TECO Line Streetcar

[fsujax]

Tampa streetcar is the perfect example of what "not" to do.

[tufsu1]

saw this editorial from Tampa today regarding their streetcar

http://www2.tbo.com/news/opinion/2011/aug/30/meopino1-stand-by-your-streetcar-ar-253847/

note this quote

Since 2003, the streetcar board has spent more than $3.5 million meeting the insurance requirements of railroad company CSX, it was pointed out in a recent meeting. The annual price of crossing a CSX track is almost as much as the total fares collected this year from 430,000 riders.

In addition to the river crossing issue, this is a major reason NOT to extend the planned Jax. streetcar to San Marco.

[thelakelander]

Hmm, a new project recently proposed a block away from Tampa's recent TECO Line streetcar extension....

TAMPA â€" An ambitious, multi-building development near the Tampa Convention Center .. has received preliminary rezoning approval from the Tampa City Council .. .

The project proposed by Bob Abberger, senior managing director of Trammell Crow Co .. ., includes a 450,000-square-foot office tower, a 350-room hotel and a 1,200-space parking garage.

If developed, the $188 million project would mean short-term construction jobs and more permanent employment ranging from high-income positions with companies attracted to a modern office building to service-sector jobs.

The project also would provide a critical link between the downtown core and the convention center and entertainment district at its southern edge, as well as the neighboring Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, or CAMLS, the University of South Florida .. project under construction and due to open in the spring.

The council approved rezoning Abberger’s 4.12-acre development site to allow construction of up to 400 feet high in an area currently limited to 120 feet.

“This is a big project, but it will put Tampa back in the path of development,” Abberger told the council Nov. 10. “This is the type of project corporate America wants to see.”

Broad support

The council approved the rezoning without asking any substantive questions. There also was no opposition to the rezoning from the public. One member of the carpenters’ union local spoke in favor of the project.

The council’s second vote on the rezoning is scheduled for Dec. 1.

In addition to increasing building height, the proposed rezoning allows Abberger to remove a grand tree from the site, eliminates an 8-foot vehicle buffer for valet parking and reduces the required number of loading berths to two from five.

Abberger said he is talking with potential hotel companies, which would determine most design requirements of that building.

He estimated the entire project would generate about 960 direct jobs in several phases and nearly 1,800 direct permanent jobs. Once complete, which could take four or five years, the project would pay more than $4 million in annual real estate taxes.

Local representatives of architecture firm HOK, design firm WilsonMiller Stantec, engineering firm Tindale-Oliver & Associates .. and law firm Squire Sanders .. are helping with the project.

Abberger serves on Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Economic Competitiveness Committee, which is close to issuing its recommendations on how to streamline development regulations.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=85964933&postcount=200

[JeffreyS]

Awesome infill project.  At least we have empowered our local developers to secure Wendy's at the outer beltway exits with our super Mobility Fee Moratorium.

[Ocklawaha]

Okay, so we agree that the only thing worse then JTA'S mass transit planning is Tampa's mass transit planning. Really with CUTR and the 'USF anti-anything-rail gang' nearby, should we really expect more from the bay area?

While the concept for the Jacksonville Traction line would carry residents and visitors alike it appears that Tampa is suffering atypical Florida tunnel vision syndrome.  We plan a tourist friendly mass transit spine, and they planned a mass transit shaped tourist tram. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb? In this case, provided we can keep the resident screw ups out of the game, I believe Jacksonville has this right.

So such a deal... We make Tampa an offer on the cars, lines, and poles, that they can't refuse... Say maybe a dollar? Pack the whole thing up and move it north to demonstrate how it should be done! It just might be that in spite of our shortcomings, we are far enough from CUTR to pull it off.

SMILE!

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

HART considers streetcar fares as low as 50 cents

Streetcar fares could drop to as low as 50 cents in a concept HART planners will study before next year's budget is finalized.

Worried that Teco Line Streetcar fares might be too high to sustain ridership, planners for the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority will look into the impact on the budget and ridership of different fares, from 50 cents up to the current $2.50.

The nonprofit streetcar HART operates carried 25,123 passengers in April compared with 41,116 in April 2003. HART planners have projected a loss of 80,000 streetcar passengers in fiscal 2013 to a total of 330,000.

Possible reasons ridership is in decline include streetcar fares 75 cents higher than the current bus fare, fewer downtown special events because of the recession and less frequent service necessitated by budget cuts.

In addition, the streetcar route between downtown and Ybor City is targeted more to visitors than residents, an issue exacerbated by the lack of connectivity with other downtown transit modes.

"We are pricing ourselves out of the market," HART chief executive Philip Hale said, without recommending a price. Streetcars fares in Memphis, Tenn., and Little Rock, Ark., for example, are $1.

Hale said he talks with tourists checking out the fare boards at streetcar stations who tell him they decided not ride because of the cost.

Rick Hamilton, director of the Tampa Convention Center and a streetcar board member, concurred, saying conference visitors don't want to ride short distances for $2.75.

The fiscal 2013 budget will be approved in September, following public hearings.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2012/may/17/hart-considers-streetcar-fares-as-low-as-50-cents-ar-404566/