Laguna Beach Summer Plans Underway: Trolley, Parking

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The Laguna Beach City Council discussed summer plans for restarting the free trolley service at Tuesday's city council meeting.

It's been nearly a year since the trolley service came to a halt, according to Michael Litschi, Deputy Director of Public Works, Laguna Beach. Since the shutdown, the trolley app has been upgraded, and push notifications will better inform riders of where and when they can get a lift.

The recommendation was to resume trolley service on June 25.

Orange County is poised to reopen in the red tier, allowing outdoor events and theme parks, with additional safety guidelines in place.

With more visitors coming to Laguna Beach, the trolley is critical to parking in the city. The trolley provides free transportation from outside the city parking lots.

"There is still a little uncertainty about the art festivals, but we are assuming there will be some Sawdust Festival and Festival of Arts events in the summer of 2021," Litschi said.

"We received direction from the council to suspend the trolley service through March 9," he said. The last time the trolley ran was the summer of 2019.

Summer Breeze would run from the city of Irvine, with adjusted hours. With 20 parking lots in the city and peripheral lots, it accounts for approximately 700 parking spaces outside of downtown Laguna Beach.

"We still believe this is a valuable service to reduce congestion on Laguna Canyon Road," he said. The Act V and LCAD parking lots would also be open to receive visitors, as would the Spectrum Terrace Lot and the lot at Mission Valley Hospital.

A summer parking pass of $30 is expected to be made available. "The parking pass is intended to provide festival employees with affordable parking for events," Litschi said.

A free on-demand ride service of smaller size was suggested for residents, like an "Uber or Lyft" along the existing trolley routes, with more frequent service than the trolley.

The specifics of that ride service remain under consideration.

Councilwoman Tony Iseman discussed South Laguna Beach, which she says has been treated as a "stepchild" of the trolley service.

"Having a stop at the Ritz Carlton makes sense, and having a second trolley pick up residents of South Laguna would also make sense," she says. Iseman expressed interest in learning how much Summer Breeze costs the city per rider.

Councilmember Weiss discussed the summer parking passes.

"How do you come up with the pricing scheme?" Weiss said. "It seems like a giveaway for this sort of a pass."

Looking at safety measures, the city will require face coverings for both drivers and passengers. Seats would be blocked off, reducing capacity to 50 percent. The city would provide en-route cleaning of high-touch surfaces.

The trolleys are open-air for the summer, and "hospital grade disinfectant and hand sanitizing stations" would be implemented, according to Litschi.

"When we resume service, as a relaunch, the city plans a new robust marketing campaign for the service," he said. Cluttered signage around town would be "cleaned up" to promote the trolley, the trolley app, using QR squares, he said.

Laguna Beach resident and business owner Reuben Flores agreed with Iseman, hoping for bolder graphics to be seen at a distance.

"People didn't know what sign to look at to get on which trolley. A bolder sign would be great," he said. "Regarding the trolley and masks, perhaps the city can hire docents to ride on the trolleys to assist with encouraging riders to wear masks, to make sure the trolley system goes smoothly."

Each stop would be numbered for clarity.

Laguna Beach would join Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, which are tentatively planning to run their trolley services.

Newport Beach and Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel are not planning to run trolley service in 2021, he said. OCTA is also reopening services, gradually.