Fiscal derailment shunts trolley to sidelines With no funding from the Yukon government, the waterfront trolley will not run this year, says the chair of the board of directors for the MacBride Museum. By Chuck Tobin on May 1, 2019

With no funding from the Yukon government, the waterfront trolley will not run this year, says the chair of the board of directors for the MacBride Museum.

Rick Nielsen told the Star the museum received a letter in February from Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn telling them the application for funding was being denied.

It reminded the museum the decision not to fund the trolley beyond the 2018-19 fiscal year was initially discussed last spring, Mostyn said in an interview this morning.

Nielsen said he wrote Mostyn after receiving the letter in February to inform the minister of the museum’s disappointment in the decision.

Beyond that, he said, there’s nothing MacBride can do to come up with the money to operate the trolley.

The government, he said, owns the trolley and the tracks, and has put in nearly half a million dollars in the last two years for required mechanical upgrades to the trolley and upgrades to the tracks from the roundhouse to Rotary Peace Park.

Nielsen said the waterfront trolley is very popular – and the museum is literally getting calls everyday inquiring about it.

One fellow, a railway buff, indicated he was coming to Whitehorse specifically to the ride the trolley – but not anymore, he said.

Nielsen said they wanted to extend the track improvements this year from the Roundhouse to the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre.

When you look around at all the tax incentives given to corporations moving forward with developments, Nielsen added, it’s difficult to accept there isn’t money there for a popular tourist attraction on the waterfront.

Mostyn told the Star this morning the trolley is just not a viable operation.

In good consciousness, he said, the government just can’t keep pouring money into it.

When the trolley got going 20 years ago, it was supposed to eventually be self-sustaining with revenue from ridership, but it’s never achieved that, he said.

The government, he added, has put in $5.4 million into capital costs and operation and maintenance since the trolley began running in 2001.

Mostyn said the discussion about continuing funding began in early 2017, shortly after he became the minister.

It was in March last year that the government wrote MacBride to say it was not willing to fund the operation beyond 2018, and it reiterated its position in a follow-up letter in June last year, he said.

He said they did receive a request from the museum last fall for $193,000, which included the $107,000 for operation and maintenance and further capital improvements to the track.

It informed the museum in February there would be no funding, he said.

Last year, Mostyn pointed out, the trolley only operated half-time at four hours a day with total ridership of 5,000, but still had an operating cost of $107,000.

In response to questions Tuesday in the legislature from NDP Leader Liz Hanson, Tourism and Culture Minister Jeanie Dendys said: “With the ongoing development of the waterfront area, we do not feel that it is financially responsible to continue investing millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades required to keep the trolley running safely through an area that has not been fully developed yet.”

Hanson suggested there are a number of tourism-related initiatives that do not generate the revenue to support themselves. The MacBride Museum, Hanson noted, has made it clear it can’t make it on its own.

“Is the Government of Yukon then planning to take that over or have it shut down?” she asked.

Dendys said the government supports the 19 Yukon museums, and it’s aware of the issues MacBride is facing with property taxes owed to the city, and she’s had initial discussions with its board about the matter.

Regarding the trolley, she said, taxpayers have paid $2.1 million in the last 10 years to support an operation that is just not viable.

Mostyn said there have been discussions about a hotel development on the waterfront, which might require re-routing the tracks.

The decision to stop funding the trolley was made well ahead of those discussions, he said.

The trolley first began operating in 2001 under the Miles Canyon Railway Society.

The non-profit society indicated in 2016 it could no longer handle it, as it was beginning to have issues with the trolley and the tracks.

MacBride stepped in to assist and took over the operation in 2017.

The trolley did not operate in 2017, as it was completely rebuilt, and the tracks from the Roundhouse to the park underwent major repairs. It began operating again in 2018.

The mechanical work meant the trolley, originally from the U.S., no longer had to pull a smaller generator behind it.