Plan to put trolleys back in service
But costs, history stand in the way
What can take $1,643 each day and turn it into $34?
Answer: a trolley.
That’s how much the transit authority was spending and making each day five years ago to operate the city’s downtown trolleys, those decorative buses garnished with mahogany, brass and leather. That’s less than two riders per hour for six trolleys.
But Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin is not scared of those numbers. He wants to bring the trolleys back, make them free and use them to connect Columbia’s three downtowns.
“You can never expect the trolleys to be a large revenue generator for the city,” Benjamin said. “But it adds something to the cultural experience that people have, in being able to, in a non-intrusive way, visit the city center – to work your way through the three entertainment districts – and I think it’s something people would really enjoy.”
Columbia spent $740,000 to buy three trolleys in 1997, then bought three more in 1999. In 2003, when the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority took over the bus system, the city gave the trolleys to the transit authority, plus $90,000 a year to operate them. A trolley ride cost $1.
Since they were parked five years ago, the trolleys have been sitting in an uncovered lot at the transit authority’s headquarters. City manager Steve Gantt, at Benjamin’s suggestion, has asked the transit authority to return the trolleys to the city.
Benjamin’s plan is to spend $40,000 fixing up each trolley, with the city covering 20 percent of the costs and federal transportation grants taking care of the rest. The city would then turn the trolleys over to the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism – the same group that operates the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
It’s unclear how much it would cost to operate the trolleys. The merchants have expressed interest. Five years ago, it cost the transit authority $600,000 a year to run them.
It cost $410,000 a year to operate Charleston’s trolleys, which hit the streets in November. The cost is shared by the city of Charleston, the State Ports Authority and the local convention and visitors’ bureau. The system has three routes in downtown Charleston with more than 50 stops. Trolleys loop every 10 minutes.
But what could Columbia’s tourism authority do with the trolleys that the transit authority couldn’t do five years ago?
Simpler routes, better marketing and package deals, said Ric Luber, president and CEO of Columbia’s tourism authority. The trolleys would never have to leave Gervais Street to connect the Vista, Main Street and Five Points. And the convention center could offer trolley packages to take convention-goers to restaurants and other Columbia attractions.
“It’s a very simple system, a very simple plan, on the basis that no matter where you are, you have access to that trolley every 15 minutes,” Luber said.
Community leaders in the Vista, Five Points and on Main Street say they like the plan because it would help connect Columbia’s three downtowns. The Vista and Main Street, just a few blocks from each other, are separated by the gulf that is Assembly Street, a six-lane behemoth that is more like an interstate highway than a city corridor.
But crossing Assembly Street to get to Main Street, or even Five Points, would be much easier for pedestrians with a trolley, said Gretchen Lambert, president of the Vista Guild.
“We want downtown to appear as one downtown,” Lambert said. “We don’t want people to see it as separate areas.”
But most of those ideas have been tried before. The trolleys had a Gervais Street route. They gave away free rides as a marketing tool. And they offered to provide shuttle service to the convention center through an hourly rate – an offer the convention center turned down because they thought it was too expensive, according to Brittany McMillan.
But bringing the trolleys back, whatever the risk, could bring back some cool to Columbia’s downtown, supporters say.
“It’s a fun thing people would use because it’s cool – instead of a bus” Five Points Association president Merrit McHaffie said.
Time is the Wisest 
