Record crowds use streetcar during Oktoberfest


Friday, October 19, 2007 - 10:11 AM EDT
Tampa Bay Business Journal
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/10/15/daily55.html?jst=b_ln_hl


Single-day ridership aboard the TECO Line Streetcar System reached a record high Saturday.

During an Oktoberfest celebration, 13,451 riders took advantage of the Streetcar's 5-cent fares during its fifth anniversary, a release said.

Fiscal year 2007, which ran from Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30, 2007, was also a record-breaker for the system with a total of 440,200 streetcar riders. The previous high mark was 434,498 rides, set in FY 2005, the release said.

The TECO Line Streetcar is a partnership between Tampa and the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority and is managed by Tampa Historic Streetcar Inc. HART manages the system under contract to THS.

In June the Wall Street Journal reported that last year streetcar ridership declined 10 percent to its lowest level yet. "But proponents say Tampa's Teco Line Streetcar System has delivered on another front: helping to spur development," the newspaper reported.

Out-of-town visitors make up more than half of all the riders on Tampa's streetcar line, the newspaper said. "Tampa's streetcar line is still largely a tourist attraction, drawing 389,770 riders last year, more than half of them out-of-town visitors."

^btw... The part the writer neglected to point out, that I feel is relevant... Ridership was up 13% last year over the previous year.

Great to hear. And if the system was expanded into a loop it would be even more popular.

^^ Agreed! Maybe in time... :)

That is terrific to hear! So many were so quick to dismis the revival of the Tampa streetcar system. That being said the system desperately needs to be expanded if it is to ever really be a success. Now, we just need to work towards the 52 miles of track the city had in 1945.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/TECO_Line.jpg

As i've already said, the Streetcar was more packed then I've ever seen it, so I'm not the least bit surprised it was a record day.

It's funny how people say the streetcar has been in a slump of attendence considering its path goes through Channelside (a district largely U/C with not much there outside of the Forum and Entertainment complex, within walking distance of each other and parking) and Ybor. (a district in transition between collapse and reviatilization that is frowned upon due to violence, rough crowds, and near by projects)

Expand the loop and charge 25cents a ride. It will create development.

If not extending the Trolley then look at Denver's line (it is a bus) but it runs through DT and is FREE. Always packed and delvelopment is all around the line.