Tampa Rail

Yes, it's true. Governor Crist approved $2 million for TBARTA, allowing TBARTA to pick itself up and transform from an agency obscured by its own fiscal ambiguity, to one validated with a sense of budget and purpose. By any stretch, this positive outcome was far from a given. See the St. Pete Times Tampa Bay Transit Agency Tries to Head Off $2 Million Veto.

In Time Links on TBARTA Funding

From the release issued by the Tampa Bay Partnership:

Governor Charlie Crist signed the 2008/09 budget today, which included a $2 million appropriation for the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA). This appropriation is a huge step forward for our region and we extend our gratitude to Governor Crist and his administration for their support.

Our community is demanding choices that provide cost efficient, environmentally sound and effective transportation options. This funding is a first step towards transportation choices in Tampa Bay.

During the all the hub bub, the Tampa Bay Partnership used the occassion to launch the It's Time to Get to Work Initiative which appears to be an outreach framework for engaging the community at large.

It's time to get to work on transportation choice! Visit website.

A Transit Agency for Real and Forever

If one now holds doubts as to TBARTA's role in Tampa Bay's transit future, now would be about the time to safely discard them. TBARTA is here, and it's real. This is important to say because doubt, suspicion, and surrender lurked in any corner. I recall the time that I actually attended a TBARTA meeting. I believe this was the first or second TBARTA meeting, and it was pretty prominent as such meetings go. Everyone was excited.

I recollect that upon leaving, I and several others as part of a departing platoon, boarded an elevator and stood politely to take the ride down. The talk was chipper and friendly among the car's random occupants, initially, but then it fell momentarily quiet. Finally, one man spoke up to another. "You know," he said, "I have a feeling this is going wind up on the shelf like all the others".

Buzz kill.

And certainly, the man's pessimism wasn't entirely unmeritorious. There have been stabs at other agencies that have not quite panned out or have stalled such as the Tampa Bay Commuter Rail Authority or perhaps the Florida High Speed Rail Authority; at least where direct funding is concerned.

Indeed, It wasn't hard that morning to look at the meeting as potentially little more than a photo-op for transit-friendly politicians, whether they intended it to be more than that or not. For all these many months, everyone has been holding their breath that Florida would go beyond just creating the authority, but adopting it, too. Pledging startup funds is a message from the Governor to everyone in Tampa Bay that, while you may have critiques and praise for TBARTA, make no mistake, from now on, TBARTA is the agency you will so have them with for, forever. TBARTA is Tampa Bay's regional transit authority. Sing or deal.