Decision nearer on fate of Tampa streetcar

Tampa's trolley runs on shaky finances.

By Mike Brassfield, Times Staff Writer
Published February 17, 2008

TAMPA -- Five years after it started rumbling down the tracks, Tampa's streetcar is running out of time.

The next few months will be crucial in deciding whether it moves forward -- or takes a big step backward.

The streetcar's backers want to run the tracks into the heart of downtown Tampa to get more local passengers on board, not just the tourists and conventioneers who mostly ride it now.

They're chasing federal grants to do that, but federal authorities are asking pointed questions: What's the long-term strategy for this thing? Will it be running 20 years from now?

The problem: The streetcar is burning through the $5-million endowment set up to operate it. The latest estimates say it could be out of money in just three years.

The city of Tampa would be on the hook to take over its funding, and Mayor Pam Iorio says the city isn't in a position to do that.

Now streetcar officials are working on a business plan intended to balance the system's books, ensure its survival and pave the way for expansion.

* * *

The TECO Line Streetcar runs for nearly 2-1/2 miles between Ybor City, the Channel District, the St. Pete Times Forum and the Tampa Convention Center.

Extending the route only four blocks north along Franklin Street would bring electric streetcars right up to the Tampa City Center esplanade, the brick courtyard with trees and fountains nestled amid downtown's core of office towers.

"Once that's accomplished, workers could step out of the office, hop on a streetcar and go to Ybor for lunch and never have to get their car out of parking," said Michael Chen, a board member of the nonprofit group that oversees the system. "New residents of the Channel District could walk a block to the streetcar and ride downtown for work."

The goal is to capture a wider audience and make this more like streetcars in New Orleans and Portland, used by visitors and locals alike. At least some of the cars would likely have to run faster, on speedier express routes.

The move is projected to add 80,000 riders a year, substantially boosting fare revenue, though adding early morning hours for office workers would also raise costs.

The streetcar's critics see it as an expensive boondoggle that should be mothballed, while supporters say it's a public asset that should be nurtured. They argue that it has spurred development around Channelside and is a marketing tool in Tampa's bids to attract conventions and events. Also, its total passengers rose to nearly a half-million last year.

"I don't believe a lot of what has happened along the route would have happened without the streetcar," said John Moors, director of the Convention Center. "From a tourism aspect, it's still an important facet when we sell the destination."

* * *

Most of the streetcar's operating funds come from a multimillion-dollar endowment -- an inheritance of sorts from a previous transportation system that died. It's left over from money that Harbour Island's developers had pledged to run their "People Mover" elevated tram to downtown, which was torn down in 2000 for lack of riders.

The original plan was to spend only the interest on the endowment, but higher-than-expected costs have forced the streetcar's board to tap the principal. It's drawing more than $1-million a year from the fund. About $2.95-million is left from the original $5-million, and it will shrink faster as the principal is depleted. At this rate, it'll be gone by January 2011.

Laying tracks into the downtown core will cost $3.8-million to $4.4-million. Local transit officials have $2.5-million in federal grants and are seeking more. They just shifted a nearly $1-million grant away from the streetcar extension because it was about to expire.

But federal authorities want a commitment that the streetcar will run for at least another 20 years. The streetcar's board would have to get Mayor Pam Iorio to agree, which would mean pledging city support once the endowment is gone.

So the board is seeking to put the streetcar on firmer financial footing and to lengthen the life of its endowment. Among the strategies they're considering:

• Sell naming rights to six stations for $600,000.
• Sell more ads on the cars.
• Trim service. They've already downsized from four cars to two on weekday afternoons.
• Make changes to a tax paid by businesses and rental units along the route. The city could spread the tax to condos with homestead exemptions. The special tax is $33 per $100,000 of assessed property value.
• Project how much money that tax will raise as the Channel District grows.

"We have to convince the mayor we can do this," said board member Michael English.

"That's a tough one," Iorio said in an interview. "We love the streetcar," she said, but it wouldn't be fiscally prudent for the city to sign a 20-year pledge to cover the system's deficits.

Because the streetcar is a selling point when Tampa bids for big events like the Super Bowl and the ACC basketball tournament, the mayor wants local tourism officials to set aside some hotel tax dollars for it. She'd like Hillsborough County to support it, too, although some county officials have been among its harshest critics.

* * *

The best-case scenario for the streetcar has it evolving into a realistic transportation option for locals and a more vital part of the fabric of downtown Tampa.

In the worst case, the system probably wouldn't be mothballed entirely. That could require paying back $10-million to $20-million of the federal grants that built it. But it could be reduced to a shadow of what it is now, with the seven-day-a-week service scaled back to weekends and special events. It would subsist on its $2 fares and its special tax, which raised $435,000 last year.

"The extension is critical," English said. "The system is creeping up toward a half-million riders, but it still isn't connected to the core of downtown."

Mike Brassfield can be reached at brassfield@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3435.

TECO streetcar

Passengers per fiscal year:

2003: 420,000

2004: 425,000

2005: 434,000

2006: 390,000

2007: 440,000

[Last modified February 17, 2008, 00:19:35]