Ojai City Council to Consider Buying Gas-Run Streetcar, Expanding Service

Forsaking Ojai’s plan to replace an aging red trolley with a state-of-the-art electric streetcar, the City Council tonight will consider approving the purchase of a gas-powered vehicle at roughly half the cost.

In rejecting the electric trolley alternative, city officials said the technology has not yet been developed to build an electric trolley that would meet Ojai’s need to provide air-conditioned transportation.

The savings could be used to buy a second new trolley to expand the existing route beyond city limits and shuttle senior citizens, workers and students from Meiners Oaks and other areas to downtown Ojai--a plan promoted by Supervisor Susan K. Lacey.

Assistant City Manager Daniel Singer, who recommended the council buy a gas-powered streetcar that could be converted to burn compressed natural gas, said the Ojai trolley has to be air-conditioned or people will not ride it.

A $10,000 consultant’s report prepared this summer for the city concluded that an electric trolley in Ojai could not provide adequate heating and air conditioning to its riders.

“Some people would say you’re a pioneer if you do something like (invest in electric streetcars), but we only have one trolley and people are relying on it,” he said. “We don’t feel we can take that chance right now.”

Earlier this year, the city was awarded a $200,000 federal grant that must be used to purchase an alternative-fueled vehicle such as electric or natural gas trolleys.

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But regular gas trolleys cost about $80,000--about half what a prototype electric streetcar would have cost the city of Ojai.

Singer and other city officials said they can still comply with the grant requirements by purchasing a gas-powered vehicle that can be converted to a cleaner fuel system such as compressed natural gas sometime in the future.

“One advantage to going with the regularly fueled vehicle is that we could probably get two” for the price of one electric trolley, Singer said. “That might (also) leave us enough money to purchase the conversion kits and set up the fueling station.”

Mayor Steven Olsen said Ojai has different needs than cities like Santa Barbara, where electric trolleys have flourished.

“What we’re looking for now is to provide a gas trolley and in the very near future provide low-emission gas fuel,” he said. “That way we can go with a clean air alternative that’s not gas and not electric.”

Marcia Secord of the Southern California Gas Co. said compressed natural gas releases about 95% fewer ozone-causing hydrocarbons than gasoline. “This is technology that’s here today,” she said. “We can begin cleaning up the air right now.”

The kits to convert streetcar engines to compressed natural gas cost as little as $5,000, she said.

Last week, Lacey sent Olsen a letter asking that the mayor explore expanding the trolley route to Meiners Oaks and other outlying communities. Olsen said Monday that he would discuss the possibility of including nearby communities in the trolley’s route with his council colleagues at tonight’s meeting.

“If we could financially do it, it would be to everyone’s benefit,” the mayor said. “There’s a lot of services in Ojai that aren’t available in Meiners Oaks.”

The Ojai Trolley Co. has operated a single car along a 7 1/2-mile route through downtown Ojai since 1989. But under the plan recommended by Singer, the city would own the new cars and the private firm would operate them.

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Ojai Trolley Co. owner Diana Madison said her streetcar, which charges riders 25 cents, has more than 160,000 miles on it. “We’re running at full (capacity),” she said. “There are peak times now where you can’t fit another person on our trolleys.”

Madison said she would welcome an opportunity to expand to nearby communities, but she would need the second trolley.

“In Meiners Oaks, you’ve got tremendous little clusters of seniors there and a lot of younger children who need transportation,” she said. “And a lot of the downtown work force comes from the Meiners Oaks area.”

Councilman James Loebl said he would like to use a battery-run streetcar, but said it is not worth gambling on new technology to suit Ojai’s requirements for air conditioning.

“The federal government provides the money, but the federal government doesn’t have to provide the service,” Loebl said. “From the heart, I would like to see us in a leadership role in this area, but not at the expense of a function.”