June 27. Contact HARTline through its Web site or at (813) 254-4278.

Emily Nipps can be reached at 813 269-5313 or nipps@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 9, 2005, 10:29:11]