During the 2009/2010 fiscal year, HART slashed another $3 million from its budget in order to compensate for additional property tax revenue losses.

This move was achieved by trimming service in Town-N-Country and North Tampa, as well as cutting underutilized trips on numerous routes [2].

To counteract plummeting property tax revenues, HART proposed to switch to a sales tax-based system which many other transit agencies in Florida already use.

HART's 2008 Community Report[permanent dead link‍] outlined several key changes, such as the introduction of HARTflex service and the upcoming MetroRapid system.

These changes included eliminating inefficient segments and trips, realigning travel times, and adding services that would better serve patrons in the long term.

[4] With many fiscal impacts looming to negatively impact HART's future plans and budgeting - including, but no limited to: reducing the size of the agency's debts, preparing for possible reductions in property tax revenues and federal transit funding support, and the national trend of declining transit ridership - the agency announced in early 2017 that it would launch a Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) of the entire system as part of its next Transit Development Plan (TDP) update.

This analysis allowed HART to essentially evaluate every route in the system to see which ones can be improved and which ones would have to be eliminated based on ridership levels and demand.

Public outreach began during the spring of 2017 and continued through the summer - eventually leading up to the announcement of a system-wide restructuring effort called Mission MAX, which focuses on modernizing the system to operate with less reliance on traditional transfer hubs and more on a grid system, shorten travel times on key core routes, eliminate out-of-direction travel, and provide more direct service to key destinations.

Mission MAX will also provide HART with the foundation that it needs to better analyze and execute future expansion endeavors [4].

MetroRapid officially began revenue service on June 10, 2013, with a formal ribbon cutting held at the Hidden River Corporate Park grounds in Tampa Palms.

Operated by uniformed conductors, the Birney cars were a welcome sight, and the familiar clang of the streetcar bell was music to the ears.

Reaching the peak of its popularity in the 1920s with almost 24 million passengers in 1926, Tampa's streetcar system rolled to a stop in August 1946 following World War II.

Today, electric streetcars are back in Tampa, supporting continued growth in Downtown, the Channel District and Ybor City.

The TECO Line Streetcar System is a 2.7 mile section that connects these three areas, improving transportation capacity, supporting Tampa's thriving cruise industry and transporting workers to and from their jobs In 2006, HART introduced late-night bus service on nine local bus routes in order to meet the diverse needs of its patrons.

USF Faculty & Staff can use the same services for only 50 cents[28] Like many transit agencies, HART has operated its bus system similar to a hub and spoke model.

The Marion Transit Center is located at the northern end of the Marion Street Transitway and includes a customer service center, office space, bus driver lounge, restrooms, bus shelters, and an array of public art displays.

HART and the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority have been discussing plans to build a transfer center at Tampa International Airport since 2008.

Originally, the facility was to be located at the corner of O'Brien and Spruce streets [9][permanent dead link‍] but was dropped in 2011 in favor of a site closer to the TIA terminal.

Such systems will allow patrons in the future to see in real-time, upcoming departures, major intersections, landmarks, and connecting routes.

HART is slated to receive just over $15 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 that President Barack Obama signed into law in February 2009.

Some of these plans include improvements and added services on select routes, more detailed information and improvements in bus shelters, adding electric bus pilots to their fleet and replacing select gas/diesel fuel buses, adding more Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes along Florida Ave, Nebraska Ave and Fowler Ave. also, HART has planned future commuter passenger rail or high speed rail transport across Hillsborough and its neighboring counties among the CSX rail corridor and possible future extensions for the TECO Streetcar Line.

In 2008, the agency acquired 12 25-foot Champion/Freightliner T-300 buses (from Dallas Area Rapid Transit) to be used on the fixed-route system while its existing fleet was repainted.

In November 2011, HART was awarded a $2.3 million federal grant to build a CNG fueling station at its operations facility.

In total as of 2020, there are 70 CNG powered buses in the fleet, though one (# 1708) was retired earlier in the year due to severe accident damage.

American Heritage Streetcar The most recent retired trolley fleet was acquired in 1999 from Optima Bus Corporation.