Mayor Castor on the future of Tampa’s transportation

The sun-soaked streets of Tampa are known for their slim transit offerings, reckless drivers and sidewalk gaps. Since taking office in 2019, Mayor Jane Castor has continually proclaimed remedying those wrongs to be a top priority.

Spots of success include the launch of an e-bike voucher program and that her team scooped up over $125 million in competitive federal grants over the past four years to address the city’s transportation insufficiencies. Projects include street work near schools and the removal of an interstate exit ramp that bisected historically Black neighborhoods.

Still, “Tampa is in the midst of a public health crisis,” reads the city’s application for a recently awarded grant to boost safety. “… Our roads are unsafe for everyone, but particularly so for people walking.”

And public transit faces an uncertain future. Upon winning reelection early this year, Castor left the board overseeing public transit in Hillsborough County. Her departure came as the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, known as HART, faces a renewed spotlight for its impending fiscal cliff, threadbare service and another CEO departure.

The mayor spoke with the Tampa Bay Times about what’s next.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

In 2019, you said: “I will use my seat on the HART board to fight for every neighborhood to have the dependable bus system they deserve through upgrading existing transfer stations and building multimodal hubs with fixed transit lines that connect riders from West Shore to New Tampa.” Four years later, you’ve left. Were you successful in meeting that pledge?

I won’t say it was for a lack of trying, but if I had to grade the success, I wouldn’t put the percentage very high. The issue, the fundamental issue, at HART is the fact that it is woefully underfunded.

If you were grading yourself out of 10 — 10 being you achieved everything you hoped you would and zero being that was no progress — what would you score?

Well, I don’t think that’s a fair question because I always say that success isn’t found in a good plan. It’s an element of success, but it’s in the implementation that you find success. And I don’t know that HART lacks for a good plan. They lack for funding to implement that strategic plan. And so I don’t know if there will be a great deal of success until there’s additional funding.

Are there any achievements that occurred during your time on the board or changes to the agency or service in which you feel pride?

I believe that we did make advancements and improvements. But also, with a limited amount of funding, as you make improvements in the reliability, the timing of the route, then, other areas had to give. So some routes were eliminated to enhance and to make other routes more efficient and enhance the reliability.

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When was the last time you were on a HART bus?

Gosh, I haven’t been on a HART bus in probably three years.

Why do you think it’s been so long?

I think probably just the nature of my day-to-day activities.

By that do you mean having a packed schedule?

Yes, having to go here and there. If I could just ride the bus to work, I have a great No. 1 route that goes down Florida Avenue and isn’t that far from my house. Some of our staff members ride the bus.

How do you hope to change the transportation offerings in the city in the next few years?

Well, to change the transportation offerings, one is to thoroughly investigate regionalization.

Merger of the county municipal planning organizations?

MPOs and the bus system. And then to look at those alternate forms of transit — whether they be mass transit in our streetcars or bus system. Or individually, electric bikes, scooters, bike lanes, providing safe routes to destinations that are important for our community.

So you would like to see the merger of Pinellas and Hillsborough’s transit agencies studied?

I would like to see a report, a holistic report, on the advantages and disadvantages of merging.

In D.C., they’ve banned right turns on red. New York City is moving toward congestion charges for motorists. California has decriminalized jaywalking. In San Francisco, cars have been banned from a stretch of popular roadway. Do any of those policies resonate with you? Would you like to see any implemented in Tampa by the end of your second term?

I’m aware of all of those, but I don’t know that they have any value to our community at this particular point. We are looking at a number of different approaches — not only the movement of our residents, but also to ensure that that movement is safe. We’re looking at our Quick Builds Projects right now, making segregated bike pedestrian lanes that are connected. And we have MOVES, our citywide mobility plan, that we’re going to be releasing shortly.

Also, the extension of our streetcar is very important. Transit-oriented development is another part of the way that development weighs into mobility and vice versa, and is critical to both affordable housing and transportation.

What is the current status of the streetcar extension?

We had counted on the All For Transportation funds to be our match to the FDOT portion of it. But we’re not waiting to see how funding that was raised is to be distributed. We are moving forward with other options.

Could you clarify what you mean?

We’re in discussions with U.S. DOT and we’ve applied for the Regional Infrastructure Accelerator, a consulting grant. That, hopefully, will lead to our participation in other programs so that we’ll be able to address our transportation needs.

Also, a focus on Vision Zero. Some of the solutions that you mentioned in other states are much more pedestrian-heavy than we are, like New York City. We don’t want to loosen any of our restrictions on pedestrian travel, because we’re already in like the top five of roadway deaths. We’re very keenly focused on Vision Zero and how we can reduce the number of crashes and associated injuries and fatalities in our community.

The city’s first Vision Zero coordinator, Alana Brasier, just left. What’s your reaction to her departure?

I was sad to see her go. I think that she did a very good job. Although, she wasn’t in that position right when she left and we have an incredible individual that has been running Vision Zero. I’ll share with you one thing. We’re looking at doing two intersections, I think by the Amalie and the Convention Center. I think they call them scrambles: Instead of crossing east to west or north to south, you close the intersection down and everybody goes whatever direction they need to go into so that it’s safer and more efficient at moving individuals.