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HART Sees Upgrades In Leader's 1st Year

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By RICH SHOPES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 17, 2008

TAMPA - In August 2007, the area's bus agency was, if not in turmoil, at least in limbo.

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit had been leaderless since its executive director resigned six months before for medical reasons. The agency's top pick for a replacement had just declined the position.

Tax revenue that help to fund HART were about to plunge. Gas prices, meanwhile, were rising, pushing more and more motorists to take the bus.

Enter David Armijo.

The agency's second choice accepted the top position in August and started in September. In the year since, Armijo helped steer HART through a minefield of budget cuts, juggled its routes to accommodate growing ridership and oversaw a move to more modest office space.

He also has garnered criticism for his relations with the streetcar board and lack of communication with the Tampa City Council. His supporters, though, say Armijo has learned from those experiences and that a certain amount of ruffled feathers are inevitable from a take-charge leader.

"He's smart and aggressive. I'm delighted with his performance," said Steve Polzin, a HART board member who hired Armijo 20 years ago when both worked in Dallas. "He's got a wealth of experience in a lot of different communities, including fast-growing communities."

That experience soon might be called on more than ever. Mayor Pam Iorio, impatient to get mass transit on track, is pushing to ask voters in two years whether to fund light rail in Hillsborough County. If the mayor gets her way, HART could have a major role in getting the issue to the ballot and ensuring it's passed by voters.

Changing Routes, Raising Fares

Armijo, 49, has spent most of his 25-year career at transit agencies, including six years in Dallas, where he helped plan a rail system. He's worked at small and large transit agencies, at one point managing bus operations for a wide section of Los Angeles.

His most recent stint before joining HART last September was as head of toll operations at the Transportation Corridor Agency, a regional toll road authority outside Los Angeles.

As HART director, he oversees an agency with a $54 million operating budget, 200 buses and more than 600 employees.

When Armijo arrived in Tampa, the agency was dealing with budget pressures from falling tax revenue. In its current and upcoming budget cycles, the agency lost about $1.4 million in funding because of property tax cuts. Two-thirds of the agency's operating budget comes from property taxes; most of the rest comes from advertising revenue and fares.

Instead of cutting bus service to adjust to the revenue loss, HART juggled its routes and schedules and eliminated overtime, saving the agency about $700,000.

It plans an across-the-board fare increase in November to bring in another $700,000 and found about $250,000 by moving its administrative offices from rented space in downtown Tampa to a third-floor loft at the agency's streetcar barn in Ybor City.

Those changes more than made up for the lost tax revenue, but the agency also found itself facing mounting pressure from riders because of high gas prices.

Ridership has grown 8 percent to about a million rides a month since the fiscal year started last October. HART has added more buses to its busiest routes and opened two transit stations in Town 'N Country and West Tampa to adjust.
Armijo received a 3.5 percent raise a few months ago and now makes $171,704. He lives on Harbour Island, and although he usually drives to work, he sometimes takes public transit, catching a trolley before transferring to a local bus.

"He likes to keep everyone on their toes," spokeswoman Kathy Karalekas said.

Not All Smooth Driving

There have been stumbles.

Five months into his job, Armijo became embroiled in a feud with the city's streetcar agency.

Michael English, vice chairman of Tampa Historic Streetcar, said HART threatened its plans to extend the system four blocks by hijacking a $900,000 federal grant.
Armijo said he wanted the money to expand HART's bus system and blamed the streetcar board for not meeting federal guidelines to secure the grant.

HART, which operates the 2.4-mile streetcar line, settled its differences with the streetcar agency, but a few weeks ago Armijo was on the hot seat again when HART fired the man hired to run the streetcar system.

City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern, a streetcar board member, demanded Armijo appear before the council to explain why the board wasn't notified about the firing.
Armijo concedes he could have handled both matters better by communicating beforehand with the board and City Council.

Some folks aren't convinced he's right for the job. "I'll wait to see what happens before making that judgment," Mulhern said.

But others say they can overlook Armijo's communication gaffes because of his credentials and grasp of transit.

"Absolutely, based on his experience, background and willingness to embrace new ideas," said Elaine McCloud, the city's transit manager, who meets with Armijo periodically to confer about transit.

With Tampa and HART trying to create a light-rail plan next year and get a question on the ballot in 2010 to pay for the system, Armijo will be asked often to speak out on transit matters.

Councilman John Dingfelder, a member of HART's board, called Armijo "very goal-oriented. I think that's why the communication part, in terms of where you're headed, has suffered," he said.

Further Down The Road
Armijo has set an aggressive agenda. He still says he wants to make HART one of the nation's best transit agencies, a goal he first stated in September after arriving from Los Angeles.

Toward that goal, he wants to expand HART's core mission by seeking federal funding to enlarge HART from a 200-bus system to 225 buses within the next year. Eventually, he wants to see HART expanded to 400 buses.

That's about the right size for the agency based on Hillsborough's population of 1.2 million, he said. "We're under-utilized by about half."

HART also will push forward with long-discussed plans to create a Bus Rapid Transit system - a kind of express route with limited stops - on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Nebraska, Fletcher and Hillsborough avenues.

Construction of the system's special bus stops will start late next year. It's set to start running in 2010.

Much of the heavy lifting in coming years involves planning. As HART prepares to debut the rapid bus system, it will update a rail plan the agency created in 2002, conduct a separate transit analysis tied to rail and then try to get a question on the ballot in 2010 to both pay for the system and fund HART's operating budget.

No decision has been made yet as to how much to increase the sales levy, although city and HART leaders have talked about a half-cent increase. Raising the 7-cent sales tax a half-cent would generate about $110 million for the agency.

Tampa and Hillsborough County have long had a reputation for talking big about transit but accomplishing little. Armijo says with record gas prices forcing motorists to re-examine their driving habits, it's time to change that.

"I think we're at a crossroads where the public as well as stakeholders, elected officials and others, are beginning to look to HART to come up with some solutions," he said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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