HART Board Approves FY 2013 Budget

HART broke ground on MetroRapid North-South in August!

The HART Board approved the fiscal year 2013 budget, which includes an operating budget of $61,580,511 and a capital budget of $39,512,848. This vote took place after the final budget public hearing, held at the HART Administrative Office in Ybor City on Monday.

The operating budget supports:

• 44 Regular, Express, and HARTFlex Routes
• In-Town Trolley during rush time weekday mornings and late afternoons
• Paratransit operations, or transportation for persons with disabilities
• MetroRapid North-South, new service beginning Spring 2013
• Streetcar operations
• More than 200 buses and vans
• Nearly 3,500 bus stops and shelters throughout Hillsborough County
• Customer Service, seven days a week
• More than 1.1 million trips each month!

Yukon Transfer Center is of the facilities receiving upgrades

The capital budget funds MetroRapid North-South, Compressed Natural Gas Fueling Station, and efficiency and modernization upgrades to several HART facilities.

The approved budget also includes new strategic goals and objectives. 

Goals:

• Exceed customer expectations
• Ensure safety & security
• Maximize financial condition
• Foster a thriving internal environment
• Connect the county and region
• Embrace innovative practices and systems

HART is also on its way to outperforming last year's performance results for ridership productivity, safety, quality of service and on-time performance. Most notably, HART has improved its efficiency by reducing the gross cost per revenue mile from $6.71 to $6.42.* HART buses and vans travel a combined 8.8 million revenue miles each year, and this reduced cost per mile adds up to $2.5 million in efficiency savings for fiscal year 2012, ending Sept. 30. Lower cost per mile is due to reduced fuel and administrative costs, and these efficiency savings allow HART to improve bus service for the upcoming year and absorb new service, such as MetroRapid North-South.    

Budget documents are available at www.goHART.org.

Each year during the budget development process, two budget hearings are held in September. This year, budget hearings were held Sept. 10 and Sept. 24.