There's a new trolley making the rounds on Saturday in downtown Raleigh. So climb aboard the larger, air-conditioned, more comfortable trolley at Mordecai Historic Park for your hour long guided ride through downtown Raleigh.
via City of Raleigh | New Trolley in Raleigh.
Did you know there was a downtown Raleigh trolley route on First Friday? The Downtown Raleigh Alliance has a great map of the participating galleries and the trolley route.
Map in pdf format.
I also remember talk earlier this year of a possible trolley route on most days of the week with extended hours. There has been no talk of this anywhere and I am curious if it is coming soon. The convention center is now open, RBC Plaza is officially open today, and the Marriott has been open for over two months. Is a downtown circulator still not feasible?
Check out this post on the current state of trolleys in downtown Raleigh.
The trolleys cruise around downtown every weekend but I get the feeling that most are reluctant to ride because of the lack of info. Well allow me to try and sort the trolley situation out and point you in the right direction. Downtown Raleigh has two different trolleys; the showtime trolley and the historic Raleigh trolley tour.
Jump straight to the city’s website for their breakdown
Showtime Trolley
The showtime trolley is great for those that are pairing up dinner and a show at the performing arts center. This trolley is in a bit of a funk however; the trolley cannot go down Fayetteville St. because of construction. Take a look at the route and see if you can use it during your next weekend excursion.
Historic Raleigh Trolley Tour
The historic tour runs every Saturday and for a small fee, you can ride around downtown while brushing up on your Raleigh history. The narrated tour is about 45 minutes long starting on the hour between 11 am and 2 pm. There are 6 stops along the route for you to board. The city even has a video about the tour.
Thoughts
A couple things I noticed that could make this experience better:
You are asked to flag down the showtime trolley when you want a ride. I think if it stopped at certain destinations no matter what, it would be more inviting and people would actually ride.
There should be space cleared for the trolleys to stop. For example, the picture below shows the City Market stop. Three parking spots use up a great space that could be a trolley stop. Get the cars out of there when trolleys are running and have them pull right up to the curb.
The routes desperately need better signs; more of them also. The signs look small, cheap, and just like all the other parking/traffic signs out there. There is lots of room for creativity here. For example back to my city market picture, the historic trolley stop is on the left and the showtime is on the right. Get rid of them and hang a nice sign from the awning. We could then place a tasteful map nearby, just like the map that is out there of city market (that needs a makeover by the way but that is for another day).
As for the ride itself, I still have not experienced it for myself. Please comment if you have been on one of the trolleys.