2007-02-02

Conway Daily Sun

Public shuttles launched Friday

Dena Libner

CONWAY — Village Trolley shuttles will make their first run of the season Friday at 4 p.m., traveling up and down the North Conway strip, from North Conway Grand Hotel to the scenic vista at Intervale, according to the owners.
This winter, the shuttles will run every weekend, from 4 p.m. Friday until 2 p.m. Sunday. Rides cost $2.
Village Trolley is a White Mountain Transit Authority venture, a private company owned by Jonathan Bliss (owner of Village Cigar Emporium) and Boston-based Michael Curreri.
Stops along the route include, from south to north: North Conway Grand Hotel, Settlers' Green, Eastern Slope Inn, Cranmore Ski Resort, Delaney's Hole in the Wall, May Kelly's Cottage, Moat Mountain Smokehouse and the scenic vista.
White Mountain Transit Authority has contracts with those seven local businesses, which will serve as designated stops on the Village Trolley route.
None of those businesses is contributing, financially, to the trolley service, according to Bliss.
Bliss views this winter as a sort of "soft start," or test run, for the trolley service.
"We're going to get the logistics right and the drivers in gear," he explained.
Village Trolley will use two white, 25-person shuttles on its runs until July. That month, the shuttles will be replaced with two classic trolleys, which an Algonquit, Maine company is custom-crafting for Bliss and Curreri.
"There'll be brass rails, oak seats, the whole works," Bliss said. "And they've got to have real bells — I want a real bell!
"It would be so much cheaper to use the shuttles buses year-round, but the trolleys will fit in with the village atmosphere," he added.
Both the temporary shuttles and trolleys will be equipped with ski racks, too. The trolleys are built to be open-air in the summer, and closed in the winter.
In the summer, trolleys will run seven days a week. In the summer, they'll run Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.
Bliss wouldn't disclose the start-up cost of Village Trolleys, but he did say it had been a "large investment."
Fondly remembered family vacations in Algonquit, Maine had inspired him to starting a North Conway trolley service, he said.
"When we were there, we'd use the trolley service exclusively," Bliss recalled. "Then I started to see the similarities between Algonquit and North Conway — there's one main thoroughfare, for example, and not a whole lot of parking."
Curreri, whom Bliss describes as "a bus dude," owns a bus company called Entertainment Tours, out of Braintree, Mass. He owns a home in Bartlett, and met Bliss years ago as a customer of Village Cigar Emporium.
Bliss has described the combination of his familiarity with local needs and Curreri's bus experience as "the perfect marriage."
Although Village Trolleys kicks off its service along the North Conway strip today, Bliss and Curreri are still sorting out some last-minute details. Signs are still being manufactured, and the cost of multi-day passes (and where they can be purchased) is still being considered.
"Everything will be operational by February vacation," Bliss said. During that vacation period, Village Trolleys will run seven days a week to accommodate tourists.
Bliss has emphasized, however, that the trolleys are expected to do more than just help vacationers get from their hotels to restaurants and the slopes.
Fewer tourists on the road, he explained, will ease traffic congestion along Route 16 in North Conway.
Plus, locals can take the trolley to and from work at the participating hotels and Settlers' Green; the trolley can also be their "designated driver" on Friday and Saturday nights, when the route stays open until 11 p.m.
Winter hours of operation for the trolleys are: Friday, 4 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.