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Next Stop: Licensing Trends Will Demonstrate Sun Link System’s Economic Impact in Coming Years

Sun Link, the streetcar line that began operation 10 months ago, is starting to have an economic impact on downtown Tucson. The following charts show the smoothed number of licenses, by category, issued to businesses within walking distance of a stop along the line. Licensing trends within walking distance roughly reflected those of the rest of the city.

As the effect of the streetcar on business along the line becomes clearer in the coming years, licensing rates will be one way to evaluate the impact on the local economy. Sun Link’s route was agreed upon by 2007, and in 2010, just before licensing data was made available, a federal stimulus grant made the project possible. Ground was broken in May 2012, and the line opened to the public in July 2014.