City Council seeking chamber support for weekend trolleys

Barbara Diamond

Mayor Cheryl Kinsman and Councilwoman Toni Iseman formed a rare

partnership Tuesday.

They will seek to enlist the Chamber of Commerce in an effort to

make the free weekend tram service a success.

“I want to ask the chamber about getting Downtown employees to

park at Act V and use the trolleys,” Iseman said.

Downtown employee parking has been seen as a major impediment to

freeing up parking spaces for residents and visitors.

“I have been pushing for this for years, but I thought this was

premature,” longtime resident Carolyn Wood said.

Wood would have preferred some studies about users and their

destinations before the service began.

The service began Labor Day weekend, including Monday, and will

continue through the end of June when the festival season begins and

the regular tram program starts.

Funding for the program comes from two Orange County

Transportation Authority grants, approved two years ago. The first

grant was used to buy an additional bus to reduce the waiting time

between trams on the highway. The total cost of the free shuttle is

$50,000, of which the city pays between $6,000 and $7,000.

Trams stop at Act V, where parking is free, Ocean Avenue across

from the Bank of America, Broadway at the highway and Broadway at the

Bus Depot. Trams use the existing festival stop in front of the depot

to avoid confusion with passengers waiting for OCTA buses or the

city’s mainline service on Saturdays. There is no mainline service on

Sundays or holidays.

Kinsman would like a study also on possibly using trams on the

weekdays in place of buses.

“People like to ride the trams rather than the buses,” she said.

Two trams or buses make the weekend shuttle circuit, taking about

20 minutes depending on weather and traffic. Service runs from 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

Iseman would like to see the service extended maybe another hour

or so, even if it means starting later. Most Downtown stores don’t

close until 6 p.m. or even later, and employees don’t leave on the

dot, making it unlikely they could use the trams even if they were so

inclined.

Iseman and Kinsman hope to persuade chamber officials to use their

influence on business owners to induce their employees to use Act V

on the weekends, freeing up spaces for residents and tourists.

“We need to ask them what we can do to make this work for them,”

Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said.

Pearson will meet with hospitality industry representatives to

encourage hotel and restaurant owners and operators to participate.