THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120163
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
ON A WARM, breezy Wednesday afternoon, Deborah Boone patiently wheels her barn-red San Francisco cable car clone along Atlantic Avenue.
It's the day after the Fourth of July and traffic is unusually light along the strip. Even so, with frequent pick-ups and drop-offs, Boone's trip behind the wheel of the TRT trolley is a slow one.
If there's a downside to riding the shuttles, ``slow'' defines it. If there's an upside, ``slow'' defines that, too.
For many families, the ride harkens back to the turn of the century when trolleys transported whole families and all of their beach belongings to the end of the line at the Oceanfront.
TRT's trolleys today, though, ride on wheels rather than tracks and have been operating only since 1984 in the resort area, when they began as a seasonal attraction.
Designed mostly for ferrying out-of-town visitors, the low-cost trips have caught on with locals as well. Three different routes now circulate in the resort area from the General Booth Boulevard campground sites north to 67th Street. A fourth route connects the Oceanfront with Lynnhaven Mall.
Janice and Mike Hardy of Reading, Pa., and their sons, Justin, 9, and Ethan, 5, are typical of the tourists who ride the trolleys from the campground sites south of Rudee Inlet to the beach.
Like most of the campers, their ride on a recent hot day was free. Major campgrounds and some hotels supply trolley tokens as part of their lodging package.
And the Hardys were proof that just about any item can be carried aboard for the ride.
Mike Hardy was toting folding chairs while Janice was handling the beach bag and a small cooler. Justin, clutching a boogie board and Ethan, toying with a sand pail and shovel so new that the price tag was still attached, grabbed seats directly behind driver Gary Tate where they could stretch their legs and get a good look at boarding passengers.
``We're riding the trolleys everywhere,'' Janice Hardy said. ``They're so convenient. We don't have to worry about parking the car and we don't get sand in it.''
Campers Harold and Linda Ashley of Madrid, N.Y., had an even better reason for riding the trolleys. They didn't have an option.
``Our kids took the car yesterday to visit friends up in Sterling and they're not back yet,'' Linda Ashley said with a big grin. ``We've just been taking it easy and enjoying the rides,'' added her husband, a power company supervisor.
As riders got off, Tate reminded them that they could get their return ride at 25th and Atlantic or 19th and Pacific. Although the trolleys can be hailed along the route, stopping along busy Pacific Avenue can be difficult.
``Traffic can get moving pretty fast out here on Pacific,'' Tate said. ``I'll stop when it's safe, but I can't do it on a dime or with some guy flying up behind me.''
He also had advice for people who want to flag him down.
``It helps if they start waving when I'm a block away,'' Tate said as he slowed for a woman timidly waving at him. ``Where you going?'' he asked as she prepared to step aboard.
``To the Boardwalk, 35th Street,'' she answered.
``You need to walk over to Atlantic Avenue and catch the trolley on the other side,'' he advised her.
``That's why I always ask first,'' he sighed as he started up. ``We get a lot who get on the wrong trolley and then wonder why nothing looks familiar to them.''
Tate told of one family that got separated. The teenage daughters ended up making repeated loops on the Atlantic Avenue trolley while the parents frantically searched South Rudee trolleys trying to find them.
When the dispatcher put out the word over the radio the girls identified themselves to Tate and were reunited with their parents within a few minutes. ``They were just having a good time,'' Tate said, ``but they kept wondering how long it would take before (the trolley) got to the campground.''
Cynthia Yusuf, a TRT spokesperson, said ridership continues to grow among visitors and residents.
``Tourists have the demand, but locals are definitely using trolleys as well,'' she said.
The Atlantic Avenue route remains the most popular. It was used by 190,311 riders last year. That compares to 69,697 who took the South Rudee route in 1994 and 35,557 aboard the North Seashore line.
In addition to being less crowded, a ride on the North Seashore line, which runs from 19th and Pacific to 67th Street, is generally faster than those on the Atlantic Avenue and South Rudee routes.
On the same morning that the trolley from the campgrounds ran at near capacity of 30 riders, Cape Cod retirees Robert and Anna Hardy were among the dozen or so boarding the northbound trolley on its round trip.
They were taking advantage of the trolleys to get a good look at Virginia Beach, which they had last visited 20 years ago.
``We're just roamin','' Robert Hardy said, ``and we decided to come here just to stay overnight.''
It turned out that the couple were so pleased with what they found that they added a couple of more days to their stay.
``It's not the same place at all,'' Hardy said. ``It's so much better than we remembered it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by Charlie Meads
[Color cover photo]
[Trolley]
The South Rudee trolley was running at near capacity of about 30 in
this return trip to the Oceanfront. Some campgrounds and hotels
supply trolley tokens.
Trolley driver Gary Tate's south Rudee run goes from 25th Street and
Atlantic Avenue to the KOA Campgrounds in General Booth Boulevard
and back.
Campers at the KOA Campgrounds board a trolley bound for the
Oceanfront. ``We're riding the trolleys everywhere,'' Janice Hardy
said, ``they're so convenient. We don't have to worry about parking
the car and we don't get sand in it,'' she added.
June Dillon, left, and Bonnie Cook of Pulaski, Va. study a Tours and
Tolleys guide while riding the South Rudee trolley. A number of
tour packages are available.
Staff graphic and map by Ken Wright
Graphic
Trolley Routes
Fare Deals
Special Tours
by CNB