Help TBARTA shape regional transit priorities

Want to have a voice in shaping the Tampa Bay region’s long-term transit priorities?

The opportunity is there through the end of the year. The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority is currently using an online, interactive MetroQuest survey to gather public input on Envision 2030, a 10-year regional transit master plan now under development.

Envision 2030 covers inter-county transit development and priorities for the region spanning. Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, and Pinellas counties. The plan is a requirement of 2017 state legislation that rebranded the agency, which was previously known as the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Agency, and focused much of its attention on finding transit solutions to help make a dent in the region’s traffic congestion woes.

This is the big public involvement and outreach piece of Envision 2030,” says Chris Jadick, director of communications for TBARTA. “Then we’ll need a few months to put it all together before we submit the plan to the state by September 2020.”

TBARTA used public feedback from an earlier survey in the Spring “to set the table for a more detailed and more interactive study,” Jadick says.

Among other things, the survey asks which priorities should guide transit projects: ridership, economic development, return on investment, connectivity, or ease of implementation. The survey also gathers feedback on short-term and long-term strategies for implementing priorities and projects, including new technological tools, premium transit, and express bus service.

Jadick says TBARTA also wants to gather public feedback on local transit use to see how best to tie in a regional system into local transit services.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE.

For more information please follow these links: Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, Envision 2030.