OGDEN -- The city plans to introduce two trolley-style buses to serve downtown in a yearlong $175,400 experiment to determine ridership for a possible permanent streetcar system.
The buses should begin operating within two months and will transport passengers six days a week, said Mayor Matthew Godfrey.
"It will help link all of downtown together," he said.
The Weber Area Council of Governments has endorsed the city's use of $175,400 for the trolley system. The funds are derived from a quarter-cent sales tax approved by Weber County voters in 2007.
Members of WACOG include the Weber County commissioners and mayors from each municipality in the county.
The Weber County Commission may give final approval for the trolley replica allocation during a meeting Tuesday.
About $58,900 would be spent to purchase, repair and decorate a pair of used trolley-replica buses that can each seat 32 passengers and would run on compressed natural gas.
Operational costs, including the hiring of two drivers, fuel purchases and marketing, would total about $116,500.
The city may contract with Downtown Ogden Inc., which already manages the Ogden Farmers Market and a host of local events, to operate the trolley replicas, Godfrey said.
Dan Musgrave, executive director of Downtown Ogden Inc., said his organization is looking forward to operating the trolley replicas.
"It will provide transportation for people downtown and help alleviate parking issues," he said.
The trolley replicas would run along a route that could include a dozen stops and would likely take about 12 minutes to complete, he said.
The route would start at the Intermodal Hub at 23rd Street and Wall Avenue. From there, the trolley replicas would travel east on 23rd Street, then south on Lincoln Avenue, east on 25th Street, north on Washington Boulevard and west on 20th Street.
Finally, the trolley replicas would travel south on Lincoln Avenue to 23rd Street back to the Intermodal Hub.
They would likely operate Monday to Saturday and may be free to ride, Godfrey said.
Both trolley replicas would remain in operation for at least a year to collect ridership data for a proposed $160 million streetcar system extending along a busy corridor from the Intermodal Hub to Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital, both on Harrison Boulevard.
Introduction of the trolley replicas will help gauge whether a streetcar system would be successful, said Greg Scott, a transportation planner for the Wasatch Front Regional Council.
"It's a good realistic way to have wheels on the ground to see if it will fly."
In June, the Utah Transit Authority stakeholder's committee determined the streetcar route that seems to have the greatest chance of federal funding goes along Washington Boulevard to 36th Street to Harrison Boulevard and on to Weber State and McKay-Dee Hospital.
Scott said the committee is slated to discuss the proposed route during a public hearing next month.
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