At a Carrboro Town Council meeting earlier this month, members discussed the possibility of a trolley service for Carrboro and Chapel Hill while hearing updates about other transit projects in the area.

Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle spoke with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck on the proposed idea. She said the discussions were to see if a service would be beneficial and help residents navigate to destinations farther than just a few stops around town.

This isn’t the first time there has been talk about adding a trolley in conjunction with current Chapel Hill transport and other town transit partners — Lavelle said many years ago there was actually a trial trolley run that came to Carrboro.

“It was cool,” Lavelle said. “We all got on the trolley and rode around. You know, you see these in all the towns.”

According to the Carborro Town Council, while people are able to get the transportation they need through the extensive bus system already in place, they might not be aware of how to use it to its full capacity.

“The problem is, how do people recognize that,” Lavelle said. “Should we wrap a trolley thing around it [the bus] every Friday night? Is there even a desire or a need?”

Lavelle said incorporating a trolley into the town’s current transit system could provide a way to get from town to town in a fun, very visible way.

“You know you see them in towns and it makes you want to jump on and ride it around,” Lavelle said. “But at the same time, do we want to do that on top of what we are already doing?”

While the town council continues to talk about improvements in their public transportation sector, Lavelle said she has asked staff to continue looking into a potential trolley service to see if there is any “steam behind that.”

You can hear more of Mayor Lavelle’s conversation with Aaron Keck on the Conversation with the Mayors podcast in Chapelboro’s on-demand section.

(Featured image courtesy of the Town of Chapel Hill)

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