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Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority

Client: Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority
Industry: Public Transportation

Challenge:

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority wanted to understand the community’s perception and sentiments towards the transportation organization. They wanted to uncover their strengths and inefficiencies to help improve business strategies and deliver value to Hillsborough County residents.

Solution:

HART leadership met with HCP Associates research staff to discuss the organization’s goals and envisioned outcomes. HCP Associates worked to create a methodology specific to the transportation authority to gather quantifiable data and establish a baseline study of Hillsborough citizen sentiments.

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority sought help from HCP Associates; the transportation organization wanted to determine three things—what the community knows about the organization, what they think they know, and what they don’t know. HCP Associates worked to create a community sentiment study to produce quantifiable data for HART. Efforts would serve as a benchmark for leadership, offering insight into the development of future communication and marketing plans and big-picture business strategies.

The survey revealed rider and non-rider sentiments, knowledge, and feedback to the transit authority. There are many opportunities, improvements to be made, and positive sentiments that were confirmed for HART. HCP Associates presented their findings internally and then to the Finance and Audit Committee on October 15, 2018.

As a firm located in Hillsborough County, HCP Associates was pleased to establish a baseline for HART. The team looks forward to repeating the survey in the future, working with HART to ensure the data is useful in indicating year-over improvements and future priorities.

HCP Associates offered HART recommendations in the following categories—communication, community outreach, route accessibility, and funding.