One of the most accurate clichés out there is that of the poor student. With school fees, tuition, food, gas prices, and the dreaded textbook costs, there isn’t a lot of room left for transportation. Luckily, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) system and the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) offer some wallet-friendly student deals.
• Local Adult Student Fare Card. A special 25 percent discounted student price of $48.75 for a 31-day period. This deal is offered by HART to: University of Tampa, Art Institute of Tampa, Southwest Florida College, Stanford Brown Institute, Remington College, Everest University Tampa & Brandon, Erwin Technical Institute, Concorde Career College, Brewster Technical Institute, International Academy of Design, Ultimate Medical Academy, Argosy University, Florida Career College, Fortis College, Keiser University, Shear Excellence International Hair Academy, Springfield College, and HCC Ybor/Dale Mabry/Brandon/SouthShore.
• Semester Pass. HCC and HART offer this special pass for $110 — four months of bus fare for the price of two.
• USF U-Pass Program. This program allows USF students to ride the HART Local, Limited Express, MetroRapid, and Flex routes for FREE with their USF ID. The HART routes even connect with the USF BullRunner at the University Area Transit Center (UATC).
• Student Emergency Ride Home. This program, administered by TBARTA through Tampa Bay Rideshare, gives students who take the bus or BullRunner, or who carpool, bike, or walk to class at least twice a week, a ride home in case of an emergency.
For more information on these and other programs, go to gohart.org or tampabayrideshare.org/usf.
[CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that the Student Emergency Ride Home Program was run by HART. It is a TBARTA program. The error has been corrected.]
