Losing The Trolley

I read today in The State newspaper that the bus company is going to pull the trolleys off the streets of Columbia. It seems that they are running empty most of the time and that the cost is more than the revenue. I think that this is a blasted shame.

When we moved downtown last year, the kids began to notice the trolleys as we waited at red lights or were on our way into the library. They started asking me why weren’t there any people on them, and if we could ride them someday. That first summer, was just too hectic, and we never found the time. This summer, my goal was to ride them before school started last month.

Figuring out how to do this was a challenge. The city of Columbia has a website, but the trolley info was not accurate; phone numbers and responsibility seems to change constantly in our city. I have to be in the mood to deal with being transferred over and over, so weeks went by. Finally I found the bus website with trolley routes drawn out. This helped me figure out where we would be riding, but still not how to get on. The instructions said if we saw a trolley, we could just wave them down and it would pick us up. With three small children, I am not comfortable having faith that this will happen. I found the correct phone number on the website and called, but it seemed that there was only one person who could answer questions and she was unavailable. After a few tries of phone tag, I gave up.

Finally, the day before school started, we decided just to give it a shot. My husband was off so we loaded the kids up and searched around for a little blue trolley sign on a street corner. We saw one in front of Dianne’s On Devine so we parked and waited. The instructions on the website state that a trolley comes around every 15-20 min. Well, after 20 min, we gave up. They have been rerouted periodically due to Five Points construction mess, so we guessed it wouldn’t be coming by that stop. We were wrong; as we pulled around the block, we saw one in the opposite direction, impossible to catch. Strike one.

We thought that surely the trolleys would be all around the Capital building. We found another stop, parked and waited. And waited. And waited. We saw two buses come to the same stop, but no trolley. After 20 minutes, we gave up again. Strike two.

By this time, the kids were fidgety. We headed up Gervais for one last look before going home when we saw a trolley on a side street. Figuring it was just behind us, we pulled off and parked at another stop. And waited. It never came around the block. We decided to take a chance and pulled away from the stop, intending to chase it down. When we went around the corner and came up behind it, we realized it was parked. I hopped out and knocked on the door, startling the driver who was reading the paper. She said she was on duty so we climbed on board.

The ride was wonderful; we had it to ourselves and could see out on all sides. The trolley was lovely, all shiny wood with a sense of the olden days. We circled the city and watched workers getting coffee, female college students going through Rush on Sorority Row, people riding bikes or walking. When we were back at our car, my son pulled the cord to let the driver know we were ready to get off. The kids absolutely loved riding the trolley and want to go again; I guess we better hurry.

Reading this article makes me thing of all of the moms and kids, not to mention other people in our city who may like a ride on the trolley and just don’t know how to start. The trolleys have been poorly promoted and riding them seems like more trouble than it’s worth. What a waste, they provide flavor for our city.