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Tampa BayCycle Wins Award at International Conference

The New North Transportation Alliance and the Tampa Downtown Partnership, co-organizers of Tampa BayCycle, recently announced the initiative won the Association for Commuter Transportation’s (ACT) Creative Excellence Award. Julie Bond, co-director, Tampa BayCycle, accepted the award Sept. 11 at ACT’s international conference in Seattle, Washington.

Tampa BayCycle encouraged commuters to cycle to work, school or play during the month of May 2007, National Bike Month^TM. This is the first year that a bicycling initiative of this scale was held in the Tampa Bay area.

Each year, ACT recognizes outstanding achievements and recognizes significant contributions made by individuals and organizations to commute options and transportation management. For additional information regarding ACT, visit www.actweb.org.

“It is an honor and the ultimate compliment to be recognized internationally by peers in the industry,” said Bond. “We enjoyed great success with our inaugural campaign, and we are already looking forward to expanding and promoting Tampa BayCycle in 2008.”

Tampa BayCycle encourages commuters to cycle to work, school or play. Tampa BayCycle was recently formed through efforts of the New North Transportation Alliance and the Tampa Downtown Partnership. For more information, visit www.TampaBayCycle.com.

Phil Winters Receives Prestigious Award

for Transportation Programs

The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) announced that Philip L. Winters, Director of the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida (USF), is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Bob Owens TDM Champion Award. Winters accepted the award September 11 at ACT’s International Conference in Seattle.

The Bob Owens Award was created to recognize individuals who influence positive local, regional, or national efforts to reduce traffic congestion, decrease pollution, and improve mobility through transportation demand management programs such as carpooling, vanpooling, bicycling to work, flexible work hours, and telework.

“Phil’s contributions to ACT and to the field of TDM have been tremendous,” said Mark Wright, executive director of ACT. “He has devoted his career to finding innovative ways to improve mobility.”

“It was quite a surprise and honor to be recognized by my peers,” said Winters. “Many of the accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible without an excellent team at CUTR and supportive clients like the Florida Department of Transportation.”

Winters joined CUTR in 1993. Prior to joining CUTR, he served as a consultant and the first president of Ridefinders Inc., in Richmond, Virginia. He shares his research findings regularly through national presentations, papers and published reports, has served in a leadership capacity for several professional organizations including the Transportation Research Board, and has received national recognition for his TDM research.

Each year, ACT recognizes outstanding achievements and significant contributions made by individuals and organizations to commute options and transportation management. The ACT Board of Directors is responsible for selecting the recipient of the Bob Owens TDM Champion.

For more information, contact Julie Bond, bond@cutr.usf.edu. For additional information on ACT, visit www.actweb.org.

ACT supports individual mobility management professionals and organizational members in their efforts to reduce traffic congestion, conserve energy, and improve air quality.

The Streetcar Soirée

The Fifth Anniversary of TECO Line Streetcar System will be celebrated this month with a Soirée. The Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway Society (Friends of the Streetcar System) and the Tampa Historic Streetcar, Inc. will host the event that will honor those who have contributed to the national success of the system. Come learn about the economic impact the Streetcar has made and its future growth in the downtown area, Channelside and Ybor City. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

Friday, October 12th, 2007
4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Southern Transportation Plaza, Downtown Tampa
(Between Embassy Suites and Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel)

For more information, contact (813) 223-6831 (ext.2201)

Hart Surprises 11-Millionth Bus Rider

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART), located in Tampa, Florida, marked its all-time record 11 millionth ride of the year with a surprise celebration for one lucky bus rider.

HART’s new Chief Executive Officer David Armijo made a special presentation to the 11 millionth rider, Mr. Lynn Lewis of Tampa, awarding him with one year of free rides on HART services.

The surprise celebration took place at HART’s University Area Transit Center. Mr. Lewis was recognized as the 11 millionth rider as he de-boarded Route 6 – 56th Street.

Mr. Lewis said he’s been riding HART for about two years. In addition to Route 6, he also uses Route 1 – Florida Avenue, and Route 2 – Nebraska Avenue. He takes the bus to places like the grocery store, doctors’ appointments and the VA hospital.

“Each of these 11 million rides represents someone going to work, to the grocery store, to the doctor’s office, or some other important destination,” Armijo remarked before recognizing Mr. Lewis. “To demonstrate our commitment to the people who rely on HART to make these important trips, HART has worked diligently in the past year to improve our services. And as we reach these milestones, we are ever mindful of the future, and that HART is poised to play a part in the development of true transit choices in the Tampa Bay area.”

This year’s all-time high ridership comes on the heels of two straight years of record-breaking performance. HART’s fixed-route bus services exceeded 10 million rides for the first time in 2005. In 2006, the annual ridership record was broken again as nearly 10.7 million rides were take on HART buses.

In FY 2007, HART also saw its first million-ride month, with more than 1 million bus rides taken for the month of August. HART’s success is driven by gains in Commuter Express service, which has grown 24.4% this year, and by growth in local service due in part to late night service on several key routes that was implemented last November and has exceeded expectations. The added hours mean some routes run as late as 1:30 a.m.

There’s so much more to do at www.hartline.org. Use our trip planning feature powered by Google Transit, order fare cards in the Online Transit Store, and get complete route maps and schedules. Call the HARTinfo Line at (813) 254-4278 to learn more.

Want to save money & make better use of your time by carpooling or vanpooling-
but don't know anyone to share the commute with?
We may be able to help! Join the regional rideshare database by following the link on the Commuter page of our website, www.newnorthalliance.org,  or by calling 813-974-9799 to speak with a New North Transportation Alliance representative.