Newport Beach to explore options for expanding shuttles around town

Newport Beach will look at the feasibility of expanding its neighborhood shuttle concept to Balboa Island and Corona del Mar.

“We have our planes, trains and automobiles for going long distances, we have our buses … more Uber-, Lyft-type things for going regionally,” Brad Sommers, a civil engineer for the city’s Public Works Department, told the City Council during a study session Tuesday. “But we always seem to miss that first or last mile.”

Compact buses known as neighborhood circulators can offer short-distance mass transit. Newport has two of them, publicly and privately funded.

The city debuted its free seasonal Balboa Peninsula Trolley in 2017 to help ease traffic and parking congestion on the narrow peninsula and provide visitor convenience during peak summer tourism.

In the Fashion Island area, the Irvine Co. runs the Free Rides Around Newport Center service, or FRANC. The five-passenger electric vehicles can be hailed from a phone app, similar to Uber or Lyft, with travel and stop options within the area.

A publicly funded program in Anaheim called FRAN, or Free Rides Around the Neighborhood, ferries patrons around the Center City and Packing District.

Balboa Island and Corona del Mar business owners and residents have asked the city to consider something for their visitor-friendly areas, Sommers said.

For the especially tight spaces of Balboa Island, riders could park in an offsite lot to be shuttled to and from the island. A single van or cart-style vehicle could follow a fixed route.

Sommers said Circuit, the company that operates FRANC, gave preliminary cost estimates of $60,000 to $120,000 per year to run through Balboa Island and Newport Center and $90,000 to $250,000 to link Balboa Island, Newport Center and CdM, assuming two to four vehicles in circulation on weekend days for six months.

A county grant program that subsidizes the Balboa Peninsula Trolley could help fund those added routes, as could private partnerships, advertising and user fares.

A feasibility study with community outreach could come next before sketching out a pilot program.

Public Works Director Dave Webb estimated a feasibility study with a consultant could cost $20,000 to $25,000, but Newport could incorporate findings from nearby cities’ similar studies to bring down the cost. Area merchants may underwrite the study.

Marine Avenue committee

The City Council declined to form a citizens advisory committee to review city projects on Balboa Island’s Marine Avenue.

The proposed Marine Avenue Preservation Committee would have reviewed projects in the public right of way that could change the look, feel or character of the historical boulevard, which is home to several locally owned boutiques and cafes. If the committee determined that a project would negatively affect the street’s aesthetics, the project would not go forward unless the council overrode the recommendation.

That would have applied to changes to physical features such as benches and other street furniture, trash receptacles, light fixtures, crosswalks and trees. The condition and future of several of the iconic eucalyptus trees on Marine have been a touchy topic lately among island residents, the council, the city parks commission and city staff and consultants.

The preservation committee was a tough sell for the council, though, which didn’t muster the needed four votes to create the group. It instead pulled a 2-2 vote.

Councilman Jeff Herdman recused himself because he owns property on the island. Councilman Marshall “Duffy” Duffield was absent and Councilman Brad Avery abstained because he didn’t want to take a side in what he saw as a fight among island neighbors.

Councilwoman Joy Brenner voted no to avoid giving a community group more status than others, and Mayor Pro Tem Will O’Neill also dissented to avoid getting involved in what he saw as a neighborhood dispute.

“This is internecine island warfare,” O’Neill said.

He said people need to work together on Balboa Island but the would-be council-backed committee wasn’t how to do it.

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