Tampa’s TECO streetcar increases frequency to every 12 minutes during peak hours

Tampa’s TECO Line Streetcar system is increasing its peak hour service starting this Sunday.

The change kicks off Sunday, March 19 when the streetcar will pick riders up every 12 minutes from 1 p.m.-9 p.m. The 12-minute pickup window will also happen Fridays and Saturdays from 1 p.m.-9 p.m.

The streetcar—which runs 2.7 miles from between Ybor City’s Centennial Park to the intersection of S Franklin and E Whiting streets in downtown Tampa—will continue to pick up passengers every 15 minutes outside of peak hours.

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) said the increased peak hour service is “to accommodate the increase in ridership the Streetcar experiences on the weekends.”

“The TECO Line Streetcar continues to show what an investment in public transportation can provide with enhanced connectivity in the area and increased foot traffic to businesses,” Tampa Historic Streetcar, Inc. President Michael English, wrote in a release.

Tampa’s streetcar has been free to ride since 2018, thanks in part to a $2.7 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. Before that, a fare was $2.50. In recent years, FDOT funds, together with local matches from HART, have kept the trolley a no-fare affair.

HART says the streetcar carried over a million riders in the 2022 fiscal year, but the service dates all the way back to the late 1800s when it connected what’s now downtown to Ybor City, while also passing through Tampa Heights and even Bayshore Boulevard.

This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2023.