All Aboard: Tampa Trolley Will Soon Be Free

TAMPA, FL -- Soon, residents and visitors will have no excuse to avoid riding Tampa's Historic Streetcar.

The Florida Department of Transportation is giving the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit a $2.6 million grant to provide free passage on the trolley for three years.

The free fare to ride the 2.7-mile route through downtown Tampa could be offered as soon as August but most likely will take effect later this year.

"The Tampa Bay area is consistently one of the fastest-growing areas of our state, adding more than 33,000 new private-sector jobs in the last year. By providing this grant, we are giving Tampa residents another option as they travel around downtown," said Gov. Rick Scott.

The free fare offers comes at a convenient time. With unprecedented construction taking place in downtown Tampa, including Tampa's Water Street and Riverwalk Place developments, along with the ongoing extension of the Selmon Expressway, drivers are finding it more difficult to navigate roads downtown.

In addition to the free fare, the streetcar will pick up riders every 15 minutes instead of the current 20 minutes and will extend its service hours.

The state is hoping the free service will sell commuters on the benefits of riding the streetcar while it takes cars off downtown's congested roads.

"The State of Florida and Department of Transportation remain committed to the overall investment in transit. Serving one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, expanded service for the TECO streetcar will help to alleviate traffic congestion in downtown area," Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Dew said.

The Department of Transportation has also launched a study on extending the streetcar line to the Tampa Heights area.

The TECO Line Streetcar System is a heritage streetcar transit line operated by HART and owned by the city.

Opened in 2002, t connects downtown Tampa, Channelside and Ybor City, providing 11 stations along the 2.7-mile route. One restored historic streetcar and 10 replica historic streetcars use the line.

While streetcar systems have thrived in communities like San Francisco and New Orleans, Tampa has struggled with its system as residents remain ambivalent about commuter transportation.

At one time, the streetcar system played a major role in the city's growth. In 1885, the first streetcars (using wood-burning steam engines) in Tampa were operated by the Tampa Street Railway Co. between downtown Tampa and Ybor City, taking immigrant workers living in Ybor City to their jobs in downtown Tampa.

Once electrified, the system was acquired by Tampa Electric Co., which ran streetcars on 53 miles of track from downtown Tampa to Ybor City, West Tampa, Hyde Park, Palma Ceia, Seminole Heights and Sulphur Springs in 1926. The system, however, was shut down after World War II, according to the Tampa Bay History Center.

Images via HART and Tampa Bay History Center