page_title: Loop Trolley
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Loop Trolley / History
caption_attribution_description: Loop Trolley construction, on Delmar Blvd. at Melville Avenue in St. Louis, in November 2015.
context_page_description: The Loop Trolley was a 2.2-mile, 10-station heritage streetcar line in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated from November 2018 to December 2019. As of December 2019, the Bi-State Development Agency, a regional transit operator, was seeking ways to restart operations.
  Opened in November 2018, the Loop Trolley connected the Delmar Loop district and the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, serving parts of University City and the St. Louis neighborhoods of DeBaliviere Place, Skinker/DeBaliviere, and the West End. It also served two MetroLink light-rail stations: Delmar Loop and Forest Park–DeBaliviere.
  At its closing, the line operated from noon until 6 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays. Passengers were carried on two replica-historic streetcars.
  The Loop Trolley Transportation Development District owns the line and trolley cars, which were operated by the non-profit Loop Trolley Company. Operating funds came from a one-cent sales tax collected by businesses along and near the line, and from fares and advertising.
  Ridership was far lower than expected, and the trolley ceased operations on December 29, 2019.
context_section_description: The Delmar Loop was named for the streetcar turnaround that occupied two oblong blocks on the north side of Delmar east from Kingsland Avenue. This loop was used by two lines of the St. Louis Public Service Company — the Olive-Delmar and Creve Coeur lines — and a private line west to what is now University City's City Hall. Streetcar service ended in St. Louis in 1966, but the Loop retained its name. 
  Years later, the idea of bringing back streetcars found a champion in Joe Edwards, the owner of Blueberry Hill, The Pageant, and other Loop businesses.  Edwards secured the purchase of two Peter Witt-type streetcars that once operated in Milan, Italy. The two Peter Witt cars were cosmetically refurbished by the Gomaco Trolley Company in 2005 and placed on long-term display along the route – one on Delmar by Commerce Bank, and the other at the Missouri History Museum – to publicize the proposed Loop Trolley line. Originally, the two were slated to carry passengers if the project came to fruition, but plans to restore them to operating condition were deemed too expensive in 2015, in part because they had deteriorated during their years on outdoor display.
   
  In July 2010, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Urban Circulator Grant Program approved a grant of $25 million for the project. Other money came from the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District and elsewhere.  The overall construction budget was $51 million as of 2015.
  Construction began in March 2015 and was completed in November 2016. During construction, some shops and restaurants saw decreased foot traffic and sales. Some businesses moved; others closed permanently. One business owner called the Loop Trolley "a solution in need of a problem". 
  The first of three streetcars being refurbished and modified for the line was delivered on February 16, 2017, and the second on March 30, 2017. On March 26, 2017, car No. 001 was towed along the line to check the tracks and clearances at station platforms, becoming the first streetcar to be moved along the Loop Trolley line, though not under its own power. 
  The line's opening was delayed several times as completion of a third trolley fell behind schedule. Eventually it was decided to operate a temporarily reduced schedule with two trolleys until the third is delivered. 
  In November 2018, the Loop Trolley Company announced that the line would open on November 15, 2018. Snow delayed the opening one more day, and service began on November 16, 2018. But service was initially limited to the portion between the Missouri History Museum terminus and the Delmar Loop MetroLink station due to a failure to obtain an operating permit from University City. The permit was obtained and service was implemented along the entire line one week later, on November 23, 2018.
caption: Track construction under way on Delmar Blvd. in November 2015
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