Not just Sunday drivers

Torrey AndersonSchoepe

Driving around in Laguna traffic may not seem like a pleasant way to

spend your summer, but drivers of the city’s trolleys spend seven

hours a day for 10 weeks during the festival season on the roads --

and many of them love it.

The free, open-air trolleys run continuously from 9:30 a.m. to

11:30 p.m. between the Act V parking lot on Laguna Canyon Road and

the city’s three arts festivals, and also provide transportation on

Coast Highway between downtown and north and south Laguna.

The cheerful ringing of the trolley bells is one of the common

summer sounds in Laguna. The bells are identical to those used on San

Francisco’s cable cars.

There are about 45 trolley drivers for the summer season.

Bill Liebel, deputy director of public works, who supervises the

trolley program, says school bus drivers make the best trolley

drivers.

“They are very safe drivers because they are used to driving

children around, which makes it ideal to be driving tourists around,”

Liebel said.

The city owns 10 of the open-air trolleys, and rents two more from

the city of Santa Barbara.

The trolleys ferried 305,000 riders last summer, with an average

of 3,000 per day on weekdays, and 6,000 to 7,000 on Friday, Saturday

and Sunday, Liebel says.

Trolley drivers say they enjoy driving in the sunny weather, and

along the coastline. They also enjoy meeting the diverse people who

get on and off the trolleys everyday.

Joe Arana, a driver from the Garden Grove school district said

this is his third summer as a Laguna trolley driver.

“I enjoy the view,” he said. “To be paid to drive around the coast

is awesome.”

Driver Stacie Crozon is one of the more experienced summertime

trolley drivers. She has been a Laguna trolley driver for four years,

and has seen many travelers on her trolley.

One of her more memorable passengers is a homeless man who she

says likes to spin yarns about the town.

“He talks about Spielberg living here, and he talks about the

Gucci house, he’s a crack-up,” she said.

Crozon has been driving professionally for seven years, and the

majority of that time has been driving school buses with small

children.

“Usually I’m driving kids, so it’s a change; it’s something

different to do for the summer. You get to see the beach all the

time, and hear a lot of different accents, and you see a lot of

strange people,” she said.

The trolley drivers are expected to act as tour guides, as well,

and must be able to answer visitors’ questions about Laguna and the

summer events.

The drivers go through a one-week intensive training session

before every summer season to get them up to speed.Applying for the

job of a trolley driver is more complicated than one would presume.

Drivers need to have had experience with another municipal transit

service, and they must have a valid Class B/P driver’s license,

either a School Bus Certificate, or VTT Transit Certificate.

The trolley drivers don’t just have to know how to drive a large

vehicle, they have to be able to follow procedures regarding vehicle

inspection and preparation, keep records of passenger tallies, and

distribute festival information as needed.

The drivers work alongside the Trolley Stewards, who have more

face-to-face contact with the public, and sometimes have to take

measures, such as halting the bus, so passengers obey the rules.

On a recent Saturday evening, a steward had to stop a flood of

would-be passengers from boarding a trolley bound for the Act V

parking lot. When one man refused to leave his companion, who had

gotten the last available seat, the steward patiently, but firmly,

explained that the bus could not carry standing passengers.

Then a woman, somewhat defiantly, attempted to sit on the lap of

her friend, and she was also politely told that was unacceptable. She

and her friend both got off to wait for the next trolley.

Finally the trolley began its ascent into the canyon, with

everyone safely in their seats.