Heritage Trolleys are the right means of augmenting our transportation infrastructure for all the right reasons:

They are:

• nostalgic and fun!
• quiet and visually appealing
• practical for carrying capacity
• historical and a reminder of the role rail-based transportation played in Rochester's history
• attractive to families, college students, seniors
• a sign of longevity and durability

Rochester & Sea Breeze Trolley Car 602, from Vintage Views website

What are the problems we're working to solve?

Right now, most of us will agree that our community has public transportation options that are not well suited to leisure and recreational activities, so much so that few in our community use the existing options except in unusual circumstances. This applies whether you're trying to get to the city, to the suburbs, and now especially, to the Charlotte Waterfront for the Fast Ferry.

As a community, we've got a great deal of abandoned, unused, or underutilized railway and assets, one example being the historical Hojack Swing Bridge. We've also got the Hojack Line right-of-way (currently owned by CSX), including the river lines on the East bank (BeeBee Line and bridge, etc.). Even more importantly, Rochester exists in a weakened economy, and economic development is desperately needed in ways that attract new people to our area and retain those we already have. Worse, Rochester faces isolationism, with little intermixing between City and suburb residents. And finally, Rochester suffers from a loss of historical sensitivity and connection to its past.

What is the value to the community?

Our system of trolleys and streetcars will:

• Provide tourism, leisure travel and recreation activity support and growth
• Boost the success and effectiveness of Fast Ferry
• Provide nostalgia and a visible connection to local history
• Spur Economic Development in a big way, including job creation
• Encourage local infrastructure investment
• Create local construction projects and ongoing operations and maintenance jobs
• Reuse and redeploy latent assets, including the historical Hojack swing bridge and attendant rights-of-way
• Alleviate worsening parking and traffic congestion challenges at popular destinations and attractions
• Provide efficient, clean, safe transportation
• Create transfers, connections and intermodal options that do not exist today

How will we get real people interested and riding our trolleys?

• Sell tickets to Fast Ferry travellers, lakefront patrons, regional tourists, convention attendees, families and students
• Advertise using multimedia, billboards, and other vehicles
• Sell day passes for tourism and recreation
• Collaborate with local businesses, attractions, and developers, as well as the GRVA and tourism bureaus
• Co-develop stations, destinations and parking
  

What competes with what we're doing?

Well, there's really nothing quite like it in Rochester, so there is currently no serious direct threat. That being said, there is traditional bus transit. This is a weak, indirect threat, as it lacks the historic connection and appeal to the leisure and tourism market, and offers a very different experience. Some have suggested "Trackless Trolley" rubber-tired buses. This could be a potentially significant direct threat; these vehicles are flexible and less expensive to implement, but lack historic accuracy and cachet, providing at best a vaguely similar experience. The biggest threat is our community's current first choice for travelling, automobiles. Cars are a moderate threat for basic transportation, but truly a weaker threat for scenic recreation in areas served by trolley, since you'll always need to find parking wherever you bring your car!

What's our revenue model?

• Ridership Revenues, whether one-way, daily pass, weekly pass, etc.
• Advertising Revenues, including the Hojack Swing Bridge (billboards), external signage and internal rack ads on the Trolley cars / streetcars, route billboards along right-of-way, rail bridge advertising at road crossings, displays, benches, etc. at the stations and stops
• Naming rights, with possible tax-deductibility, for ties, trestles, cars, seats and stations-- this can be one-time or periodic (like a lease)

Will this work?

With your help, absolutely. Speak with your neighbors, your elected officials, and others you know... Tell them you want to support this initiative, because working together, we can all put Rochester back on track.