Ventura May Soon Hear Clang of Trolley : Attractions: City will consider a franchise that could bring a line to the downtown, harbor and pier areas by the end of next week.

By Friday, there may be a new sight on the streets of Ventura: An old-fashioned trolley, chugging its way between the harbor, the pier and downtown, carrying what merchants and city leaders hope will be a carload of tourists flush with money to spend.

The City Council on Monday will consider approving a franchise with the contractor that runs the Ojai and Santa Barbara trolleys. If the council gives its OK, the trolley could be up and running as soon as July 1.

Ed Warren, president of the Downtown Merchants Assn., can already envision the trolley rumbling down California Street.

“You’ll hear that bell ding-ding,” said Warren, owner of Smoky’s Saloon and Dining Hall on Santa Clara Street. “It’ll feel small-townish. I think it’s going to be very refreshing. I’m looking forward to seeing (Ventura) from the window of a trolley.”

Warren has been urging the city for years to start a trolley service, ever since the old one failed six years ago, a victim of poor private management. Like other merchants in the downtown and harbor areas, Warren sees the trolley as a key link to the city’s beaches, restaurants and other tourist destinations.

The trolley--resembling a forest-green, San Francisco cable car on wheels--would arrive in Ventura from Ojai. In Ojai, officials replaced the gas-fueled vehicle with an electric-powered car earlier this year.

The fare, good for a full day, would be $1 for adults, 50 cents for seniors, and free for children under 5 years of age, residents over 75, and guests of the hotels whose advertisements would be plastered on the sides of the trolley.

The hourlong round-trip route would start at the Channel Islands National Park Visitor’s Center, at the far end of the Ventura Harbor. The trolley would then cruise by Harbor Village, detour up to Olivas Adobe, and then travel along Harbor Boulevard to the pier before turning right to circle downtown and City Hall.

A conductor would describe the scenic highlights along the way, including the various hotels whose advertising contracts with the trolley would pay for most of its operating expenses.

Richard Olivas, a tourist from Burbank, said the trolley sounds like a great idea.

“Sure, I’d take it,” he said, adding it would be a great diversion for his daughters, Christine, 12, and Abigail, 7. “When you’ve got kids, you like to go around and see some things. This way, it’s done for you. It’s so easy.”

Oxnard resident Tina Sturm, 34, and her daughter, October, 11, picnicking Friday at the Ventura Harbor, said they too might go for a ride, if only for the novelty.

“Living in Southern California, you never go on one,” said Tina Sturm, who described trolleys as “Rice-a-Roni things,” likening them to the cable cars pictured in the packaged rice commercial.

Ventura had an earlier trolley, from 1986 to 1988, but low ridership and poor management forced the venture to shut down. This time out, promoters promise, it will be different.

With tourism up to 1.5 million visitors per year--figures for 1998, when the old trolley ran, were unavailable--city staff members and merchants are optimistic that the latest trolley enterprise will be a success.

Initially, the entire operation would be owned and managed by Madison & Associates, the company that operates the Ojai and Santa Barbara trolleys. But when the contract expires in March, the city plans to replace the privately owned trolley with one it will purchase with the help of a $76,996 federal grant.

The council would then send the trolley franchise out to bid and contract with the lowest bidder, who would then run the business using the city’s trolley car.

Council members said a trolley would make a colorful addition to the city.

“It’ll be like Disneyland,” Councilman Jim Monahan predicted. “You know, always got the speaker going, always telling you what things are.”

“It’s an inviting kind of thing,” Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures said. “It adds glamour.”