As Galveston continues to restore its historical rail trolley cars, free rides are being offered throughout the summer, starting Friday, on a fleet of buses that look like trolleys.
PHOTOS: Galveston returns to trolley transport
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The trolley buses will serve a downtown route that has seven stops through Galveston's downtown, and a seawall route that makes stops from Stewart Beach to Moody Gardens.
“Trolleys have been a part of Galveston’s history since the early 1900s. I've even found information to suggest they were back into the late 1800s,” said city of Galveston public information officer Jaree Fortin.
“When Hurricane Ike came in and the storm surge kind of took over a lot of what we had downtown. Our trolley barn was included in that, and in that we lost our rail car trolleys and our rubber-wheeled trolleys that we had running at the time,” Fortin said.
Though it's been nearly nine years since they were fully operational, trolleys have been on the minds of locals.
“We have such a need for transportation on the island. If you've ever been down here during a busy weekend, the seawall is completely packed with drivers,” Fortin said.
For anyone who notices the only trolleys running are on tires and not the on tracks, never fear. The rail car trolleys are on their way.
"The rail car trolleys are on the road to restoration. They're in Ida Grove, Iowa. They're being restored by a company called Gomaco who specializes in craftsmanship of old trolleys and bringing back antique trolleys. It's going to take them a year to restore them, but when they bring them back they're going to look better than they ever have,” Fortin said.
The rail car trolleys are expected to be back in operation in July 2018.
Until then, the "rubber0wheeled" trolleys will be running seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
There will be a small fare to ride the trolley after Labor Day, but until then every ride will be free.
The bus trolleys will be used until the rail car trolleys can be restored.
