streetcar follies
Otis White of Civic Strategies wonders what the big deal is with streetcar systems popping up all over. He goes on to say that the slow-moving short lines can be a justified, as long as the streetcar is just a part of the development picture. Such as what they have done in Portland. And regarding Tampa?
Tampa, alas, showed how not to do it. The 2.5-mile line from downtown to historic Ybor City couldn’t make up its mind whether it was a tourist attraction or a serious way to work.
Which is why we have a huge operating deficit and no easy way of turning things around.
Tags: development, tampa, tourism, transportation
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February 1st, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I thought the Tampa streetcar was intended to be a tourist attraction all along. Anybody who thought it would ever rival MARTA in Atlanta is a sucker. Still, for all the money it’s cost us we might have built a pretty nice CITYWIDE rail system. Oh well.
February 1st, 2006 at 2:43 pm
I encourage people who have never ridden the trolley to ride it. It is a lot of fun. I used to ride the People Mover over to Harbor Island just for kicks years ago. Now we have the trolley. (No, I DO NOT live a boring life.) As a frequent visitor to Ybor City for 20 years, when the concept of the trolley came up, I thought “that’s really cool, how unique!” but never rode it. Shame on me. Now as a resident of Ybor City, I ride it often. I’ll walk the 2 blks to the closest trolley stop and ride to the Forum, Newt’s, Channelside, or the Convention Center which is at the end of the route (or could be the beginning depending where you get on!!). We–myself, The Significant Other and many friends–have met some really great people on the trolley. The riders are a diverse group. Recently, in addition to residents od Ybor and Channelside some of the riders have been tourists from the cruise ships, sailors from a Navy Destroyer in port last week, people in town for the Eukanuba Dog Show and Gasparilla. (Hey, If I misspelled “Eukanuba”, cut me a break!! At least I TRIED to spell it. Saying it is hard enough.) All these people have had complimentary things to say about the trolley. The run times are very convienient–every 15 minutes a trolley runs thru each stop. On Fri and Sat it operates later than normal–till 2:00 am. You can hop on the trolley in Ybor, go to Channelside and eat, catch a fight with Carolina Cheerleaders!, hop back on the trolley to Ybor for an entertaining evening at the Blue Shark featuring the Johnny G Lyon Band with Ray Blades, Ben Jammin’ and Johnny G Lyon himself. Wait a minute…….I left out TOMMY DUNCAN!!!! I listen to Ronda Storms blow and go about the trolley. Until a year ago, I lived in original Brandon for 9 years. They could sure use that trolley to run right down the middle of Highway 60 from Valrico Rd to the mall and THAT would be considered high speed rail in Brandon considering how grilocked traffic is !!! Support the trolley.
February 1st, 2006 at 5:23 pm
The trolley debate reminds me of DC’s far outer burbs’ first attempt at commuter rail. 12 years ago when it first started everyone but a few stalwarts complained about the cost, limited stops, extremely limited schedule and the taxpayer subsidies for VRE (Virginia Rail Express, and believe me, express is only an accurate term in comparison to rush hour car commutes). The county commissioner sharks were circling demanding their money back to pay for roads. Fast forward 12 years. New stations have been built along the line and it’s standing room only on trains that now run all day instead of just inbound on the morning commute and outbound in the evening. Tampa’s trolley line is too short to have the impact VRE does, but the idea is the same. It takes a while for a new transit system to find a market, indeed jobs and housing need to be attracted to the routes, but once it does the naysayers will be only too quick to hop aboard, saying they knew all along it was a good idea.
February 1st, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Bingo!! Couldn’t agree more. It’s a start!
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:35 am
It’s finally refreshing to hear people acknowledging the streetcar as a start to something bigger - it’s a consistent theme I push at TR. The BOCC blocked the first big (albeit small) extension of the system, but the entire plan calls for it looping around downtown. People have to understand that when a small rail system like this gets laid at all, it only grows. The people who want it dead and mothballed are people who know full well the streetcar is a city/county/regional-wide rail system “lying in wait”. I wish more people would understand the larger battle Tampa and Hillsborough County quietly won with having the system built.
Oddly, it’s been successful at what it does NOW in the capacity it DOES operate in. It’s a legitamite frustration to see it and want more but we need to be patient and, for god’s sake, defend it, if we really want something closer to future regional rail than not.
Dave
May 31st, 2006 at 7:16 pm
How many remember when you could get on the streetcar in Sulphur Springs and ride all the way out to Port Tampa City then back to Sulphur Springs again..
This was an all day trip in the 1940’s and before.. Ride between the roads on Bayshore Blvd - South of Howard Ave.
This was one very nice route to travel.. Sitting in class at HHS looking out the window watching them remove the old tracks on Central Ave. was on some what of a sad note.. But that’s progress as they say.. I believe Tampa Elect. Co. owned the cars at that time?? The motorman was called a streetcar “Geri” or “Jerry” ??
Drop the nickel in the box an it would zig-zag all the way to bottom.. Those were some fun times riding the old cars.. Thanks for letting me think about some of this…
David Dowling
January 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am
dave, where did they street car come into sulphur springs at and what route did it take to tampa ? i am an architecture student at usf and i am currently planning a light rail transit stop adjacent to the rail road bridge across from rowlett park. thanks.
ben
January 20th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Hey Ben.. Check Dave Pinero’s site at http://www.tamparail.org/f_historicmaps.asp for the old maps of Tampa trolley routes and stops.