Campers and day users at the always-popular San Clemente State Beach are among those expected to benefit from a trolley route the city will start in March.
The service will run from the pier to the state beach and back, but also connect riders to the city’s most popular trolley route that travels from the San Clement Outlet mall, along Avenida Del Mar to the pier. That means someone camping at the beach doesn’t have to haul their often larger vehicles through town to visit restaurants, shops and beaches while vacationing at the campground.
The new route being piloted – it will stop at the San Clemente Senior Center near Del Mar and travel along El Camino Real – will also benefit locals who might grab lunch or shop along Del Mar and then head to beaches at the state park, officials said. It will also provide access to people who stay at hotels and motels along El Camino Real for getting to the city’s downtown and beaches.
The new trolley, which begins on March 11 and will run weekends through Memorial Day, was approved recently by the City Council as a way to help visitors and locals navigate the city without having to worry about driving or parking. The council, in December, also approved funding for another trolley that runs along Del Mar to continue on weekends through March.
“It was a pretty clear choice,” Mayor Chris Duncan said of choosing the southern route for the pilot. The council was also considering another route that would have sent trolleys into the Talega area of town.
“It connects an area of town without having to drive. We think this will be mutually beneficial. There will be more business coming to the downtown and more business from hotels along El Camino Real,” Duncan said.
The city has run trolleys since 2017 with grant assistance from the Orange County Transportation Agency, which funds about 90% of the cost. The pilot program, however, will be fully funded by the city and is expected to cost about $34,000. Most of the money will come from revenue the city gets from its outdoor dining program, in which restaurants pay rent for use of parking spaces where they set outdoor dining furniture.
The trolleys that used to run the southern route are presently sitting idle near City Hall, said Jonathan Lightfoot, an economic development officer with the city who brainstormed the idea for the pilot. Since they won’t be in use until Memorial Day – for the route that goes from the outlet mall toward Dana Point along Pacific Coast Highway – putting them to work for the new route made sense, he said.
Lightfoot said he came up with the idea because the trolleys, in general, have been very popular with the community. During 2022, there were 222,488 trolley rides taken in the city. The trolleys ran daily from Memorial Day until the end of September.
Each trolley has a digital counter to show its ridership. In January, the Del Mar trolley tallied 1,500 riders during weekends, even with the rain storms. With last week’s improved weather, the Del Mar trolley had 2,500 riders over the two weekend days, Lightfoot said. Last year, the Del Mar trolley – also known as the Red Line – had 189,289 riders. The route that connects to Dana Point trolleys, the Blue Line, had 33,199 riders in 2022.
In other South Orange County cities, trolleys are also making a difference in public transportation. Dana Point had 83,992 boardings in 2022 on their trolley routes which operate three vehicles each. In Laguna Beach — the first city to start trolley service — there were 627,000 boardings across three routes in 2022. The city operates its coastal route on Coast Highway seven days a week and runs a canyon trolley on weekends. In January, there were 15,480 riders on the two routes. Newport Beach’s Balboa peninsula trolley carried 16,393 riders from Memorial Day to Labor Day weekends in 2022.
Scott Kibbey, superintendent for San Clemente State Beach, is among those who are excited about the new pilot route.
“This is an extremely popular destination for campers and day users, we’re at maximum occupancy during the peak season in the summer, at spring break and most weekends,” he said, adding that about 1 million people visit the state beach each year – about half stay in the 160 campsites and vintage trailer rentals available for year-round public use.
The trolley stop at the state park will be located right near the concession stand, which Kibbey said is undergoing a complete remodel soon and will be state-of-the-art.
Mikkii Rathmann, who owns an event-type boutique on Del Mar, said she is hopeful the trolley will bring more people to the city’s downtown and add to San Clemente’s overall charm and ambiance.
“It’s an attractive amenity in aggregate with other things such as the downtown village and the historic pier,” she said. “It will add additional village charm for sure.
“I think it’s great the city is making a financial investment in this pilot,” she added. “I think it’s smart.”
