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Downtown Tampa residents and workers now have a car-free, no-cost way to get around town thanks to a $2.7 million Florida Department of Transportation grant that eliminates fares for the 2.7-mile, 11-stop TECO Line Streetcar System — which connects downtown Tampa with the Channel District and Ybor City — for the next three years.
The funding will also allow the streetcar’s operator, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART), to offer expanded and more frequent service. To cater to downtown workers, the streetcar will pick up passengers every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, and then every 20 minutes thereafter.
Though the TECO Line has been in service only for the past 16 years, Tampa is no stranger to streetcars. The city’s first electric streetcar service debuted in 1892, becoming a popular way for workers to get around during the cigar industry's boom times.
With younger workers eschewing ownership of personal vehicles, long wait lists for downtown parking and the influx of development brought by Jeff Vinik’s Water Street Tampa project, HART believes the time is right to raise the profile of the TECO Line.
The service “can play a greater role in the broader transportation network of Tampa to better serve residents, customers, and visitors, not only today, but into the future,” HART Interim CEO Jeff Seward states in the release.
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