Trolley revival gets green light from Galveston council

01/10/1990 - Galveston Trolley on Strand near 22nd St. in Galveston. 01/10/1990 - Galveston Trolley on Strand near 22nd St. in Galveston. Photo: Betty Tichich, Houston Chronicle Photo: Betty Tichich, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Trolley revival gets green light from Galveston council 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

The Galveston City Council voted Thursday to revive the island's trolley system more than six years after damage from Hurricane Ike shut it down.

"This can be a success for this island. Now is the time to move forward and make that success happen," said Councilman Craig Brown to applause from the audience of trolley backers. "We'll look back on this and really say to ourselves that we're glad we brought the trolleys back."

The 6-1 vote was pushed onto the agenda by an approaching deadline to spend $4 million in federal and insurance funds dedicated years ago for restoring the system. Had council decided to abandon the system or delay restoration, the city would have had to repay $7 million in federal funds used to finance and expand the trolley before the storm.

The current plan is for the trolley to run on steel rails starting in 2017. Additional rubber-tire trolleys might later be purchased for routes in areas without rails.

Riders in two years would be able to park at the $6 million Galveston Downtown Intermodal Transportation Terminal, expected to be completed in August, and hop on one of the refurbished trolley cars built to resemble 1904 electric streetcars. The line would run by the Galveston Pleasure Pier and the Galvez Hotel on the seawall, through the historic downtown district and to the University of Texas Medical Branch.

The council also created an advisory committee that would assist the city in relaunching the system as well as in finding permanent funding sources. Among the key partners, Mayor Jim Yarbrough said, is the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Galveston Park Board, which had made an informal commitment to contribute $200,000 annually toward operating costs.

Councilman Norman Pappous was the sole dissenting vote, raising questions about whether it was fiscally smart to ask taxpayers to pay for a trolley system that was losing money when it was knocked out of operation by the hurricane. Most transit systems require some kind of subsidy.

"If the trolley does well, it's going to benefit all of downtown. If it does badly, every person on this island is paying for it," he said. "I'm going to lose on this vote and I hope this thing wildly succeeds but through my career I've advocated for responsible spending of taxpayer money."

Galveston's original "street railway" system debuted in February 1866, and it featured mules in the middle of tracks pulling cars containing a driver and passengers. An extensive electric trolley system carried riders all across the island starting in the late 19th century. The service continued until 1938, but these tracks eventually were torn up to make way for buses and automobiles. Trolleys returned to Galveston in 1988 along 6.8 miles of new track, and operated until Hurricane Ike caused extensive damage in September 2008.