Tampa wants go to back in time to move forward with the Tampa Streetcar.
In the mid-1940s, riding the streetcar was the best way to get around the city.
- About $1.6 million being spent on study
- Mayor Buckhorn talked about transporation at State of City address
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"It was exciting to ride the streetcar,” said Bennie Taylor. "Because they were all open windows and no air conditioning. You could stick your head out the window, and people would hang on the side that didn't have the fare to ride. They'll sneak on the back and catch on. So it was really exciting as a boy to see that."
Busses replaced the street cars until October 2002, when replica streetcars started down Ybor City’s tracks.
The City of Tampa and the state are now working on taking the streetcar from a novelty to a bigger part of a transportation plan.
About $1.6 million is being spent on a study about streetcars.
"If you want to make this more attractive, you would want to look at 10-15 minute frequency,” said Katherine Eagan, the CEO of Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART).
“You'd want to look at where folks are going to and coming home from work. And then exactly what the city is doing with this really great outreach of where else are you trying to go,” she said.
In Mayor Bob Buckhorn's State of the City address, most of the items on his list were related to traffic and transportation.
"It's so important for anything that our city is wanting to do as far as growing and becoming a go-to place,” said Jean Duncan, the city’s transportation manager. “Transportation is just woven into that conversation."
In 2014, several proposed expansion maps were discussed, but now those need to be compared to the growth of the city and movement of the population.