Galveston, Tex.'s City Council, in a 6-to-1 vote Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, approved proceeding to re-establish the citys 6.8-mile diesel trolley car operation, which was discontinued in 2008.
Galveston plans to use Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds, insurance proceeds, and budgetary cash reserves to reactivate the line, with service to begin sometime in the summer of 2017.
The decision follows years of debate over whether to restore the operation, known formally (if inaccurately) as the Galveston Island Trolley, which suffered from increasing maintenance costs and then flood damage from Hurricane Ike.
The operation, including four diesel-powered streetcars, is owned by the city and was operated by Island Transit, which oversees the city's bus system.
Local media report the motivation for restoring the line was prosaic, and financial, and not a result of more common goals such as transit-oriented development.
Galveston was informed by the Federal Transit Administration that it would have to return (or pay back) grant funds used to establish and expand the trolley system since the 1980s if the city did not proceed with restoration, a move that would cost Galveston more than $7 million, plus an additional $6 million in related costs.
The lone City Council member voting to oppose the plan urged Galveston to challenge FTA's right to demand its money be returned.