HART ridership remains steady at 1.15 million in July, up from year ago

Hillsborough (Florida) Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) ridership numbers from July, released on Monday, show that passenger trips remained steady at 1.15 million.

HART ridership for the fiscal year is up approximately 1 percent compared with July 2014. At this rate, HART is on track to reach its goal of 15 million boardings by the end of this fiscal year.

On July 13, HART had the highest daily ridership for the entire month, totaling 54,173 trips traveled.

"It's never been more important for all of us to work together to support an integrated and connected transportation system in this region," HART CEO Katharine Eagan said. "While this is encouraging news, we have to continue the work to improve HART efficiencies, while simultaneously planning for its future growth."

Statisticians, analysts and economists have proven time and again that public transportation is crucial to the economy. Many people depend on public transit systems such as HART to transport them to and from their workplaces every day. Even students use public transportation to reach their schools, as well as their workplaces, on a daily basis.