In these pictures, graphic artist Steve Farley depicts the trolley at various locations on one proposed route.
When Old Pueblo Trolley was initiated in 1983, the charter was two-fold. First was to develop a transportation museum, and secondly to demonstrate the value of electric powered mass transportation in Tucson. As of 2005, we have met both of those goals and are pleased that the planners in the City of Tucson are incorporating the streetcar in the future plans for downtown Tucson.
From the very beginning of Old Pueblo Trolley in January 1983 it was the intent to connect the University of Arizona to the central business district of downtown Tucson. Soon after the incorporation on May 9, 1983, and recognition by the Internal Revenue Service as a not for profit 501(3)(C) organization, a feasibility study, jointly financed by the State of Arizona and the City of Tucson, was conducted by Wilbur Smith & Associates of Columbia, South Carolina. The study showed that a historic trolley would carry more than 1,1 00 passengers each day.
A number of
initiative proposals have been made over the ensuing years to finance such a
system using various funding mechanisms. These included both bonding and sales
tax based methods which included a number of other transportation improvements
including improved roadways and intersections among others. While all went down
to defeat, a common thread among all of them was the overwhelming support from
the precincts west of Country Club Road and south of Grant Road. It was clear
that there were needs to connect the university area and downtown that were not
being met by current systems. 
With the continued rapid growth of the Health Sciences Center north of Speedway and the approval for construction of the Rio Nuevo Historical Area immediately west of downtown with its University related Science Center, the need for a convenient transportation system between the two became even stronger.
Meanwhile Old Pueblo Trolley continued to grow as an operating trolley museum with more trolleys being obtained and the logical growth into historic buses from all over the southern part of the state. At the same time many people approached OPT with offers to donate their collection of historical transportation artifacts. That ultimately resulted in the formation of the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum which opened its doors in March 2005.
During the past decade, planning for a new, larger capacity underpass under the now Union Pacific railroad at 4th Avenue has been underway. Old Pueblo Trolley volunteers have played a significant role in the design of both track and overhead. According the City of Tucson Department of Transportation the new underpass construction will begin the summer of 2005. The primarily double track trolley line, located in separate right-of-way in the center of the underpass, will provide a temporary terminal close to the transportation museum on Toole Avenue.
While
all this was going in the 2003/4 timeframe, the City of Tucson Department of
Transportation determined that a formal study was needed to determine the future
transportation system needed to conveniently connect the two areas of interest.
Through a competitive process, a consulting firm was selected to carry out this
study. Known as the City of Tucson Transit on the Move Study, the
consulting firm of Frank Beard and Associates headquartered in Phoenix, which
did the successful Phoenix
Light Rail Study earlier, began the study in the spring of 2004. The
Tucson 18 month long study, when completed, will be submitted to the Federal
Transit Administration for funding consideration.
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