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Tampa, Florida: TECO Line Streetcar

Description

Tampa's TECO Line Streetcar is a heritage streetcar operation that uses modern replica streetcars built by Gomaco Trolley Company of Ida Grove, Iowa. It began operation on 19 October 2002, after nineteen months of construction.

The line is 2.3 miles (3.7 km) long, and connects the southern edge of downtown Tampa with the cruise-ship terminal area and the Ybor City historic district. It is single track with several double-track passing sidings. The entire line is on reserved right of way, mostly alongside city streets, so that streetcars do not have to compete with automobile traffic except at street crossings. A round trip takes about an hour, including layover time at both terminals. Normal service is every fifteen minutes during the day, which requires four cars. The fare for a single trip is $1.25; a day pass (interchangable with the ones used on city buses) is $3.00.

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HARTline) operates the streetcar system as part of a partnership with the city of Tampa and local businesses. Part of the money for operating the system comes from an endowment funded by payments for naming rights for the entire system and individual stations, cars, etc. The Tampa Electric Company (TECO) bought the right to name the entire system, for example.

Planning is underway for Phase 2, which will extend the line into the heart of downtown Tampa.

Other Sites

Pictures

These pictures were taken in June 2003.

[picture] The southern terminal of the line is the Southern Transportation Plaza at Ice Palace Drive and Franklin Street, across the street from the Tampa Convention Center (from whose steps this picture was taken)

[picture] Interior of the Southern Transportation Plaza.

[picture] Phase 2 will extend the line northward along Franklin Street into the heart of downtown Tampa. In the meantime a free shuttle service is provided by rubber-tired fake "trolleys."

[picture] Looking out the front window of a car, we see another car about to pass us at a double-track section near the cruise ship terminal.

[picture] From the Tampa Port Authority parking garage, we see a streetcar passing in front of the cruise terminal, with a cruise ship in the background.

[picture] A bit further on, the line goes around one side of a traffic circle, with the Florida Aquarium in the background.

[picture] Interior of a car, looking toward the motorman at the front.

[picture] The middle portion of the line runs north-south along busy Channelside Drive. This picture clearly shows the unusual double overhead wire (one for each direction) above single-track sections of the line. Note which wire the approaching car is using... cars use the left-hand track on double-track sections!

[picture #1] | [picture #2] North of 4th Avenue the line leaves Channelside Drive and crosses a CSX railroad line. The crossing is protected by signals and a guard in an adjacent shack; approaching streetcars must come to a full stop and the motorman must get clearance by radio in order to cross. The streetcar tracks make a zigzag curve here so that they can cross the railroad at a right angle.

[picture] A couple of blocks north of the CSX crossing, the newly-built carbarn is on 13th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

[picture] This restored single-truck Birney car that once ran in Tampa belongs to the Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway Society. It runs on the new streetcar line on special occasions.

[picture] Just north of the carbarn, the line crosses 7th Avenue, in a view through the ornamental archway entrance to Ybor City.

[picture] A northbound car turns from 13th Street onto 8th Avenue at the Cadrecha Plaza station, in an overhead view from a parking garage.

[picture] On 8th Avenue, the line passes through the Centro Ybor shopping / entertainment complex.

[picture] A pedestrian bridge over 8th Avenue at Centro Ybor gives a good view of the Centro Ybor station, where cars usually meet. Note the left-hand running.

[picture] A car rolls eastward along the north side of 8th Avenue, approaching the end of the line at Centennial Park (20th Street).

[picture] The motorman has just raised one trolley pole and is about to lower the other one, as he prepares to reverse direction at Centennial Park and return to downtown Tampa.

[front] | [rear] All-day streetcar pass, which is interchangeable with HARTline's all-day bus passes.

This page was last updated on 14 August 2003, and reviewed on 2 December 2007.

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