Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Tampa Bay Business Journal article on Transportation:
Transportation 2016 in Tampa Bay: Yes on boats, no on taxes
Dec 29, 2016, 2:42pm EST
ReporterTampa Bay Business Journal
For years, transit initiatives have crashed and burned in the Tampa Bay region, and 2016 was no different.
But while residents saw yet another transit initiative go up in smoke, there was some success. Put it all together and Tampa Bay’s 2017 could yield some interesting results.
TBX
The Tampa Bay Express project, or TBX, created a lot of consternation throughout 2016. So many people showed up to speak either in favor of or against the more than $3 billion transportation improvement plan, the Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting where it was approved went well into the wee hours of the morning.
Supporters, many of whom were local business leaders, hailed TBX as an opportunity to fix aging roads, increase capacity and reduce congestion. Parts of the plan that added connectivity to Tampa International Airport were particularly attractive to the business community.
Critics argued the plan was too focused on roads and relied on what they saw as an incorrect assumption that adding capacity reduces congestion. Critics also worried about land acquisitions that could lead to possibly hundreds of home and business demolitions.
The bulk of the controversy, however, swirled around the inclusion of 90 miles of tolled express lanes across the region. The Howard Frankland Bridge was slated to have a pay-per-use toll lane, but that plan was axed after residents and elected officials came forward saying they had no idea the lanes would take an existing lane of regular traffic rather than create a new one.
Other critiques included nicknaming toll lanes “Lexus lanes” because naysayers said they would only benefit the affluent.
In December, the Florida Department of Transportation put the entire project on hold. Expect a series of revisions in 2017.
Go Hillsborough
In April, Hillsborough County Commissioners voted not to put a measure before voters that would have raised sales tax in the county a half penny for 20 years. The measure would have provided additional funding over 30 years for improvements to roads and bridges, sidewalks, intersections and transit.
Later in the year, the same board rejected the same measure on a 20-year plan.
A quarter of the funding would have been reserved for Hillsborough Area Regional Transit for use in making improvements to public transportation and increasing access to transit.
The rejection was initially a huge loss for transit supporters who were hopeful the measure would represent a long-needed win for increasing transportation options. Instead it became the second measure in six years to tank in Hillsborough County and the second in less than two years to fail in the Tampa Bay area.
Go Hillsborough was lacking in specific details. It laid out parameters for which governments would get money, but didn’t’ specify how the money should be spent. Studies looking into transit priorities were either incomplete or nonexistent.
Past transit defeats at the ballot box have been attributed to such incomplete measurables.
That’s all since changed. The Florida Department of Transportation is funding a premium transit study through Hillsborough’s transit agency, HART. Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham expanded a plan first proposed by colleague Sandra Murman to fund immediate and future transportation problems by tapping into the county’s growing revenue.
Longtime transit activist Pat Kemp was elected to Hillsborough County Commission in November. Kemp will likely focus a lot of her efforts on transit-related issues in the new year and throughout her term.
Cross Bay Ferry
Where TBX and Go Hillsborough were steeped in controversy and deep political divides, the Cross Bay Ferry stands as a breath of fresh air. The water ferry service that connects Tampa and St. Petersburg’s downtowns was funded through a four-way partnership between St. Pete, Tampa, and Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
Opposition for the $1 million six-month pilot project was hard to come by.
But while the service has seen positive ridership numbers since launching in November, it’s still unclear whether ferry service in Tampa Bay has a place in the prolonged immediate future.
At $10 each way, using the ferry in lieu of other modes of transportation could be cost prohibitive for some. The $20 round-trip fare is a bit less than what it would cost to use Uber or Lyft to get from one city to the other if there’s only one traveler. Put riders in pairs or more and any savings is quickly evaporated.
Even some consider the established half-off commuter discount– 20 one-way trips for $100 – a steep fee.
But those closest to the project acknowledge its limitations and look at this six-month period as an opportunity to gauge rider support for this kind of transit. It’s seen as a way to push for other routes, ones that could be more profitable and cut back on the overall cost to riders. Those include trips on smaller boats connecting south Hillsborough County to MacDill Air Force Base and, potentially, a stop in Westshore.
For the remainder of the pilot, however, riders can take advantage of a scenic trip across the Bay for free every third Sunday of the month.
Janelle Irwin is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
