RELATED STORIES

• Naples halts trolley service 7 weeks early

More Local news

• What are your top stories of 2008? We want to know.
• Children’s hospital receives $265,000
• JROTC competition at Palmetto Ridge Friday and Saturday

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Share and Enjoy [?]

The trolley bell will ring again.

Naples City Council, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, voted 5-2 on Monday to move forward with a plan to renew its trolley service for the 2008-09 season.

Councilwomen Teresa Heitmann and Dee Sulick dissented.

“I have the concern that we’re becoming like everyone else” by offering trolley service, Heitmann said. “It’s not unique, it’s common. If we already have an authentic area, let’s focus in on that, not what everyone else has and (what is) the new trendy way to get tourists around.”

Naples City Council in January authorized a 17-week trial trolley program for downtown.

For the first six weeks, a trolley shuttled visitors up and down Fifth Avenue South. Ridership during that period was low and rarely broke 200 riders during a weekend, according to a report by Community Redevelopment Director Russ Adams.

After six weeks, council decided to expand the Fifth Avenue South trolley route to include Bayfront, Tin City and Third Street South. The city saw an immediate bump in ridership, and, according to Adams’ report, it spiked at 600 riders in the ninth week of the program.

The city had budgeted slightly more than $25,000 for the 17-week experiment. That’s about $1,500 a week for one trolley. A second trolley was added to compensate the extended route, which bumped the price tag to about $3,000 a week.

The program ended after 10 weeks because “it (was) determined that sufficient information was gathered to evaluate a longer-term system and the number of visitors had begun to drop off by late April,” Adams wrote.

Adams went on to say in his report that there seemed to be reasonable cause to continue with the extended trolley route in the coming year.

“The overall concept of the trolley was great,” Naples Mayor Bill Barnett said. “I think people liked it, (and) I think people used it.”

Adams will spend the next few months preparing a plan for the upcoming year. The plan will include costs and trolley schedules, Adams said. It will also include a discussion with Third Street South business owners and neighbors about whether they want to have the trolley.

If Third Street South were to opt out of participating in the service, the route would just include Fifth Avenue South, Tin City and Bayfront.

In addition to the trolley service, council voted in favor of continuing a popular valet service on Fifth Avenue South. This decision will allow the city to pursue creating a centralized valet system, thus eliminating the number of valet stands on Fifth Avenue South.