These vintage photos show how much Tampa's streetcar has changed

In 1885, Tampa’s Streetcars became the first in the entire state, and according to Hillsborough County Senior Planner Diego Guerra they crisscrossed the city connecting different neighborhoods to the cigar factories in West Tampa, Ybor City and to the industrialized port. By 1892 lines extended from Ybor to Ballast Point and in the year following, West Tampa was connected to the city by the streetcar which even ran along Bayshore Boulevard.

The streetcar and its 21.5 miles of track helped aid the development of then-suburban neighborhoods like Desoto Park (today, less than three miles remain). On the weekends, it gave residents in the urban core a chance to travel to recreation spots like Sulphur Springs.

The streetcar started out steam-powered but quickly switched to electric. In 1899, Tampa Electric Company (TECO) assumed ownership of the city’s streetcar. At the streetcars peak in the 1920s it only cost a nickel to ride, and carried 24 million people each year, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

USF researcher Meeghan Kane points out that by 1940, ridership on Tampa’s streetcar had dramatically decreased as more people chose the automobile. During World War II, ridership had increased due to government mandated fuel rationing. However, once the war ended, ridership took a decline once again and cities across the U.S—including Tampa—started ripping out their streetcars and paved over the tracks. On Aug. 4, 1946, Tampa’s last streetcar was retired to the car barn on Highland Avenue now known as Amerature Works, Kane adds.

In the 1980s, Tampa took another stab at mass transit with the ill-fated Harbour Island people mover, which never earned a robust ridership, which according to author W.J.Sproule once had average ridership of about two people per trip. Harbour Island developer Beneficial Corporation spent $5 million to dissolve the People Mover contract, and the money was used to bring the TECO Streetcar back. Phase I opened in 2022 and ran from Ybor city to the Garrison Seaport and Channelside Districts to the Tampa Convention Center.

In October 2017, the TECO streetcar system received its first approval to extend its line north to downtown Tampa’s Fort Brooke parking garage. Phase II spent 2003-2010 expanding the system to 11 stops.

In 2015, a single-ride fare was $2.50 but since 2018, riding it has been free. In 2020, the city got $67 million from the state toward the $234 million price tag for extending and modernizing the streetcar. The streetcar transitioned from a tourist attraction to a viable form of transportation for the residents of Ybor and surrounding areas and now the streetcar has increased its frequency to every 12 minutes during peak hours