UPDATE: City Council Votes to Keep Free Downtown Trolley

The City Council decided Tuesday that the free Downtown Trolley, which carries  300,000 passengers a year, is worth the $200,000 annual cost.

Council members said the trolley fulfills a variety of needs beyond shuttling people who live and work in and around downtown.  

"I think it's very important to keep it, in the broader context of traffic management and parking management," said Councilman Kish Rajan. Simply put, having people use the trolley means fewer people driving in cars to get to their downtown destinations. The trolley supports the "sustainable business practices that the city supports," he said.

Rajan added that the trolley also supports local businesses by moving shoppers around downtown, which in turn supports the city's economic vitality. 

He and other council members noted than in the next few years, a neighborhood of people living in apartments and condominiums will grow up in downtown as more than 1,000 units in several multi-family housing projects are approved.  The trolley will be a good service to them, they noted. 

The trolley is a Central Contra Costa County Transit Authority bus that is outfitted to look like an old-fashioned trolley. It travels along Route 4 from the Walnut Creek BART station around downtown Walnut Creek. In the past, the city used Measure J funds to make ridership on the trolley free. Measure J was a 2004 county half-cent sales tax initiative approved by voters to improve roads, highways and public-transit systems. 

Last spring, when the city was trying to fill a $20 million budget gap, staff recommended that the city stop using the Measure J funds or stop paying the $200,000 free trolley subsidy.

The City Council didn't want to eliminate the trolley or start charging passengers, at least for the 2010-11 fiscal year. 

The city found $200,000 in the Downtown Parking and Enhancement fund. The city Council on Tuesday night voted to continue to use money from this fund to pay for the trolley.

A ridership survey suggested to council members that the free trolley is worth paying for in the future. 

The survey looked at who is using the trolley, for what reasons and how ridership would change if the service were reduced or eliminated. 

Of the 334 passengers who responded, 33 percent said they used the trolley to get to work, 25 percent said they used it to go shopping, and 20 percent said they used it to go to and from home. Nearly half of riders did not have a driver's license and nearly 70 percent said they didn't have a car to use. 

Of those who responded to the question of what they would do if the service were eliminated, 55 percent, or 153 people, said they would walk to their destination. Nearly 17 percent said they would not make the trip.

While city staff recommended that the city continue to fund the free service through the Downtown Parking and Enhancement Fund, the city, in collaboration with the transit authority, outlined two other payment options, known as B and C. 

Under Option B, the city would reduce the amount of money it provides for the trolley by up to $100,000. This option likely would require the transit authority to reduce or eliminate the service or to begin charging passengers $2. The city would have to change the "free" signs on the trolleys and at bus stops and pay to return three shuttles to "pre-trolley condition" at a cost of $70,000.  But the city would save up to $100,000 in the next fiscal year.

Under Option C, the city would stop providing money for the trolley for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The city would have to return three buses to pre-trolley condition at a cost of $70,000 and cover other costs of the program until the transit authority's board of directors decided what to do. But in coming years, the city would save $200,000. 

The council rejected both options.  The council also directed staff to look at increasing public-private partnerships to help pay for the trolley. Broadway Plaza subsidizes some of the cost during peak holiday shopping season. The council also encouraged staff to look at using the trolley for opportunities to market the city, its activities and local businesses. 

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