Trolley expands, for a price

North Napa loop designed to entice tourists to take
a ride downtown

By KEVIN COURTNEY
Register Staff Writer

The Napa Downtown Trolley is stepping out, with evening runs to north Napa hotels and the lively shopping and dining scene at Bel Aire Plaza.

At the same time, after six years of offering free rides, the trolley will today start charging fares to anyone who boards outside downtown.

The Napa Downtown Association, which has subsidized trolley operations since 2004, requested these changes last year to make the trolley more attractive to tourists and less of a financial obligation.

Extending service up California Boulevard to the Marriott Napa Valley on Solano Avenue will encourage tourists to come downtown to shop and dine, said Craig Smith, the association’s executive director.

Downtown merchants want the trolley to serve more of the ridership for which it was created: Napa Valley visitors. The association subsidizes trolley operations to the tune of nearly $50,000 annually.

Trolley service to north Napa started without fanfare on Aug. 3. The operator, the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency, began running ads last week to promote the service.

Marriott general manager Michael George predicted that the trolley would be popular with his guests. “I think they’ll love it,” he said.

Rather than have to get into their cars, guests will be able to have a chauffeured trip to and from downtown without having to worry about parking, getting lost or driving after sharing a bottle of wine, he said.

Service to north Napa runs five nights a week starting after 6 p.m. On Fridays and Saturdays, the trolley will run an extra hour, until 10:30 p.m. There is no service Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Merchants will be giving tokens to the Marriott and the Hilton Garden Inn so that hotel guests, their most desired audience, can ride for free.

Anyone else who boards outside downtown and the Oxbow District will have to pay standard VINE bus fares: $1.25 per adult, $1 for youths and 60 cents for seniors and those with disabilities.

Some 55,000 people ride the trolley annually, which is more than three of the VINE’s seven local routes, NCTPA reported last year.

It’s unknown how charging fares will affect local ridership, said Deborah Brunner, the NCTPA’s senior transportation planner. Unable to ride the trolley for free, some locals may opt for VINE buses, she said.

Trolleys will now run every 45 minutes during the day on a route that covers the Oxbow District, downtown and Napa Premium Outlets, with a swing through Old Town. The old frequency was every 30 minutes.

The new evening trolley will run every 30 minutes, with no service to Old Town.

Some residents, including employees, will choose the trolley to get from central Napa to Bel Aire Plaza in the evening, Brunner said. The trolley runs later than VINE buses.

The annual cost of running the trolley, which is part of the VINE system, is approaching $300,000. NCTPA expects fares to provide 16 percent of operating costs.

The remaining 84 percent of VINE and trolley expenses comes from the quarter-cent statewide sales tax set aside for transit.

For more information, go to www.NapaValleyVINE.net/Trolley.

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