In her latest column, Business Report editor Stephanie Riegel says the Capital Region Planning Commission will soon release a study that is expected to confirm what’s already known about the Capital Area Transit System’s Red Stick Trolley: It’s a failure.
“Since its launch in January 2015, the service—which ran daily from Southdowns through the Garden District to downtown—has underperformed, even though it was created in response to interest from Garden District residents who said they wanted it,” Riegel writes.
Whatever the stated demand, fewer than 5,000 passengers actually rode the trolley in 2015, Riegel notes, which averages to less than 100 per week—or about 14 per day. April saw ridership spike to 444, the same month a targeted marketing campaign was rolled out, but fell back below 220 in May after the campaign ended.
“The numbers don’t look good,” CATS Board Chairman Jim Brandt recently acknowledged. “With numbers this low I don’t see how we can continue to operate this route.”
Riegel notes that operating the trolley—which is not really a trolley but a small bus outfitted to resemble a vintage streetcar—costs CATS about $500,000 a year. In May, CATS asked the CRPC to conduct a service equity analysis, which basically measures how the community will be impacted by changing or eliminating the route.
“Though Brandt doesn’t want to preempt the findings of the analysis and pronounce the trolley dead, he and his colleagues on the board can see the writing on the wall,” Riegel writes.
Among the reasons for the trolley’s failure, Riegel says, is inconsistent service, poor marketing and Baton Rouge’s car-first mentality.
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