LINK considers fewer trolley stops in Leavenworth

The little red trolley servicing the Bavarian Village, and elsewhere, may be seen less frequently in coming months, as Link Transit considers greatly reducing the trolley service because of low ridership.a

The Trolley that currently services Leavenworth via route 32 Monday through Saturday, would scale back to only servicing Friday and Saturday if approved by the board, following the public hearing, which was held on Tuesday.

"Fridays and Saturdays pretty much hold there own but throughout the week, it's extremely low. It's well under our standards for productivity," said Link Marketing Director Eric West. "It's costing a lot of money to keep it running to serve only a few people during the week."

As of now, the current average is approximately 4.6 boardings per hour during the week, while the Link minimum standard is five per hour. Friday and Saturday boarding is an estimated 8.7 riders per hour, which is well above the minimum on a regular basis.

The City Council briefly discussed that possibility Monday, March 10 at their monthly study session in hopes of rerouting the current trolley schedule to fit the needs of visitors and the community.

"The problem with the trolley is that it doesn't really go anywhere," said Council Member Tibor Lak. "I mean, how many tourists come to town to go to Safeway? The trolley itself, I think, is a great idea, it looks great and it's got the charm, but I think that it doesn't service what we do. It services what they think we need. And I think that they need to re-look at it."

Currently, the trolley starts at Safeway, stops at Ninth and Front streets and the Icicle Inn before returning back to Safeway.

"I had a member of the public come to me and suggest that we have the trolley help people get from the downtown to the school parking lots," said Council Member Chris Rader. "And that sounded like a pretty good idea to me. That would solve our parking problem and we could use Link. Maybe they could adapt their route to pick up people from the parking lots and drop them off, at least at Obsorn, to get to the downtown."

The Mayor told the council that he wants to work with Link to incorporate the Icicle Station for service.

"We've talked about using the trolley to service the train station, although it is outside of their operating hours, so I'd like to set up a meeting with them next week to bring in this idea," said Mayor Robert Eaton.

West says the board will definitely look at other options to better serve the community.

"We've already looked at some different options and those are definitely something to consider," he said. "And maybe if we went out to The Sleeping Lady or the Ski Hill, we maybe would pick up a few more but overall, I still don't think it would be enough. It's an option but it's not likely."

Chelan, Cashmere and Wenatchee all have trolley services, as well. Leavenworth has the fewest riders.

A public hearing was held last night in connection with the Link monthly board meeting at the Transit Operations Base at Olds Station in Wenatchee. The public can still submit written comments and suggestions until March 16 for the board to consider.

Other Link routes that were discussed include the elimination of route 15, servicing Pangborn Airport and Pangborn Business Park, the elimination of trolley route 34 in Chelan and it's replacement, a general public Dial A Ride, similar to Leavenworth's. The changes would not be in effect until July 6.

Chelsea Gorrow can be reached at 509-548-5286 or reporter@leavenworthecho.com