Laguna, Newport win grant funding to extend transit services

Laguna Beach has received $7.2 million in grant funding to expand and enhance its community-based public transit services, city officials announced Tuesday.

The funds arrive via the Orange County Transportation Authority’s Project V, a grant program that supports local transit offerings across the county. In 2006 voters approved Measure M2, a 30-year half-cent transportation sales tax that generates revenue to provide for the program.

Laguna Beach plans to put $5.2 million of the awarded funds toward its trolley service. It will help fund the off-season weekend trolley routes through 2031.

The Canyon Route operates between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekends, allowing visitors to park for free at the Act V Lot (No. 16, located at 1900 Laguna Canyon Road), then be transported to the downtown area. From there, riders can hop on a Coastal Route trolley, which runs daily and transports passengers along Coast Highway.

“The $5.2 million will fund both the expansion and extension through 2031 of the off-season weekend and the Summer Breeze services,” said Michael Litschi, the city’s director of transit and community services. “With the Summer Breeze, the service from Irvine, part of the proposal was to add more frequency, so adding an additional vehicle in the rotation, so there’s more frequent service between Irvine and Laguna Beach during the summer when that program is running.”

Litschi added that the Summer Breeze route would begin service earlier than its traditional alignment with the start of the summer art festivals. The extended route through the canyon will now be available beginning Memorial Day weekend, he said, providing for an additional four weeks. Trolleys would be expected to arrive at pick-up/drop-off locations closer to every 20 minutes.

The Summer Breeze trolley saw approximately 23,500 boardings this summer, which Litschi said marked an increase of 27% from the previous year. Litschi explained that trolley usage is tracked through automated passenger counters, as well as input into tablets by the drivers of each vehicle.

“The great thing about our transit service in Laguna Beach is that it serves residents, visitors and employees who work in town and travel from one end of town to the other,” Litschi said. “I think there’s a lot of beneficiaries of it. The other benefit of the transit service is that it helps to take cars off the road.”

An additional $2 million will help extend the Laguna Local on-demand transit service to residential neighborhoods off Laguna Canyon Road and El Toro Road.

News

The God Spot and the Pearl Laguna team up for love and healing

The God Spot is giving eight women seven-day stays at The Pearl Laguna, a wellness retreat center in Laguna Beach, for the nonprofit’s kickoff event.

Sept. 20, 2024

A local match requirement will call on the city to come up with 11% of the operating cost for the trolley service and half of what is needed to run the local on-demand transit service.

“Our city is committed to providing accessible and sustainable transportation options for both residents and visitors,” Laguna Beach Mayor Sue Kempf said in a statement. “The expanded trolley and Laguna Local services will improve mobility, reduce congestion and support our environmental goals by encouraging people to use public transit.”

The OCTA board of directors approved funding for 13 recommended projects on Monday, awarding approximately $42.3 million in M2 grants this cycle. Among the grants awarded, Irvine received $4.4 million for its special event circulators. Newport Beach had requested $2.5 million for the continuation of the Balboa Peninsula trolley service, but that estimate increased to $3.2 million to operate the program for the next seven years.

Eric Carpenter, an OCTA spokesperson, said Monday’s vote would allow OCTA staff and Newport Beach to work toward accommodating the additional funds, provided the amount remains within the Project V budget. Both the Irvine and Newport Beach projects were slated for a required local funding match of 11%.

“As the county’s transit provider, we realize that traditional fixed-route bus service with 40-foot buses isn’t right for every community,” Carpenter said. “Through Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, OCTA provides funding for these seasonal trolleys and shuttles to better meet the individual needs of each community and get people where they need to be safely and efficiently using public transit.”

Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula trolley has run on summer weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day since 2017. Ridership peaked at 26,330 in 2019. Boardings reached a level of at least 20,000 for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic this summer, according to a presentation from city staff.

“As a popular tourist destination, we owe our residents and visitors the ability to enjoy our city while lessening traffic congestion,” Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neil said. “My thanks to our partners at OCTA and my colleagues who have put in hard work to improve our trolley system going forward.”