City Moves to Spiff Up the Fairfax Trolley

City officials hope to increase ridership on the 4-month-old Fairfax Trolley by cutting the fare in half, adding a second bus and launching a districtwide promotion campaign.

The proposed changes were prompted by concern that ridership “definitely is not looking full,” said Brian Davis, president of Pacific Busing Inc., which operates the service under a $25-an-hour contract with the city.

With city approval, the changes would go into effect when the current $60,000 contract, which will go out for rebidding in March, expires June 30.

While as many as 90 people a day rode the bus in December, business dropped off after the holidays and only now is starting to rise again, Davis said.

Average ridership for the 21-seat trolley was 70 passengers a day in mid-February, according to Alisa Katz, an aide to Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky.

The bus, brightly painted to resemble a turn-of-the-century trolley, now runs at half-hour intervals along a route beginning at Melrose and Fairfax avenues and proceeding south to 3rd Street, west to Robertson Avenue, north to Beverly Boulevard, east to San Vicente Boulevard, north to Melrose and west to Fairfax.

Yaroslavsky’s office and the city Transportation Department are considering cutting the 50-cent fare in half and introducing a monthly discount pass for senior citizens, who make up three-fourths of the riders.

Adding a second bus would cut the interval between rides to 15 minutes, Davis said.

Officials are planning an advertising campaign to familiarize residents with the service, which began Oct. 29.