Hillsborough's HART will flatline without new cash

Context: Expenses have risen for HART, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority. Meanwhile, the tax rate that the bus system relies on hasn't budged in over a decade.

• Over the last three years, transit officials have had to cut routes — driving thousands of riders away.

By the numbers: In 2017, weekday bus ridership was at 50,000, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Now, it's below 35,000.

Zoom in: Hillsborough's transit authority serves half a million more people than Pinellas' but collects much less in property taxes. Even with HART's budget constraints, the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners isn't likely to back a tax hike.

• Commissioner Joshua Wostal (R) has a different idea: have Tampa impose a sales tax to fund public transit within city limits.
• City dwellers, he says, would get better service while suburban homeowners, who seldom ride the bus, would skirt a countywide tax and keep up to $200 a year in their wallets.

But, the Times noted, doing so could mean service cuts for the rest of Hillsborough — and more than 1 million people live outside Tampa's city limits.

• Wostal's proposal would also require a change in state law, a process that could take years.

What we're watching: Whether Tampa's city council will latch on to a new tax.

Catch up quick: HART once had the largest budget of all of Tampa Bay's transit agencies, but for the last eight years, it's found itself underfunded and lagging behind nearby counties.

• The service cuts helped HART stave off financial collapse last year, but its current budget can't support a return to pre-pandemic operating levels, per the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

The bottom line: Hillsborough's bus system is running on fumes, and without new funding soon, it risks collapse.