Use this form to send emails to Hillsborough County elected officials demanding a fast and free public transit system! On the next page, you can edit the letter prompt and choose to send your message to the Tampa Mayor, Tampa City Council, and Hillsborough Board of County Commission.

More about why this matters:

Car-centric cities are linked to higher fossil fuel emissions, high density traffic, worse health outcomes, and social alienation. Meanwhile, transportation systems with accessible and reliable public transit result in reduced inequalities, cleaner air, and a stronger and more mobile working class. A growing transit equity movement is transforming public transit across the United States. Cities like Boston and New York have funded multiple free fare routes. Entirely free transit systems have been won in Kansas City, Albuquerque, Chapel Hill, Washington D.C., Florida’s Manatee County, and more! Building a public transit system that works for workers means lower wait times, more bus routes, bus shelters that protect us from heat and rain, maintained and upgraded buses, better conditions for transit workers, and zero fares. Tampa DSA's campaign aims to shift Tampa’s public transit system towards one that is fast, free, and reliable for all.

More about the goals of Tampa DSA's Fast and Free Public Transit Campaign:
I. Shift Tampa and Hillsborough County’s transportation focus and funds away from car-centric spending into public transportation spending; including but not limited to:

• Make the Route 1 fare-free pilot permanently fare free. Increase public awareness of the fare free pilot and build public support for making Route 1 (and additional routes) fare free permanently.

• Work towards making all bus routes permanently fare free. Demand a fare free pilot for all routes for 2026.

• Expand bus access by implementing more bus stops and buses as needed, starting in working class communities and communities historically impacted most by redlining, segregation, and highway expansion.

• Improve bus stop conditions so that each stop at minimum has a bench and shaded cover

• Reduce wait times to 15 min for every route every day of the week

• Reject spending for highway expansions.

• Reject spending for subsidies for car share companies.

• Reject lane expansions.

• Support the demands of rank and file transit workers

• Require that every new bus purchased for the city fleet be an electric vehicle, moving us away from further subsidizing harmful fossil fuels and their infrastructure.

II. Increase funding for the public transit budget to meet these goals without the implementation of regressive taxes (taxes that disproportionately impact the working class).