Despite arguing against a transit merger for almost a year, I've recently concluded that a transit merger with Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) could indeed save a significant amount of taxpayer money. Costs per trip could easily be slashed in half.
But I'm not referring to a merger between HART and the Pinellas-Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA).
I'm referring to consolidation of the door-to-door transportation service for the elderly, low-income and disabled persons administered by Hillsborough County's Sunshine Line.
The Sunshine Line duplicates demand service offered by HART's para-transit service. Taxpayers may easily save almost half of the $6 million currently charged by the Sunshine Line.
Last year an average Sunshine Line trip cost $60.26 compared to HART's $32.02 per trip for similar service. HART and the Sunshine Line's service areas overlap, and overhead costs, such as for maintenance facilities, scheduling and administrative staff, could easily consolidate for further cost reductions.
As to the more controversial merger study being forced upon HART and the PSTA by Tallahassee, politicians are doing the bidding of special interests and fabricating a fictitious savings potential to justify seizing budgetary control from two independent authorities.
Transit experts at HART and PSTA have already reviewed the issue and concluded that consolidation will likely increase costs, not reduce them. This burdensome study will likely cost HART and PSTA $100,000, and cost thousands more in staff salaries and slipped project milestones as it redirects staff time and attention from current priorities.
As the editorial board of The Tampa Tribune rightly pointed out last month, the simple act of consolidating the two transit agencies will not make bay-area bridges any shorter.
Nor will it remove the 400 square miles of water dividing two distinct service areas that makes consolidation of maintenance facilities or routes cost prohibitive.
What a forced merger will do is co-opt local control to a larger regional agency, likely the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA), where federal funds would be redirected and no longer fairly allocated back to the counties by formula based on population.
The city of Hazleton, Pa., recently experienced this phenomenon when its regular share of federal funds was suddenly withheld by the regional transit agency it began merging with earlier this year. The Hazleton City Council is desperately trying to halt the transit merger as a result.
Local property taxes would be exported out of the county and likely raised to fund the special-interest priorities codified in TBARTA's master plan, which was conceived by unelected insiders and narrowly focused "stakeholders."
Are there better ways for our transit agencies to cut costs without interference from Tallahassee insiders? Yes!
At last August's workshop, it was suggested that HART study contracting out both its demand response services as well as its regular bus operations to private operators. If administered properly, this could reduce costs while enhancing services.
Denver contracts out about half its buses, and the cost to taxpayers per bus mile is half the cost of the buses it operates itself.
In 2010, Denver's Regional Transit District spent $9.47 per bus vehicle-revenue mile on the buses it operates, but paid private operators just $4.96 per bus vehicle-revenue mile for the buses they operate.
Our growing region will continue to have transportation issues that will not be solved by simply raising taxes and growing duplicative government agencies like TBARTA — but instead should be sought in the private sector that is the true economic engine of prosperity.
But I'm not referring to a merger between HART and the Pinellas-Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA).
I'm referring to consolidation of the door-to-door transportation service for the elderly, low-income and disabled persons administered by Hillsborough County's Sunshine Line.
The Sunshine Line duplicates demand service offered by HART's para-transit service. Taxpayers may easily save almost half of the $6 million currently charged by the Sunshine Line.
Last year an average Sunshine Line trip cost $60.26 compared to HART's $32.02 per trip for similar service. HART and the Sunshine Line's service areas overlap, and overhead costs, such as for maintenance facilities, scheduling and administrative staff, could easily consolidate for further cost reductions.
As to the more controversial merger study being forced upon HART and the PSTA by Tallahassee, politicians are doing the bidding of special interests and fabricating a fictitious savings potential to justify seizing budgetary control from two independent authorities.
Transit experts at HART and PSTA have already reviewed the issue and concluded that consolidation will likely increase costs, not reduce them. This burdensome study will likely cost HART and PSTA $100,000, and cost thousands more in staff salaries and slipped project milestones as it redirects staff time and attention from current priorities.
As the editorial board of The Tampa Tribune rightly pointed out last month, the simple act of consolidating the two transit agencies will not make bay-area bridges any shorter.
Nor will it remove the 400 square miles of water dividing two distinct service areas that makes consolidation of maintenance facilities or routes cost prohibitive.
What a forced merger will do is co-opt local control to a larger regional agency, likely the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA), where federal funds would be redirected and no longer fairly allocated back to the counties by formula based on population.
The city of Hazleton, Pa., recently experienced this phenomenon when its regular share of federal funds was suddenly withheld by the regional transit agency it began merging with earlier this year. The Hazleton City Council is desperately trying to halt the transit merger as a result.
Local property taxes would be exported out of the county and likely raised to fund the special-interest priorities codified in TBARTA's master plan, which was conceived by unelected insiders and narrowly focused "stakeholders."
Are there better ways for our transit agencies to cut costs without interference from Tallahassee insiders? Yes!
At last August's workshop, it was suggested that HART study contracting out both its demand response services as well as its regular bus operations to private operators. If administered properly, this could reduce costs while enhancing services.
Denver contracts out about half its buses, and the cost to taxpayers per bus mile is half the cost of the buses it operates itself.
In 2010, Denver's Regional Transit District spent $9.47 per bus vehicle-revenue mile on the buses it operates, but paid private operators just $4.96 per bus vehicle-revenue mile for the buses they operate.
Our growing region will continue to have transportation issues that will not be solved by simply raising taxes and growing duplicative government agencies like TBARTA — but instead should be sought in the private sector that is the true economic engine of prosperity.
