Tampa receives stimulus dollars to extend streetcar line

[thelakelander]

http://www.railwaypreservation.com/vintagetrolley/Tampa_Downtown_extension_route_sm.JPG

The TECO Line Streetcar currently terminates at the Tampa Convention Center.  This short extension will take the streetcar into Downtown Tampa, with the hopes of increasing ridership by being more accessible to Downtown's office workers.

HART Plans New Airport Transfer Center, Selects Contractor for Streetcar Extension

April 6, 2009 - Tampa, Florida - In March, bus service to Tampa International Airport got faster and more convenient with improved frequencies on Route 30. Now, service is slated to improve even more with an agreement to build a new multi-modal transfer center on airport property approved by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Board of Directors at today's regular monthly meeting.

TIA Transfer Center
The multi-agency agreement between HART, the Hillsborough Aviation Authority and Florida Department of Transportation allows construction of a transfer center at TIA that will operate as an intermodal hub in the Westshore area. The facility will connect existing and future transit services, including HART local and limited express routes, cross-bay express service operated by Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), and future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and circulator services. Design would be undertaken this fall, with construction underway next summer. The transfer center would be operational in summer 2011.

Streetcar Extension Contract Awarded, Ridership Strong
HART also took the next step toward bringing the TECO Line Streetcar System to downtown Tampa with the selection of Kimmins Contracting Corp. as the contractor for design-build services for the system's extension to Whiting Street.

This action builds on the growing success of the streetcar system, which has experienced 17% ridership growth to date in FY 2009, along with a 22% growth in revenue for the month of March 2009. In fact, streetcar system ridership for the week of March 30th was particularly high, with 12,815 rides taken thanks in part to the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance holding its annual meeting at the Tampa Convention Center last week.

Federal Funding for Projects
The Board approved HART staff's plans for funding provided to HART under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including the purchase of new vehicles, accessibility improvements, upgrades to the 21st Avenue operations and maintenance facility, the streetcar extension, fleet overhaul and other improvements. Input at a public hearing held in March was supportive of projects to be funded with the federal stimulus dollars.

From the HART E-Newsletter.


http://www.primemeridiancenter.com/images/location_aerial_text.jpg

Federal stimulus funds to add buses, vans and streetcar rails in Tampa

By Michael Van Sickler, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, April 7, 2009

TAMPA â€" Federal stimulus money is on its way to boost Hillsborough County's transit system.

On Monday, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit's governing board approved spending more than $15.1 million in federal stimulus money, including about $7.8 million on 29 buses and two paratransit vans, which are used to shuttle elderly or disabled passengers too frail to travel by bus. Another $1.5 million will be spent to operate the fleet of 36 paratransit vans.

About $1 million was approved to extend downtown's streetcar system about a third of a mile from the Tampa Convention Center to the outer business and office district on Whiting Street. Overall, the extension will cost about $5.5 million; construction is to begin this summer and be completed by mid 2010, according to HART spokesman Ed Crawford.

The remainder of the money, about $3.8 million, will be spent on improvements to operations, equipment and security.

"This helps tremendously," Crawford said. "We were behind on bus purchases, so this gets us up to date."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/article990149.ece


http://www.railwaypreservation.com/vintagetrolley/Tampa_routemap.gif

The line will be extended to Whiting Street, on the south end of the CBD.

[Shwaz]

Tampa has a beautiful downtown! They should've built the NFL stadium DT too.

In fact, streetcar system ridership for the week of March 30th was particularly high, with 12,815 rides taken thanks

Isn't that 1830 riders average per day? Or is the 12,800 a total per day for that week.

Currently, the Skyway sees 3,000 riders per day who pay 35 cents a trip. In fiscal 2001, the Skyway brought in $513,694 in revenue but its expenses were $3.5 million....

[thelakelander]

1,830 riders per day.  It averages less riders than the Skyway, although the capital and annual O&M costs are significantly cheaper.  Its essentially a tourist train that connects Ybor to the convention center, aquarium and cruise ship terminal.  A side effect to this is the explosion of lofts in the Channel District.  However, most local riders don't use the streetcar for daily transit because it does not connect the everyday destination spots.  The goal of the extension is to enable it to serve downtown (right now it doesn't even go downtown).  Imo, I've always thought it made little sense to not connect Hyde Park or at least the University of Tampa/Downtown to it.

[thelakelander]

In fiscal 2008, the TECO streetcar's revenues were $1.2 million.  The operating expenses were $2.7 million.  However, the streetcar's average fare was $1.42 (page 18 of PDF document).

http://www.tecolinestreetcar.org/board/ths_board_packet.pdf

[Shwaz]

I would imagine the skyway cost (per ride) would significantly increase if new extensions were added.
I would definitely pay $1 - $2 to ride from Riverside to downtown or San Marco.

Last Friday I took a cab to destination downtown (to avoid drinking & driving) and for 6 people it was $24 (from 5 points to the Landing).

In 1989 the first section was completed and opened to the public. Jacksonville's transit leaders projected more than 10,000 people would ride the Skyway a day on this 0.7-mile starter section.

Instead, only 1,200 rode the Skyway.

In November 2000, the complete Skyway opened to the public. Nearly two years later, with ridership at an average of 3,000 a day, the Skyway has not met even the projections for the starter section.

When the last extensions were complete rider average went up 250% to 3000 per day. With the new lines added and a conservative rider increase of another 50% the new average would be 4500 per day. With the average rider most likely taking 2 trips @ $2 per ride the skyway would bring in $16,400 per day. The yearly revenue would be almost $6,500,000.