GALVESTON — Imagine this: A medical school student, burdened by books and lack of sleep, boards the trolley at a Fourth Street stop and takes a seat beside a couple clad in floral prints and carrying cameras. The student gets off just a few blocks up and heads to class. The couple rides on to The Strand, where they eat lunch, shop a bit and then return to the beach.
That’s the vision of city officials now beginning construction on a two-phased expansion of the island’s trolley line. In the spirit of New Orleans, Dallas and San Francisco, Galveston may soon have a streetcar system that is both an attraction for tourists and a practical means of public transportation for locals.
Trolley ridership now is almost 98 percent out-of-towners. Wayne Cook, head of island transit, said he hopes to turn this around to 65 percent local, 35 percent tourist.
The new rail line will eventually run from The Strand, past the University of Texas Medical School campus to Stewart Beach and then back downtown. Currently the route is between downtown and 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard.
“This is ostensibly designed to help UTMB,” Cook said. “That way all the doctors, students and nurses will have an easy stop to go to UTMB and back.”
The medical school has contributed $240,000 to the project. The rest of the needed $11 million will come through federal and state grants.
Construction work on phase one began last month and should be finished by December, Cook said. This initial $4.5 million expansion will bring the trolley from The Strand, east on Market Street and along Sixth Street to Stewart Beach. Phase two will loop the trolley back from the beach down Fourth Street and along Market Street to The Strand.
Cook said he hopes to lure in students on their way to school, workers going to the job and some residents who just want an easy way to get downtown or to the beach.
“All they’ve got to do to get downtown, if they get bored, is jump on the train,” Cook said.
The trolley won’t be for everyone, though. Buses will still serve as the primary — and cheaper — mode of transportation in Galveston.
The city maintains 26 buses, compared to the four trolleys (one more will be purchased after the expansion). Bus fares are 80 cents, while a trolley rides cost $1.
Trolley hours are also limited, running from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and until 8:30 p.m. on weekends. Cook said the times would be expanded once the new line was in place. A monthly trolley pass for $40 will also be offered.
The trolley, which originally served islanders in the early 1900s, was resurrected in 1988 as part of Strand revitalization.
Its primary function at first was to ferry visitors from the shopping district to the beach. Planning for the extension began five years ago, Cook said, and has taken more of the local needs in mind.
He said he sees the extension as an offshoot of recent development on the island — including lofts downtown and businesses planned along Harborside Drive.
