So I woke up, sat around the hot sauna of a house we have (that is until tomorrow when the ACs fixed!) and then headed out to hop on a bus. I got on at 1:30pm and bought the $3.25 all day ticket. It was line 32 that runs MLK Blvd. I sat on it till it got the the West Tampa Transfer Center across from Raymond James Stadium, where I got off and figured where I wanted to go from there.
I wanted around the transfer center for awhile trying to figure out where I should go sightseeing at. I decided to head towards MacDill Air Force Base on the southwest side of the town. I hopped on Line 36 and headed out towards MacDill. We passed the Yankees Spring Training Center and all the strip clubs of Dale Marby Hwy (including Nude Odyssey 2000 as seen in the one skateboarding video game). I saw some nice shoppes that I never knew existed, along with some condos.
We stopped at Britton Plaza Transfer Station and then headed towards the base. The busses actually run on the base so I had to get off the bus and wait for it at the gate of the base. I thought this was odd and had wished the driver had noted earlier before getting to the gate. There was no bus shelter or even any shade for me and the other passenger to wait in. We had to stand along the side of a busy street for about 15 mins before the bus emerged from the base, now with two new military passengers. I think a transfer station at the edge of the base or at least a bus shelter at this stop would be nice, oh well.
About this time Will called me and we decided to get some dinner together. I headed back to Britton Plaza Transfer and hopped on a bus with a sign that said Port Tampa (the Port of Tampa is just few blocks from Wills work), little did I know that Port Tampa and the Port OF Tampa are two very different places. That was line 19. So I was stuck on the bus for a little sightseeing Euclid Ave, Manhattan Ave, and West Shore Blvd. It was mostly two lane residential streets, a little odd for busses to run on. Most of the streets were bumpy brick roads, so in the bus it was very bumpy. I saw some nice homes, huge condo complexes and homes right beside nasty shanty homes. We made a circle through that area and back to the Britton Plaza and then off to downtown where Will was going to meet me.
The bus drove towards the bay and soon was in the downtown region. We drove all through SoHo and NoHo, pass all the little cafes, coffee bars, vintage clothing stores and the like (I really need to spend a day in that area exploring the shoppes!) We crossed over a bridge to Davis Islands and made a stop at the Tampa General Hospital before crossing back over the bridge.
Across another short bridge and we were in the downtown area (also known as the Financial District) and finally we were on a bus only street headed towards the Marion Street Transfer Center. We passed the semi-famous pirate ship that is used in the Gasparilla Festival.
I saw lots of buildings in downtown I have never had the chance to really look at before. I am really going to have to spend a day downtown snapping photos. I must admit (Will is going to love this!) that Tampa has more unique traditional architecture than Orlando. I would even compare it to say Chicago's, though not nearly as large in scale. Throughout the downtown area there are tons of older buildings with huge stone statues on them. Its beautiful. Soon the bus was pulling into the Marion Transfer Station. It was by far the best looking transfer station I had been too all day (I used both the Briton Plaza and West Tampa and had sat on the bus at the NetP@rk Tranfer Station). This one had huge booganvillas throughout it, nice tile murals on the sidewalks, large metal roofed buildings. Very South Florida feeling. The NetP@rk one had nice tile murals on the buildings but few plants, not like this one!
I began snapping photos and then Will walked up. We waited for a bus, but it never showed up, so we hopped on another one, Line 18.
It went through an area that is very run down. I just love it though. These old houses with huge porches, little shoppes, old brick buildings. So much character. I really hope Tampa sees the potential in this area and keeps the buildings that are there. So often cities just tear down the old and build new buildings, but new looks the same every where. Tampa has a chance to make beautiful districts within its city. Each with its own character and architecture (much like in Paris) and I really hope they see and do this! We got off at MLK Blvd and waited for the 32, the one I began with. We had to walk about 2 blocks from the Line 18 stop and the 32 stop, but it was nice. The neighborhood is very run down, its a very poor area. Riding and walking through it makes my insides cry out hoping there is a way I can help this neighborhood.
We were soon on the 32 and headed home. Will studying his new bus schedule book (its a bad sign when they have a bus schedule book the size of a small phone book!) All in all a good day of bus riding.
===================================================================
And now my thoughts on it all.....
And now my thoughts on it all.....
Overall it was a nice day. I think that HART is helping lot of people, the prices are very reasonable. I was very very impressed by the amount of people on the buses, every bus I rode was at least halfway full, with some having standing room only. The range of passengers was surprising too. It was about 50% African American (it seems that most lines run through communities that are historically African American) 40% White (most of the Caucasian passengers were either elderly or businessmen) and 10% Hispanic. I thought it was very nice that the announcements were all in English and Spanish.
All the buses seemed clean, though most were very aged. Some seats were ripped and the fabric was almost uniformly faded. I was surprised to see plush fabric seats. Almost all public transportation I have taken in the past has had plain plastic seats.
I understand that HART is trying its best to serve the massive area of Hillsborough County and with 254 sq miles of service area and well over 1.3 million citizens in the county this can be very tough. The county as a whole is 1266 sq miles. So I understand why HART only serves the area it serves, but it would be nice to see an expanded service area.
I think this would most easily be done by reorganizing the routes. The routes seem very cut up, going every which way. A simplified route system where the buses go on a single road or in a simple circular route around a specific area would help the system overall.
I know that Bus Rapid Transit is coming soon and that there are Express buses you can ride. I do think that having specific routes with dedicated lanes (much like the lane in downtown) would also improve the overall system.
My main problem on the buses today was the lack of signage. No maps on the buses on the routes, few maps at the stop or transfer stations. Each bus needs a overall map of the whole system with the route the bus is currently on highlighted. I understand that electronic maps are expensive but by far these are the easiest and best ways to help people maneuver the system.
On these maps it would be very helpful to show the different districts of Tampa, such as SoHo, NoHo, WestShore, Downtown, MacDill, etc. I know that many of these areas are just now being named, but this would help visitors maneuver the city and help show what each area has. Have the districts colored on the maps (much like lands on a theme park map) and then at the transfer stations have brochures that list attractions, shops, restaurants, and hotels in each of these districts. Ybor has done a fine job of this, I would really like to see the rest of Tampa do as Ybor has done.
I would like to see more bus shelters as the bus stops. I know this cost lots of money, right of way issues and the like. But I think that some businesses would be willing to work with HART. Ideally I would like to see bus stop shelters that match the district the stop is in. In WestShore have a more Mediterranean/Ringling style, in SoHo/NoHo have a more modern style (I am picturing something like the South Beach Lifeguard Shacks), around MacDill have stations that show American Pride (Flags, murals, maybe even dedicate and name these stations after local fallen soldiers or war heroes.)
The keys to all these stations is providing shelter from the weather, providing lighting, and providing information on the bus routes. I really don't understand why they don't have more advertising at the stations. I have seen benches with ads on them and even stations walls with ads before, I saw few like this today. I would like to see stations that also have beverage machines at them, or at least water fountains. I know this is more the work of the city but it would be a nice touch. These stations are also were you spend the majority of your time and some are in not so nice neighborhoods so cameras at these stations would be nice.
I was impressed that the buses had multiple cameras on them. There was no TV showing the cameras though, but that is just a different way of doing I guess. I think cameras at the bus stops would cut down on crime in the surrounding neighborhoods too.
The thing that I really didn't get was each bus can only hold 2 bikes, I thought this was not very storage. A second bike rake or bike rack that holds 4 bikes would be helpful. More and more people are using bikes so this will be necessary very soon.
A downtown bike rental program would be nice. Have a deposit down and equip the wheels to lock if taken out of certain area (much like the shopping carts do these days). I know this has been very popular in parts of Europe.
I think that the transfer stations would be great places for hot dog, snow cone, or coffee vender's. HART could rent out an area at the stations for a vender. This would really help those who use HART to get to work or on the way home in the afternoons. Even today Will and I were really hungry while at the transfer station and would have happily bought snow cones or hot dogs while waiting for our bus.
An expensive yet very helpful idea is to equip the outside signs that show the route number to be able to show different colors. I noticed each route has a different color (though some the routes share a color) so why not show this color when showing the route number. Elementary school buses do this sometimes. Most people will remember a red 30 and blue 25 before they remember 30 and 25 shown in the same color.
One of the major things I noticed was that the buses run every 30 mins and some routes its only every hour. So if you miss the bus its an hour before you can get another, this is what is killing the Tri-Rail in S. Florida. I have heard from many people in S. Florida that they tried to ride it but gave up because of this. HART needs to run more buses or have smaller routes. Regular routes should be every 20 mins at most and the longest you should ever wait should be 40 mins. On the routes that have these extended waits they should have other options, such as phones that dial local taxi services.
It would be nice if Hillsborough did a uniform taxi fare for the downtown region. One city has a downtown area that has $5 rides in any taxi. If the city/county did something like this it would help offset the strain on HART. Taxis from the airport already have this ($22 from airport to downtown), as does SuperShuttle. If they can do it there, why not downtown also. Then why not work with HART and have them service each other. Take the bus from point A to point B for $3, then get off and flag a taxi to go within that area for $10 per ride.
A system of basing fare rates off of the region would also be better. Most transit systems I have seen have a location based system, if you stay in the region it cost so much, if you travel into another region (Say go from region A to region B) it cost a little more, If you go into multiple regions it cost more (Say go from Region A to B to C and back to A). I would like to see this type of regional fare system come into play with HART, this could then link HART to Pinellas, Pasco, and Polk, and Manatee counties (I don't beleive Hardee has a transit system yet). London has a similar idea based around distance from central London, though this one could be based on counties. A one county pass would be say $3 and a 3 county pass would be say $9. For this work right you would need a uniform transit head over it. Tampa Bay already has TBARTA (or T Bart-ta for short) that is working towards this, but for this to work a uniform fare must be in place.
(I can't wait to be able to ride a bus or some other form of mass transit from Venice to Crystal River!)
These are all just ideas I have after spending about 6 hours on the buses. I understand that HART has little money, little community support and is working in a very spread out car based city. I do think that the system is overall very good.
The day on the bus was overall very nice and I think I will be doing this on a semi-regular basis. I would love to make field trips to new routes or go on different routes and document attractions and unique architecture along them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I ever named a mass transit system I would name it WorLay. "Either for Work or Play ride the WorLay!" I submitted it the name the light rail contest they had in Orlando in the early 90's (that was their first light rail attempt, which fell through really bad). It just rolls of the tongue much better than all these arta's.
00000000000000000000000
Heres a story of flat rate price gouging of taxis during this past falls taxi strike in NY
00000000000000000000000
And here is a fact to chew on the rest of the day:
Tampa is the largest city in America without some type of light rail system
I heard that on Florida Matters: Latest on Mass Transit on Tampa's WUSF 89.7 fm
No comments:
Post a Comment