TAMPA, Fla. — After a pandemic rebound and massive growth in the area, commuters are weighing in on how they get around Tampa and if they lean on public transit as experts share some solutions to congestion issues.
It's the tale of two commutes.
"I take my car," said Linda Lieberher.
"Considering this isn't the only city that I've used public transportation, here it's actually pretty big to have that around," said Juan Perez.
On Friday, Perez sat on a bench in Tampa waiting for a bus, but for Lieberher, she said it's a little easier to drive.
"There's a bunch of people that for one reason or another can't have their own vehicle," said Perez.
"Where I work is literally five minutes away and my other job is 15 minutes away, so there really isn't any public transportation that would work for me in the area that I live," said Lieberher.
With the bounce back to normal after the pandemic on top of Tampa's tremendous growth, it's no surprise there's also more traffic.
Vik Bhide, the Director of Mobility for the City of Tampa, said the best cities have managed congestion in many ways, like having more transit, having more commuters take transit, and using other ways to get around, like walking or biking.
When it comes to public transit participation in Tampa, Bhide said it's pretty low: a little under two percent.
"In some ways, our transit system here in Hillsborough, which is HART, did recover from the pandemic to pre-pandemic ridership levels. The challenge is that was never enough to address some of our congestion issues, so we do need more service, frequent service, and better service," said Bhide.
However, Bhide said it doesn't take a big increase in transit participation to reduce congestion as long as it's targeted at commuters.
"If we're able to increase that transit participation to six or seven percent, that would make a big difference to overall traffic as well," said Bhide.
Back in October, the city announced it got a $1.75 million grant to establish and operate a Regional Infrastructure Accelerator office, which it said will help move the region forward on major transportation projects and transit-oriented development.
