Council Says 'No' to RTC Trolley Contract

Editor's Note (corrected 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, March 21): Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Powell and not Council member Amy Howorth pulled the item from the consent calendar, along with Council member David Lesser.

Presented as a routine item for approval, the Manhattan Beach City Council decided to hold off on approving spending $18,500 in Measure R funds to pay for an MB Trolley Feasibility Study.

Early in the meeting, as the General Consent items came before them, Council member David Lesser and Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Powell asked that the trolley item, which was on the consent calendar, be pulled for discussion. 

When the discussion took place later in the evening, Lesser and Powell were joined by Council member Howarth in vocalizing their thoughts and issues with allocating the funds to pay for Rural Transit Consultants to spend more time moving the proposed trolley concept along.

Lesser wondered if Measure R money could be put to better use fixing potholes and other similar road issues and Howorth hoped that new technology could be used to better serve the needs of people using the trolley.

Other concerns included the trolley's impact on the existing Dial-A-Ride program used by seniors, coordinating efforts with the Vitality City effort and creating a safe routes for bicyclists, how residents would react to transit benches and trash cans in their neighborhoods and the fact that the proposed contract RTC would agree to was not in the city's best interests, according to City Manager Dave Carmany.

RTC's previous contract with the city for trolley work included the city's typical and preferred way of doing business, namely an option for the city to end the contract without cause. The proposed contract on the table last night would have only given the city the option to cancel the contract for "cause," a much higher standard.

As the discussion progressed, and more information came to light, such as the fact that RTC was recommending the city purchase used vehicles for the trolley service, a growing unease among council translated to no deal for RTC.

Lesser and Howorth were confident that city staff could hold the public information/input meetings RTC had proposed would move the project forward.

Carmany acknowledged that a trolley service is out of the scope of his staff's expertise.

In its contract, RTC was going to charge $125 per hour for its work, which included community meetings.

In a December 6 council meeting last year, council asked for clarification of the need for the proposed trolley service and what work would need to be done to reengage the community. In that request, council had asked that public meetings be held to gather input and feedback.

Those meetings have not been held and were included in RTC's proposal. 

Mayor Nick Tell, who appeared very much in favor of approving the item, ultimately hoped that the trolley transit would remain a work in progress. He and council member Richard Montgomery indicated they believe there is a need for the two proposed route lines, which would take riders from downtown MB to points east of Sepulveda Boulevard with a trolley coming to each stop approximately every 30 minutes.

Powell and Lesser questioned spending more money on public transportation when existing transit services struggle to stay in operation. Council members agreed that transit systems do not tend to break even and that money from other sources is necessary to keep them running.

Howorth, who was a member of the board of trustees for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District before her election to council in March 2011, sees the trolley as a great vehicle for student transportation. Mira Costa High and Manhattan Beach Middle School are east of Sepulveda Boulevard.

Transportation serving areas east of Sepulveda Boulevard have long been discussed, according to a city staff report that indicates they began in the 1980s.

RTC's previous trolley feasibility study, completed in the summer of 2010, found there is a need for "safe east to west transportation for the community's young people and transportation to and from the downtown during the day and throughout the evening."

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