Over 7,000 people hopped on Laguna Beach’s free trolleys for their inaugural non-summer run last weekend, according to Deputy City Manager Ben Siegel, an amount that far exceeds the minimum ridership of 1,800 required to ensure continued grant funding for the service.
Saturday riders made up almost half of the weekend’s trolley traffic, said Cindy Stalnaker, events and marketing manager for Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, indicating that the Patriot’s Day Parade crowds may have contributed to that spike.
Up to six trolleys at a time operated over the three days, with the wait time between trolleys averaging 15 to 20 minutes, said Siegel. Even so, the trolleys, representing a third of the summer fleet, were so crowded in the peak post parade hours on Saturday that some riders reported letting one or more trolleys go by before finding a seat.
Visit Laguna Beach spent a year collaborating with the city and the Chamber of Commerce to find creative ways to market the new, year-round weekend trolley service to visitors and residents, said Ashley Johnson, the organization’s marketing director. Their efforts included a direct mailer to residents, a media tour, a special map, pre-arrival information for hotel guests, and social media outreach.
Laura Ann Henkels, executive director of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, said she Assistant City Manager Christa Johnson jumped on a trolley Friday evening. They reported rubbing elbows with an Irvine couple going out to dinner before a show at Laguna Playhouse, two friends from Valencia and North Hollywood on their way to Mozambique restaurant, two Laguna kids out for some frozen yogurt and a few restaurant workers headed home. It shows that the trolley “really is for everyone,” said Henkels.
While the opening weekend did exceed expectations, the warm weather was also a factor, as it brings in more leisure guests and last minute hotel bookings from visitors from neighboring counties, said Johnson. The effort to promote trolley use by visitors may increase traffic to retailers throughout the city. “With the new trolley service, visitors can plan their trip more effectively to see the entire city and visit more of the city’s hidden gems,” she said.
Several shopkeepers interviewed this week couldn’t say for sure whether the trolleys, the high temps or the parade played a greater role in attracting weekend foot traffic. Even so, unlike previous years, customers were browsing the store while the parade was underway, said Lisa Childers of Laguna Beach Books, located along the trolley route on Coast Highway. There were also anecdotal reports of crowds of people coming off of South Laguna beaches waiting to catch trolleys into town.
Funded primarily by the Orange County Transportation Authority’s Project V grant program, the weekend trolleys operate from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays, making a loop along Coast Highway from the Mission Hospital parking area in South Laguna to Cajon Street in North Laguna.
Non-summer trolley service owes its genesis to a number of city initiatives over the past two years to update Laguna’s parking, transit and urban development guidelines, including a mobility study presented last month. Through studies and workshops, residents and experts alike have supported the idea of alleviating parking woes and reducing traffic congestion by capturing motorists in lots at the city’s periphery, with reliable public transit to ferry them to restaurants, shopping areas and beaches. With summer ridership of the free trolleys increasing annually, and with the city’s proverbial arteries clogging on sunny weekends earlier and earlier each year, well ahead of festival season, it seemed a good bet to roll out the trolleys sooner. Staff initiative in pursuing a county grant to fund the service helped seal the deal that the City Council approved last May.
Since funding is contingent on a minimum ridership of 10 riders per trolley per hour, or about 1,800 over each weekend, “it is imperative that residents and visitors continue to ride the free trolleys to ensure the long-term viability of the program,” said Siegel.
To that end, both the Chamber and Visit Laguna have committed to continue their promotion efforts to encourage ridership.
That is not a trolley that is a bus. A trolley runs pn railroad tracks, just because you make a bus look like a vintage trolley does not make it a trolley.