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Politics

County will ask HART to let seniors ride free

Older customers currently ride for half-price. Free, HART says, could cost nearly $1-million.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD
Published March 8, 2007

TAMPA - Hillsborough County commissioners on Wednesday prodded the county's transit agency to make bus rides free for senior citizens.

The agency's response: We'll look into it, though it could cost nearly a million dollars a year.

County Commissioner Brian Blair brought up the proposal, saying, "We owe our seniors everything we can do for them."

Commissioners voted unanimously to ask Hillsborough Area Regional Transit to provide free bus service for riders 65 and older. They didn't allocate any extra money for such a program.

HART's board of directors will likely take up the subject at their next meeting, said HART spokeswoman Jill Cappadoro.

The transit agency, which has a $54.5-million budget this year, estimates it will collect roughly $900,000 in fares from seniors.

"The types of things we'll look at include ... what negative impact would it have on revenues that we collect from those fares?" Cappadoro said. "How would those costs be offset? They'd have to be."

Seniors already get a 50 percent discount on fares. HART estimates that seniors take about 12 percent of its bus rides, or about 1.3-million rides a year.

Regarding the money concerns, Blair noted that HART, like other government agencies that get much of their money from property taxes, has seen its revenue shoot up.

"Look at the windfall in ad valorem taxes," Blair said in an interview. "Name a better place to spend it than on our senior citizens."

He said he's seeking to help home-bound seniors get out of their houses to buy food and medicine. He said the matter has become more urgent because of the American Red Cross' recent decision to end a program that gives Tampa Bay seniors free rides to medical appointments.

HART board chairman Ricardo Roig said the transit agency would need to study the proposal. "If the county asks us to do it, we'll certainly put it on the agenda and take a look at it," he said.

Blair, who used to be one of the county's representatives on HART's board, has been a longtime critic of the agency, questioning whether it is serving residents in unincorporated Hillsborough well enough.

Staff writer Bill Varian contributed to this report. Mike Brassfield can be reached at 813 226-3435 or brassfield@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 8, 2007, 06:03:30]