Credit: TECOLineStreetcar/Facebook
The popular TECO Line Streetcar will remain free, at least for the next year.

In 6-1 vote, the Tampa’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board approved funding on Thursday to keep the streetcar free for the fiscal year of 2025.

“The Streetcar has been a very successful program,” said CRA Board Member Alan Clendenin, who made the motion to approve the funding. “People spend way too much money on transportation. If we can eliminate the need to have a car payment, car maintenance and a car insurance payment, they can start affording housing; they can afford to live. This is the future of Tampa.”

Thanks to an annual $700,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, the TECO Line Streetcar has been free for riders since 2018. However, the last grant didn’t continue into 2025.

To keep the service gratis, funding was allocated by the CRA’s Community Advisory Communities (CAC’s), including $234,000 from the Ybor City CRA, $233,000 from the Channel District CRA and $233,000 from the Downtown CRA.

Districtwide councilman Charlie Miranda was the only “no” vote.

Last year, the TECO Line Streetcar set an annual ridership record, with 1,330,932 trips.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky

Related Stories

This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2025.

Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL's parent...