Tucson’s Modern Streetcar opening day launch on Friday, July 25, saw over 17,000 passengers hop on board the much-anticipated transit system, according to the City of Tucson and the Regional Transportation Authority. 107-degree weather didn’t slow down locals as eight Sun Link cars continuously took crowds of all ages down its 3.9-mile path from Friday at 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. early Saturday morning. Tucson City Manager Ricard Miranda declared the launch a “historic day for the City of Tucson.”
Sun Link Project Manager Shellie Ginn said, “The Sun Link streetcar system had a great first day of service. We were able to provide a comfortable, cool ride for thousands of people and the streetcars were consistently overflowing with passengers.” The cars were so full that many Sun Tran buses were used to accommodate the overflow.
As ridership slowed later into the evening, eight cars were reduced to six along the Sun Link route, which connects West Side of downtown from Mercado San Agustin to the lively heart of downtown on Congress St. and Broadway Blvd; the historical, cultural soul of Tucson, Fourth Avenue; and the University of Arizona campus. Sun Link service was free on Friday and will continue to be so through Sunday evening at 8:00 p.m., taking passengers to a series of five separate district celebrations along the route.
- JAMES HUDSON
- Within 30 minutes of opening, the MLK lot pop-up beach party already had scores of visitors enjoying beer, music, and games of volleyball & badminton; children instantly gravitated to the field of sand.
A jovial mood was omnipresent Friday, and could be seen on full display at the streetcar stop on Broadway and 6th Ave. as late as 1:30 a.m., as downtown bar-hopping regulars waited for their all-electric, made-in-America, thirty-ton designated driver to take them home. The streetcars will continue to run until 2:00 a.m. early Sunday morning to accommodate passengers taking advantage of several special events planned Saturday night along the route, including the Wet Hot American Block Party on the pop-up beach party MLK lot and Hotel Congress.
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2014.
I hope this is the start of something good. This may make me a damn red commie, but we need to build this thing out, east on broadway or speedway, north up campbell to river or similar. Naysayers and costs be damned (not really, but they shouldn’t prevent it from happening). Development would fill in, the opportunity for a boom along the line in places would present itself. It’s an uphill battle but would make such a difference for Tucson.
Someguy, if the makers of this project had put any thought into how a trolley could REALLY help Tucson (not just be a novelty) by making it a cross-town route, then I would be “on board” with it. But, they way it is now is just a waste.
Jen-Troy-Owens – I get that, it seems like an awful lot of time/money for a few miles of track. I’m trying to be optimistic, and look at it as a proof-of-concept thing. Plus, much of the infrastructure as far as maintenance and logistics was built as part of this, so adding track might not be as painful from here on out.
It does need to connect with PCC East Campus if it is to fulfill its mission of college connections.
It’s here, it’s now and I’m going to use it!
Tucson Weekly, your headline writer sucks. The headline should read, “More than 17,000 Tucsonans…” Bad grammar is bad grammar, regardless of what AP style now says.
Wheeeee!!! Wheeeeee!!!! Wheeeeeeee!!!!!
Wow! What a ride! I wanna do it again! Can I? Can I? Can I?
Gee Whiz!! That was great!!!
Yes, East-West route makes more sense than anything else!
How many of the 17000 riders were counted more than once due to riding more than once?
What matters is how many ride it on a daily basis a year from now. Hold on to your wallets Tucsonans. It will be in the red.
We can’t even keep the Parks going and we have a new play toy. All for the drunk U of A students. How charming.
Next project?
How about high speed passenger rail service from booming Hermosillo, Sonora, all the way up to Tucson, with a stop in Rio Rico?
” The cars were so full that many Sun Tran buses were used to accommodate the overflow.”
Once again, proving the flexibility of buses over inflexible, rail-based local transit.
Right on, Tucson!! We’re not far behind you here in Comcinnati. And same issues here, the line will need to be expanded to really be a game-changer, and we need to make sure this first phase is successful in order to gat backing for expansion. And I think that very thing will happen. Rail is what people want. It gets people where they need to go conveniently, and inspired development along its routes.