The first streetcars in Tampa were operated by the Tampa Street Railway Company between downtown Tampa and Ybor City. The line started operation in 1885, using wood-burning steam engines. In 1892 the Tampa Street Railway Company merged with the Florida Electric Company to form the Tampa Street Railway and Power Company, and converted to electrically powered streetcars in 1893. Also in 1892, a rival company, the Tampa Suburban Company, was organized to compete with the Tampa Street Railway Company, but was blocked from operating by an injunction. A new company, The Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company was formed, and soon out-competed the Tampa Railway Company by lowering its fares. The Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company bought out the Tampa Street Railway Company in 1894. The company also acquired control of the Tampa and Palmetto Beach Rail Company, becoming the sole streetcar operator in Tampa. The Tampa Electric Company acquired control of the Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company in 1899. The Tampa Electric Company acquired of streetcar track with the Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company in 1899. After acquiring the Tampa and Sulphur Springs Traction Company in 1913, Tampa Electric had almost of track, increasing to by 1926. That year the Tampa Electric system carried almost 24 million passengers. The streetcar system in Tampa was shut down after World War Two, with the last cars removed from service some time between 1946 and 1949.
Revival
Streetcars returned to Tampa in 2002, when the initial long heritage line was opened. Its operating costs are financed through a special tax assessment on businesses in the streetcar district and a streetcar endowment stemming from settlement money received in 2006 by the city for the demolition of the Harbor Island People Mover. In its first year of operation, the streetcar carried 420,000 riders, 20% more than projected. In 2005, 434,498 passengers used the streetcar. In 2011, streetcar ridership from October 2011 through May decreased by 8.3 percent to 265,148 with a total for the year of 358,737 riders. In 2015, the streetcar served 285,900 passengers. A new extension, costing $5.5 million, opened for revenue service on December 19, 2010. The extension runs north along Franklin Street to Whiting Street and the Fort Brooke parking garage, connecting the Convention Center as well as the rest of the TECO Line to the downtown core.
Dick Greco Plaza; former southern terminus until 2010, connection to Purple Line; signed as TRANSPORTATION PLAZA on rollsigns
; southern terminus, connection to HART bus routes 14 and 30, access to Fort Brooke parking garage.
Rolling stock
The system has eleven operating streetcars: nine modern replica double-truck Birney cars, one replica open-bench "Breezer", and one restored original Birney car. All except the original Birney were built by the Gomaco Trolley Company in Ida Grove, Iowa. The replica Birney cars have a welded steel body with cosmetic rivets added to make them look older. The cars are wheelchair-accessible, air-conditioned and have automated stop announcements. The seats are made of wood and are reversible for when the car changes direction. The cars are also equipped with on-board ticket dispensers; however, they do not provide change. The original Birney #163 streetcar ran on the Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway between 1923 and 1946. It was found in 1991 in Sulphur Springs, a neighborhood in Tampa, where it had been used as an apartment and later a storage shed. Volunteers worked more than 10,000 hours to restore the car to its former condition. It is Florida's only operational historic streetcar.
Financing
The agency that operates the streetcar is a non-profit. On October 22, 2014, the Tampa Bay Times published an editorial on the leverage a subsidy the Tampa Port Authority gives to the streetcar system. However it also wrote that the system "is not dependent" on the subsidy. They also reported that the system has to pay almost half a million dollars in insurance to cover the risk of streetcars crossing an active freight rail line. The single-ride adult fare was $2.50 prior to October 2018. Starting that month, fares were dropped for a three year period due to a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. As a result, ridership on the 2.7 mile line has skyrocketed, with almost three times as many riders in 2019 as in 2018.
