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Wave Transit eyes trolley system for Port City

Submitted by WWAY on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 5:05pm.READ MORE:

A new proposal may have the Port City looking more like the San Francisco Bay area. County commissioners heard a Wave Transit proposal that would bring a trolley system to Wilmington in the next few years. Supporters said a trolley would fit well with Wilmington's Historic District. Wave Transit officials made the presentation in hopes of securing funding for economic and potential ridership studies. “This is an especially good time for transit funding because of the stimulus package that's coming out of Washington, D.C.,” said Bill Bryden of Wave Transit. “I think it's likely that somewhere there we'll be able to find the funding for a study.” Wave Transit hopes to conduct the study with in the next two or three months. Bryden said replacing buses with a trolley system could have a positive impact on the environment and increase ridership.

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Trolly

Submitted by wade Griffis (not verified) on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 1:09pm.

I hesitate to get into this, because all the other comments are so, "RIGHT ON". WAVE could not organise a one-car funeral. They are non-responsive to complaints or suggestions. They turned a 20 minute trip to the hospital into a 45 minute ordeal- including a tour of east Wilmington that I could have done without. There is nothing wrong with the bus system, except management. Clean house first. Then clean the bus. Trolly ain't going to happen.

Need to fix existing problems first.

Submitted by Wave Rider (not verified) on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 10:24pm.

How about instead of sending busses out to Castle Hane, and trying to raise money to build a trolly, and establishing even more bus routes that make even less sense than the existing ones, we fix the problems that we have with the bus system already?

I highly doubt that a trolly will fix all the systems problems. At this rate were gonna end up with a subway to the beach!

Everything they add is just making the problem worse.

So Wrong

Submitted by DRIVER (not verified) on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 5:52pm.

You say management does not respond to complaints thats a lie. In case you dont know it the driver's have what is called a union. There are steps management has to follow in order to make a complaint real no finger prints no photographs no ligit complaint. Now as far as the 20 minute trip taking 45 plan ahead what do you want for a $1.50 do you realize that alot of riders work harder each day then I do in an 8 hours shift just to rip wave transit off for .50 cents. The buses run late because people are not ready to board the bus wrinkled money over the limit bags winy people. The reason this system does not work is because the people making the changes to the bus routes DONOT RIDE THE BUS IN THE FIRST PLACE. GET A CLUE!

please elaborate

Submitted by Das Weibstück on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 4:22pm.

When you say trolley system do you mean "Trolley bus" (an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires), OR trolley car or streetcar that is a rail-borne vehicle ? OR the trolley buses that run on gas like a small regular bus? Can someone find out what the city means.

Addition

Submitted by Taisho123 (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 3:33pm.

Wondering, what can WAVE do to get people, who have a choice between driving and riding, to choose to ride the bus?

What it will take to make people ride WAVE

Submitted by Commonsensenotc... on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 7:39pm.

1. A gun to the head 2. Hnadcuffs and leg irons 3. Two bodybuilders armed with duct tape and a large burlap bag 4. Free cocktails 5. Live performances by Gwen Stefani, The Stones, Eric Clapton, etc. 6. Gambling: Craps in the back, Blackjack up front 7. After ten rides....YOU WIN A NEW HOUSE! 8. Friday night happy hour/singles mixer 9. A little televison at every seat 10. Clothing optional buses Even with all that.....I AIN'T RIDIN'!

What a simpleton. 1. A

Submitted by Guest hg (not verified) on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 1:07pm.

What a simpleton. 1. A dedication to getting the bar crowd home safe on Friday and Saturday nights from downtown. Buses running until 3am up and down Market street and Carolina Beach road. 2. Service to the beaches. Does a bus even come CLOSE to Wrightsville Beach or Carolina Beach? 3. Better tracking of bus locations, and routes that run on time. LED signs with real time bus tracking at major stops. 4. Better bus STOPS. In monkey junction the bus stop is located at the absolute most random place possible, the back of the Lowes shopping center. And in all my time living here, ive seen a bus stop there 3 times, maybe. In this town, you never know when a bus is coming or where it is going to. The situations in which people would ride the bus most, at night after partying and to the beaches, are completely non-existent. You would think with the amount of DUI's in this town that it would be a major priority, but I believe buses stop running at 11pm, when the bars are just beginning to get packed. And it doesn't have to be alot. 2 buses running up and down Market to College Road, 2 running up and down Carolina Beach road. This can get people at least close enough to home to encourage them not to drive home from downtown drunk. If we don't start planning for public transit now, it will never get better. Sure it may be more costly right now, but the population in this town isn't going down. More people are going to come to Wilmington, period. And more people means more traffic.

Trollies?!

Submitted by Future generation of Bus riders (not verified) on Fri, 04/09/2010 - 9:40pm.

Well said! I myself would definately ride the bus if it were avaliable until 3am, as I do work late. Paying only 15.00 for a 7 day pass is a lot cheaper than getting gas, insurance, paying tax, and repairs on my car! Just $15!
There is also 30 day passes too! I have actually lived overseas and the public transportation is so great that one does not have a need for a car. If you need to travel to another town, just hop on the Eurorail!
This is a great stress free way of getting around. I just think people here may have no idea how great this could be as far as availability in routes/times/stations.

I think "Guest hg" is spot

Submitted by Guest123 (not verified) on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 3:12pm.

I think "Guest hg" is spot on. Has anyone gone to the governments of the city and county and made these points? It makes sense, why isn't it being done? In particular I find your comment about drunk driving to be most alarming. If providing a public transit alternative could prevent even a small number of drunk driving related crashes imagine the cost saving the government might recognize, mostly indirectly of course. Good post.

I want to hear more

Submitted by Guest123 (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 3:04pm.

I'm generally supportive of a responsible transition to a more pedestrian centric, verse car centric, transportation model. If said trolley (something like the trolleys in Munich or Frankfurt) were to run from downtown Wilmington to the airport and say UNCW (noting that there already exist several un/under used rail corridors in those areas) then it might actually stimulate growth. If it can't connect the places people want to go then why build it?

Fix the Wave first

Submitted by Waverider (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 2:15pm.

You have got to be kidding. The Wave cannot keep the buses on schedule and fixed now. In the last 3 weeks the bus # 105 has broke down 5 times. (2 times in one day). The buses are never on schedule and they are dirty. There is hair greasy on windows, papers and food wrappers stuffed between the seats and windows. When you call to talk to someone, all they want to do is write up your complaint. NO ONE ever calls you back or tries to get in touch with you, to try to solve any problem. I have been told by the people that answer the phone at Wave, "You are the working poor". I may be the working poor, but without the "Working Poor" the Wave employees would not have a job. And the "Down Town Trolley".....give me a break. The only people you see on the trolly are homeless people, who travel from the shelter on Red Cross to the Library where they hang out all day. Or they ride the trolley all day to keep warm. No one at the Wave wants to take responsibility and fix things,however, they want that pay check. Fix the bus system you have first and prove to the public that you are needed and serve a useful purpose.

Another ridiculous idea.

Submitted by Guest-21 (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 12:47pm.

Another ridiculous idea. Wave is barely making it now. It would make more sense to expand their routes to include more of the county than tear up the roads for what would amount to a traffic hazard. Who comes up with this crap.

"Supporters said a trolley

Submitted by Guest123 (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 11:39am.

"Supporters said a trolley would fit well with Wilmington's Historic District." The way the politicians are ruining downtown, there won't be an "Historic District" by the time a "trolley" system could be built...

No need for a study.

Submitted by Guestasd (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 11:13am.

Based on the ridership of the busses and free trolley, NO ONE WILL RIDE IT. I rather walk than get on the bus with some of the creatures I have seen at the bus stop downtown.

Stimulus or not....

Submitted by Guest Commontater (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 10:22am.

isn't money ill-spent still money ill-spent?! Is it that the money included in the stimulus is considered "expendable"? The government, and I am referring to every level, has this idiotic notion that it is ok to spend "our" money on whatever novel idea catches their fancy at the time. I am not opposed to spending the money on certain things but they must make better sense than this project. There are so many other items that need attention imho.

Let's see...

Submitted by taxpayer (not verified) on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 7:29pm.

Ripping up the streets to put down tracks-$$$ Increased usage of electricity-$$$ Another lame-brain idea from our elected officials-Priceless!!!

But wait

Submitted by guesty on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 1:10pm.

But wait, there will be more spent. Once they find it isn't working, they will spend to un-do what was done. Remember Front St? It was a two way street. Then they made it a one way street from Market to Red Cross. Now it is back as a two way street.

Another brilliant idea from WAVE

Submitted by Commonsensenotc... on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 6:02pm.

Hmmmm....I wondered what was going to happen to all those patients at Dorothea Dix. They have apparently been recruited by WAVE. Do these people even know what a "trolley" is? (Hint: It's not one of those open air, squared off buses that cruises around downtown.) A lot of us are quite familiar with trolleys. We were around when major cities across the country DUMPED THEM in the Fifties and Sixties. They are totally impractical (and dangerous) on roads that are choked with cars. They can't move around an accident or to avoid an accident. WAVE is a bottomless well of red ink. It has never made a dime, is constantly mooching off the taxpayers, and trying GIMMICKS like spending millions on a trolley system will not increase the number of riders. I don't care if it IS federal stimulus money, it's an incredible WASTE of money. If WAVE wants to do something with the money they mooch off Uncle Sam, why not build pull-offs and shelters on Gordon Road? That way, when you're servicing the five or six riders in that area, we won't have an instantaneous thirty car backup when you stop and block traffic on a very busy two-lane road. BTW WWAY, San Francisco doesn't have trolleys, they have cable cars. They both run on tracks but the means of propulsion are totally different.

San Francisco does have

Submitted by Guest4315 (not verified) on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 11:56am.

San Francisco does have trolleys. You are correct that everybody thinks of the cable cars, which are pulled by a cable underneath the road, when they think of San Francisco but they also have trolleys and a light rail system. I did work for a company that put in the electrical lines to the trolleys in San Fran.

Thanks for correcting and informing me

Submitted by Commonsensenotc... on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 1:32pm.

I was not aware that they also have trolleys.

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