News & Public Affairs

Task Force: Not all of referendum funds will go to transit listen

06/02/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Transportation, Hillsborough County, light-rail, mass transit

Last night, the Hillsborough County Transportation Task Force held the second of its 12 planned meetings to inform residents about a possible 1-cent referendum for rail and other transportation projects on the 2010 ballot.

Although the emphasis has been about the funding becoming crucial for Tampa to begin to construct a light-rail system, Lucia Garces, speaking for the Transportation Task Force, said the meeting are also to learn what other projects that the public wants that tax to fund....

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Iorio touts high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando listen

05/29/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Transportation, high-speed rail, Pam Iorio

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is in Spain today to speak with companies involved in high-speed rail construction. LaHood traveled to other European countries this week and rode on France’s 200 mph bullet train because President Barack Obama has allocated $13 billion in stimulus funds to improve existing rail lines and construct new high-speed lines.

Last week in Orlando, the Florida Department of Transportation met with officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation and...

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Iorio addresses Hillsborough MPO on transit plan listen

05/05/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Transportation, Hart, light rail, commuter rail, buses, mass transit

The question of how to sell a light rail system to Hillsborough County voters next year was discussed at the County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting this morning.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who has been the leading figure in raising the possibility of light rail finally coming to the region, was given the floor.

Iorio referred to the last serious plan for rail in Hillsborough County a decade ago. She said the biggest since her tenure as a County Commission in the 1980s was that...

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Car companies wage turf war in Hillsborough listen

04/08/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Transportation, Hillsborough County, taxi cabs, NEVs

Within the last year, people in Tampa could get free rides to take them to certain parts of town. Because those rides from Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) are free, they’re not regulated.

But local taxi cab owners are unhappy, because they say it is taking business away from their industry. They want the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission (PTC), which regulates cabs, limousines and towing companies, to regulate these cars.

Charles Smalling is a Yellow Cab drive...

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Hillsborough drafting ballot language for light rail amendment listen

04/01/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Transportation, light rail, Tampa

Hillsborough County Commissioners today took their first concrete step toward getting a possible sales tax referendum on the 2010 ballot that would help pay for a mass transit system.

The Board approved a motion to have the County Attorney and staff work with a task force to come up with draft language for the proposed referendum – but not before one commission said he didn’t think the measure would pass anyway.

Lucia Garces is the with the Administrative Planning & Infrastructure Depar...

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TBARTA supports referendum for light rail funding listen

02/27/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: TBARTA, Pam Iorio, transportation

The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) voted unanimously this morning to support Hillsborough County’s efforts to build light rail. TBARTA will back a referendum that could be placed on the 2010 ballot in Hillsborough to fund transit by increasing sales tax.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has been a leader in the effort to construct four light rail lines that will link downtown Tampa with the University of South Florida, Tampa International Airport and beyond.

“And I thin...

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Mark Sharpe defends his work on mass transit listen

02/25/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Transportation, Hart, light rail, commuter rail, buses, mass transit

A clash of egos broke out at a budget meeting today with Hillsborough County Commissioners regarding a possible referendum next year on funding a mass transit system.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe has been actively involved in discussions with other local agencies over the past couple of years on the issue.

After coming back from a meeting with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, as well as members of HART, the County’s Metropolitian Planning organization and the region’s transit agency, TBARTA, Sharpe s...

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Water taxis proposed for Hillsborough River listen

02/17/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Urban Charrette, Tampa Downtown Partnership, transportation, Rose Ferlita

Even though the Hillsborough River runs directly through downtown Tampa and surrounding residential communities, it is rarely used as a transportation corridor. But that may soon change if groups pushing for a water transit service can turn their vision into reality.

Tampa’s Urban Charrette is a group of architects, planners, and community designers that, according to its website is “a design collaborative dedicated to research, education, and advocacy that a...

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HART proposes bus rapid transit line listen

01/27/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Transportation, Hart, light rail, commuter rail, buses, Mass Transit, bus rapid transit

Light and commuter rail will be part of a regional transit solution for the Tampa Bay region, but so will expanded bus service, especially bus rapid transit (BRT).

City and county officials and community leaders met at the offices of HART, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority today.

Chad Luedtke is vice president of HDR engineering, a consulting group hired by HART for the BRT project. Leudtke says construction of bus stops along the proposed nort...

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TBARTA official briefs Council on transit plans listen

01/22/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: TBARTA, Mass Transit, Transportation, funding

Bob Clifford, the recently hired executive director for TBARTA, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, gave an update about the agency to the Tampa City Council this morning. It’s part of his mission to visit all of the local governments within the authority’s region early this year, to keep momentum going for a regional transit system.

Plans currently call for the Hillsborough County Commission to place a referendum on the 2010 ballot to allow citizens to vote on raising ta...

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