Federal stimulus funds to add buses, vans and streetcar rails in Tampa

TAMPA — Federal stimulus money is on its way to boost Hillsborough County's transit system.

On Monday, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit's governing board approved spending more than $15.1 million in federal stimulus money, including about $7.8 million on 29 buses and two paratransit vans, which are used to shuttle elderly or disabled passengers too frail to travel by bus. Another $1.5 million will be spent to operate the fleet of 36 paratransit vans.

About $1 million was approved to extend downtown's streetcar system about a third of a mile from the Tampa Convention Center to the outer business and office district on Whiting Street. Overall, the extension will cost about $5.5 million; construction is to begin this summer and be completed by mid 2010, according to HART spokesman Ed Crawford.

The remainder of the money, about $3.8 million, will be spent on improvements to operations, equipment and security.

"This helps tremendously," Crawford said. "We were behind on bus purchases, so this gets us up to date."