This is an artist's rendition of how the trolley might look passing Downtown's Ronstadt Transit Center at Congress and 6th Avenue

This is a particularly exciting time for OPT as we are on the verge of achieving a long-held dream to extend the trolley line all the way from the Main Gate of the University of Arizona along our current route to Fourth Avenue, then across Downtown and the Convention Center all the way to the planned Rio Nuevo Historical Area. This service would run all day every day at 10-15 minute intervals, and will require a great deal of financial support from all quarters to make it happen. Following is the text from a recent position paper on the Downtown Extension, alongside some other artist's renditions of the trolley at various Downtown locations.

THE BACKGROUND

Old Pueblo Trolley (OPT) is an all-volunteer, non-profit, operating transit museum which restores historic electric streetcars and buses and operates trolleys on University Blvd. and Fourth Avenue when volunteers are available: Friday night, Saturday noon to midnight, and Sunday afternoon. Restoration is dependent on donations and grants; operating expenses are met by fares and memberships in the organization.

Currently, OPT is focused on being a museum and tourist attraction rather than a transportation service. The route isn’t yet long enough, doesn’t connect enough destination points, and service is infrequent due to financial and volunteer constraints.

Since its founding in 1983, the OPT board has had as its goal to connect the Convention Center to the University of Arizona via downtown and the Fourth Avenue business district. The board believes there is a strong need for full-time (seven days a week, 18 hours a day), frequent (every 10 minutes), attractive (using historic vehicles, not imitation trolleys or modern mini-buses) shuttle service in this corridor.

THE NEED

The 1994 Downtown Linkage Study identified seven central city linkages needing specialized shuttle service. The first priority calls for improved service along the corridor from the U of A to TCC via Fourth Avenue and Downtown. OPT believes the historic trolley should provide that service, and that the tracks and overhead electric lines should be extended accordingly through downtown as quickly as possible. The second priority calls for a separate downtown shuttle. OPT believes that service can and should be provided by historic buses, and could begin as soon as funding is made available.

The need for improved downtown/central city shuttle service is obvious. There exists a chain of important attractions along this corridor which are just far enough apart to make walking difficult: the seven museums on the University campus; the Main Gate shopping area; the Fourth Avenue business district; the East Congress retail district; the Amtrak station, Greyhound station, and Ronstadt Transit Center; the main library; the governmental complex; the Convention Center; the South Scott Temple of Music and Art; the Children’s Museum; the Tucson Museum of Art; Old Town Artisans; and the YMCA.

Short extensions of the historic trolley line could better serve the existing University library and sports center on the eastern end, and the planned Regional Visitor’s Center and Rio Nuevo South development on the western end.

A full-time shuttle would aid parking for large events wherever they are held by distributing parking more evenly throughout the corridor. These events could include the Gem and Mineral Show, the Fourth Avenue Street Fair, Downtown Saturday night, and U. of A. sports events.

The Gem Show would gain much additional exhibition space by distributing vendors at vacant locations along the corridor, and all convention-goers would be more easily drawn by the trolley into all the central Tucson shopping districts, spreading their tourist dollars more widely.

BENEFITS

A full-time, frequent, attractive and historic shuttle would benefit tourism in the downtown area by providing a unique attraction which would encourage visitors to stay longer.

It would improve attendance at central city area museums and tourist attractions.

It would aid in downtown redevelopment and revitalization in numerous tangible ways.

It would help to relieve parking problems and could serve to link remote parking to downtown offices and attractions.

It would increase the attractiveness of downtown and result in improved property values.

The success of historic trolley operations, including the F Line on Market Street in San Francisco and the Main Street trolley in Memphis, prove that these benefits are real, not wishful thinking.

PROPOSED PROJECT

Where will it go? Current plans call for track from Fourth Avenue through a new underpass (now under design by the City) along Congress, Scott, and McCormick to the Convention Center. The final route is still under discussion.

How many trolleys will be running? To provide 10 minute service will require six trolleys with six others for backup and special events. On an average, costs are about the same whether actual historic trolleys are restored or new replica trolleys are purchased — about the same as a new Sun Tran bus, around $300,000 per car.

How much will the line cost to build? $5 million for rails, poles, overhead line and power supply, plus $3 million for new trolleys.

What will it cost to operate? $600,000 annually.

Who will run the service? OPT has the both the experience and knowledge to restore additional historic vehicles and provide management services for ongoing operations.

What funding is available for the project? Infrastructure construction funds could come from the Federal Transit Administration. The recently re-authorized federal surface transportation act, now called TEA21, increased capital funds available to the City of Tucson by 40%. Thus these funds could be used without impacting previously planned improvements for Sun Tran. Operating funds could be provided by TEAM, the Tucson central city parking management system. One of their purposes is to provide shuttle service in the central city area using funding generated by increased parking revenues. By the time the infrastructure is in place, TEAM should have had time to implement new parking policies which will provide the necessary operating revenue.

CONCLUSION

Now is the time to move forward with extension of the electric trolley so it will be in place through downtown when the new Fourth Avenue underpass is completed.

Now is the time to physically link all future downtown projects to the City’s past via historic electric streetcars.

Now is the time to make the trolley an attractive, educational, dependable, and fun “people mover” which will enable visitors to park once and access all central city attractions without having to use their cars.

Now is the time for the City of Tucson to find a way to fund the trolley extension and its associated infrastructure and operational needs.

Now is the time to decisively catalyze downtown revitalization efforts by extending the historic trolley through our city’s center.

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