trolley
Click here to see the new Colt Trolley Blue Route map.
Adjustments to Lextran’s Colt Trolley service will go into effect June 4, and consist of a number of changes to make the free downtown circulator more efficient and to bolster ridership, including an extended east-to-west “blue route” that will reach into the Chevy Chase area as well as to West Sixth Street Brewing on Jefferson Street.
Modifications to the north-to-south “green route,” which connects the University of Kentucky and Transylvania University to the downtown area, include a delayed start time from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thurs. - Sat. and a discontinued service during lunchtime hours. In the winter months (November through April), Thursday night services will be discontinued on both routes.
Lextran general manager Rocky Burke said these changes were implemented after looking at the ridership numbers for these times and days.
“With everything, you’re always looking at ways to be more efficient,” he said. “With the new technology we have available, we’re able to tell when people are riding and what days of the week. We did the analysis and discovered that people weren’t riding the trolley between Transylvania and UK at lunchtime, and we knew Thursday nights were very weak for us unless Thursday Night Live was going on.”
Along with an extended blue route, that path will move from Vine Street to Short Street when traveling east to capitalize on the surge of new restaurants, bars and activity along that corridor.
In the past on special occasions, such as on Gallery Hops and the opening of the Farmers Market, the Colt Trolley’s blue route has been extended to the corner of Euclid Avenue and High Street in the Chevy Chase commercial district. Given the increased ridership at those times, buttressed by the recent burgeoning activity in Chevy Chase Plaza, permanently altering the route to include that area was an attractive option for Burke, who also said 5th District Councilmember Bill Farmer, the Chevy Chase Business Owners Association and other nearby residential neighbors frequently suggested making the extension to the service.
“From day one, people wanted the trolley service in the Chevy Chase area,” Burke said. “Danielle (Montague), who represents the merchants association there, has been really active with us. We think it’s a good opportunity.”
The extension adds nearly three miles roundtrip to the current blue route, which Burke said will increase the wait time at each stop to around 15 - 17 minutes. Two trolleys operate on reach route during service hours. However, instead of passengers not knowing if they just missed a trolley or if one is right around the corner, Lextran plans to introduce fixed routes, where published times of arrival will be available at each stop. A list of new stops along the blue route will also become available when the new route is enacted.
Lextran purchased five trolleys in 2010 with money from a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant. If these changes to the trolley service spur an increase in ridership, Burke says there’s always the possibility of increasing the size of the fleet.
“If this proves really successful, then we’ll include another trolley at some point in time if that’s possibly in our budget. That way you can add three to a route, and that would increase the frequency,” Burke said. “But you can’t do that if people aren’t using it.”