TAMPA, Fla. — A regional transportation agency for the Tampa area has voted to disband after 16 years, with its inability to make progress on a commuter rail system among the issues behind its downfall.
The Tampa Bay Times reports the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority board voted unanimously to shut down, although the final authority rests with the state legislature, which created the agency in 2007. Members of both houses of the state legislature have introduced bills to finalize the shutdown.
One of those, Rep. Jeff Holcomb, a former member of the transit board, told the newspaper in an email that his time on the board included such frustrations as the failure to gain access to CSX Transportation lines for commuter service, along with a lack of cooperation with other governmental bodies, such as the city of Tampa, and listening to “unrealistic transportation options, like unmanned multi-passenger helicopters.”
CSX at one time had indicated it would consider selling its Tampa-area lines, but last year indicated that was no longer the case [see “CSX desire to retain rail lines likely to sink Tampa-area commuter proposal,” Trains News Wire, July 22, 2022]. At the time, some members of the transit authority wanted to fund a commuter rail feasibility study, but others saw no reason to proceed without the railroad’s cooperation.
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