Balboa Peninsula shuttle service might expand season and add Fridays next year

Newport Beach could shorten daily hours for the Balboa Peninsula Trolley but lengthen its season and add Friday service under options being considered by city staff.

With the inaugural season’s ridership figures in hand, staff members tasked with managing the summer shuttle in the popular but congested peninsula tourist area are looking at fine-tuning the service in ways that could save, or require more, money.

Staff will study the costs of three key possible changes for next year:

• Starting the service day at 10 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m. Closing time might be extended to 10 p.m., a half-hour later than this year.
• Adding Friday runs
• Opening the season on Memorial Day weekend, three weeks ahead of the planned mid-June start

Members of the city’s Balboa Village Advisory Committee, who took the first crack at a shuttle review with staff Wednesday, were pleased with the program overall. They suggested using grant funds the city already has from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to cover the costs of extending the service. The city has about $300,000 in the AQMD account set aside for projects intended to reduce emissions.

The free shuttle, which this year ran Saturdays and Sundays over 12 weeks from June 17 to Sept. 3, plus the Fourth of July and Labor Day, had 23,560 boardings, or about 900 per day, according to ridership figures compiled by the shuttle’s contracted operator, Signal Hill-based Professional Parking Corp.

Advisory committee member Jim Stratton suggested starting at 8 a.m., which would continue the city’s effort to accommodate people planning to ride the ferry to Catalina Island. But ridership figures showed the early hours were slow this year, with only 295 boardings throughout the season during the 8 a.m. runs. Use picked up to 960 boardings at 10 a.m.

Operators calculated boardings at all stops along the full route between Hoag Hospital and the Balboa Pier. With 23,560 total boardings over 1,184 hours of service, each of the four vehicles averaged about 20 passengers per hour, figures show.

Two shuttles ran at 15-minute intervals in the mornings. All four ran from noon to the 9:30 p.m. close.

The shuttle saw its most use over the Fourth of July weekend, with 29 boardings per bus per hour on Sunday, July 2, and 38 per hour on Tuesday, July 4. Its slowest period was Aug. 26-27, with an average of 14 boardings per hour.

Overall, peak hours were between 1 and 4 p.m.

The Orange County Transportation Authority awarded Newport Beach a $685,454 grant to help operate the shuttle. The grant, to be distributed over seven years, is funded through Measure M, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation projects. Most of the shuttle’s operations are funded by that grant, with some visitor-generated Balboa Village parking revenue.

The city also is considering improving signage and maps, putting a graphic wrap on a fifth bus that could be used during peak periods, and adding a stop at 28th Street and Via Lido in the Lido Marina Village shopping area and near the Lido House hotel that is expected to open by next summer.

One thing that might stay the same: using enclosed vehicles rather than going to retro-style open-air models.

Councilwoman Diane Dixon, who represents the Balboa Peninsula and is a longtime shuttle supporter, said she has changed her mind on shifting the vehicle style.

“So many people I talked to loved the air conditioning,” she said.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD