Laguna to keep neighborhood trolley service but drop two routes while adding another

Laguna Beach’s weekday and Saturday neighborhood trolley shuttle is staying, but not without changes designed to improve the service.

As part of the moves the City Council unanimously approved Tuesday, the North and South Laguna routes will be canceled due to low ridership and a new weekday coastal service will be implemented to replace them. The coastal route will extend north to Cliff Drive and south to the Ritz-Carlton resort in Dana Point.

The 6:30 a.m. start for the Bluebird Canyon, Arch Beach Heights and Top of the World neighborhood routes will be retained to accommodate students taking the shuttles to school.

Council members Toni Iseman and Sue Kempf asked city staff to look into smaller trolleys that may work better in “compact” neighborhoods like Bluebird Canyon.

Staff will report back to the council in a year to reevaluate ridership.

“[The government] provides for those who can’t do for themselves. So when we’re talking about some seniors who don’t have vehicles, disabled people, the students, they need this transportation,” said Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow.

Residents supported retaining the trolley services. Speakers included students from Thurston Middle and Laguna Beach High schools.

“I know it’s at least 30 kids every day after school that take the trolley down the hill,” said Molly Riehle, student body president at Thurston. “It’s really good for independence and it gets them down the hill easily.”

Molly said she lives in Arch Beach Heights and that the trolley comes in handy when her parents, who work full-time jobs, are unable to pick her up. She also noted the environmental benefits of taking public transit and helping reduce the number of cars on the road.

Nicholas Reardon, a junior at Laguna Beach High, said he boarded the Arch Beach Heights trolley after classes Tuesday and saw every seat taken by students who relied on the shuttle to get home.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District does not have bus transportation for high school students between home and school.

Nicholas added that the campus has issues with parking and that traffic congestion would only increase if the trolley service were canceled.

The neighborhood service has been operating for more than 25 years.

The trolley routes were under review by city staff due to a 24% decline in ridership and a 7% increase in the cost of operation from 2017 to 2019. The North and South Laguna routes have had low ridership the past four years, officials said.

Staff partially attributed the overall decline to increased use of ride services such as Lyft and Uber and a national downward trend in public transit ridership.

The City Council voted in September to end the year-round extended weekend neighborhood trolley service but said it would bring the issue back next summer for study.

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