Guest blogger Wendy Greuel: Maiden Voyage of the Holly Trolley

A token to ride

In this guest blog entry, Councilmember Wendy Greuel from the great 2nd district previews Hollywood’s latest innovation, the Holly Trolley.

On Monday night, I got to ride with Eric Garcetti and Honorary Hollywood Mayor Johnny Grant on the maiden voyage of the Holly Trolley. The trolley is a fun, safe way for club-goers to move around and hop from restaurants, bars and clubs throughout Hollywood. And it’s symbolic of the exciting Hollywood resurgence of the past few years thanks to a truly unique and critical public private partnership.

As Chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, I love how the Holly Trolley connects public transportation to entertainment and nightlife. Its stops along Hollywood's Red Line stations allow diners and club-goers who live in my Valley district, for example, or anywhere along the Red Line, to see Hollywood but leave their cars at home. The Trolley will get cars off the road and give some club-goers a safe alternative to drinking and driving.

I want to see the Holly Trolley succeed, not only to continue to infuse Hollywood's entertainment district with patrons and provide alternatives to a frustrating lack of parking and exorbitant valet fees, but also to see where we can replicate this service around the city.

Congratulations to Council President Garcetti and his staff for their commitment to this project and to the club owners and everyone who worked so hard to create a truly unique service. It‘s going to help ease traffic snarls, it’s going to show us how to use public transportation in a way that interacts with our city’s most vibrant business districts, and—not least—it’s going to be fun.

The Holly Trolley is in service Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 8:00 pm to 4:00 am. Tickets are $1, last the whole night, and may be purchased on board the Trolley with cash or with promotional tokens distributed by many Hollywood nightclubs. For route information, please see www.HollywoodTrolleys.com.