There was talk of some sort streetcar operation when regular PCC operation ended Sept. 19, 2002 (actually the 20th because they ran until 2AM). The greatest boost was the fact that the cable cars were to be shut down for 2-plus years during reconstruction. I am not sure who in the hallowed halls of San Francisco mis-government, pushed the idea but 1983 saw the first trolley festival and it became a fixture. The '89 Loma Prieta Quake gave the project a boost by destroying the castastrophe known as the Embarcadero Freeway.