Main Street Trolley to be Auctioned by City
St. Charles City Council declared the trolley surplus. It hasn't been in use since 2010.
St. Charles will auction a trolley that used to run up and down Main Street, despite a push from Mayor Sally Faith to get it up and running again.
The city stopped running the trolley at the end of 2010, citing cost concerns and low ridership. According to a 2010 article published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, it cost the city more than $60,000 a year to offer the trolley rides free of charge.
The city council approved a request to declare the 1999 trolley as surplus property during the Nov. 6 meeting. Council member Mary West, Ward-4, was the only person to vote in support of keeping the trolley.
"If in the future we want to look at something that's more of a holistic approach to potentially doing a trolley, I think that's fine, but I think it's time to go ahead and surplus it," Councilman Dave Beckering, Ward-7, said.
Mayor Sally Faith said she wasn't surprised the council decided to declare the trolley surplus. Earlier this year council members decided to put $30,000 the Mayor budgeted for the trolleys toward renovating the Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau next year.
"I've not given up," Faith said. "I will be working on it all year."
dbatch1715
7:31 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
It's time to stop the wasteful spending in St. Charles. A Trolley just makes lazy people lazier.
s.l.h.
8:38 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
I think the trolley is the kind of thing that makes historic St. Charles "feel" historic and special. I love the cobblestones, old buildings, horse and carriage rides, etc. They are part of what makes the St. Charles Main Street experience unique, although they may not be practical. It would be nice to keep the trolley and have volunteers renovate the convention & visitors bureau, if that's actually needed.
curly
2:11 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Totally agree s.l.h.!!!!!! It's part of the atmosphere.
But St. Charles City is too busy spending $ on other nonsense to keep the things that really are a nice additive to the Old Town district.