Tampa's popular, free electric carts are coming back

TAMPA — The popular electric carts offering passengers free rides around downtown are back on the road.

The Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to rescind an earlier decision to regulate the vehicles. Board members also voted to ask the Florida Attorney General for an opinion on whether state law allows them to regulate the carts.

And they asked the Tampa City Council to consider taking on the duty of regulating the carts, which have operated largely in the downtown, Hyde Park, Channel District and Ybor City areas.

In the meantime, the PTC has asked the cart operators to voluntarily follow some vehicle safety rules and let passengers know about their insurance coverage.

The votes came at a special meeting called to consider emergency rules for regulating the electric carts. Proposed rules included requiring cart companies carry the same type of commercial automobile liability insurance as taxis.

The insurance issue became a sticking point, with some cart operators saying it's difficult to find that kind of coverage.

"Passing these regulations and having that insurance requirement will definitely terminate the services for my company," said Luis Lara, owner of an electric cart shuttle service called Joyride. "What other options do we have? What other types of insurance would suffice?"

The board voted Aug. 12 to begin regulating the electric vehicles by adding them to agency rules after a cab company attorney argued that the agency had the authority to do so. Cab company owners had argued for months that the so-called neighborhood electric vehicles were unsafe and cut into their business.

The PTC vote essentially put the electric carts out of business until rules could be established and cart operators could apply for permits.

But on Tuesday, an attorney for Green Go's of Tampa, an electric cart operator, questioned if the board had the authority to expand its rules.

"This is based on flawed legal logic and flawed legal reason," said John Byrne.

Board member Mark Knapp, who is also a City Council member in Temple Terrace, pressed the assistant county attorney assigned to the PTC on whether the previous board action was appropriate.

Attorney Christine Beck said that the "safer course, the more conservative course" would be to ask Florida lawmakers to change the state law that defines the PTC's duties.

PTC board member Rose Ferlita suggested vetoing the earlier decision, which board members Knapp and John Dingfelder never supported.

Ferlita has repeatedly made the point that her only concern about the electric cart companies was safety and she didn't want to leave anyone with the impression that the PTC was trying to eliminate them.

Early in the meeting, she criticized PTC staff members for notifying cab companies about Tuesday's meeting on Friday but waiting until Monday to tell the electric cart operators.

"Everything we do inefficiently smacks right back to the point that we're not trying to play fair here," she said.

After the meeting, electric cart operators said they planned to start offering their services again immediately.

"We've got the green light," said Lara.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.