Hillsborough Transit Authority (HART)<\/a>\u2019s fleet to help with rising transportation needs in the area.<\/p>\nThe SUVs, which are 2025 Ford Interceptors, will be used for the HARTPlus Paratransit service. HARTPlus is a door-to-door ride share for residents with disabilities who can\u2019t use a regular bus route.<\/p>\n
The SUVs are an alternative to the \u201ccutaway\u201d vans that have a lift for a wheelchair or scooter. If the riders don\u2019t need that access, this smaller vehicle opens up more options.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe flexibility with these vehicles is that we can maneuver a little bit better through neighborhoods and large medical campuses. And it\u2019s better efficiency in our operations,\u201d said Catherine Sanchez, HART\u2019s manager of customer service.<\/p>\n
The new cars also include technology like security cameras and direct access to emergency responders. They can also accommodate service animals with removable seat covers.<\/p>\n
For driver Kevin Green, he feels the new vehicles will make a big difference for his passengers in need of a ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s rewarding for me,\u201d Green said. \u201cI see their faces light up when they hug their family members. When they\u2019re going shopping. They\u2019re very independent, on their own. We give them their independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
HART plans on rolling out 36 new SUVs in the coming months.<\/p>\n
View more information on HARTPlus.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Drivers will now see new SUVs on the road in Hillsborough County. What You Need…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[274,2173,7444,276,115,135,137,136,7227,278,729,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-187669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-app-traffic-transit","10":"tag-getting-there","11":"tag-hillsborough-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-tampa","14":"tag-tampa-headlines","15":"tag-tampa-news","16":"tag-tim-wronka","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-traffic","19":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}