Newport’s Balboa Peninsula Trolley returns Saturday for weekend runs

The Balboa Peninsula Trolley returns to Newport Beach this weekend.

The free shuttle, which debuted last year during the peak tourist season to ferry visitors and locals around the usually congested peninsula, will begin operations Saturday and run weekends — plus Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day — through Sept. 3.

The 28-passenger mini-buses will run at estimated 15-minute intervals from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., looping between the Balboa Pier and a city-owned parking lot at Tustin Avenue and Avon Street, off Mariners Mile. Parking at the lot is free for shuttle riders.

Last year the shuttle ran on a shorter schedule on a slightly different route, starting and stopping at a rented Hoag Hospital parking lot off Superior Avenue.

This season’s run will cost about $165,000, the city says. The service is funded mostly through Measure M, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation projects, by way of a grant to be distributed over seven years by the Orange County Transportation Authority. Visitor-generated Balboa Village parking revenue also helps finance the project.

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