Councilwoman Carrie Downey and Councilman Bill Sandke aboard the City’s Summer Shuttle
This year’s free Coronado Summer Shuttle, decked out in its new VW Bus wrap, made its debut on Friday at a ceremony next to city hall that featured a little surf music, a little doo-wop, and donuts. This year’s wrap celebrates Coronado’s surfing heritage. There’s a surfboard on the side of the shuttle wrap and familiar bumper stickers – a peace sign, a “Free Ride” license plate, a residential Parking permit, a visit Coronado and a NADO sign – on the back.
The Summer Shuttle service begins Sunday, June 7, and runs through Sunday, September 13. The shuttle will take riders from the Shores to the Ferry Landing. This year there will be three buses in service. The buses will run on cycles spaced 20 minutes apart beginning at 9:02 a.m. and running until 9:42 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; service will be extended until 10:42 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Besides the regular daily service, special buses will deliver Cays residents to this summer’s Concerts in the Park series on Sundays at Spreckels Park and the city’s planned Fourth of July events. Tickets for the special Sunday shuttles are available at Cays Homeowners Association Office.
The idea driving the complimentary shuttle service is to encourage people to get out of their cars along the Orange Avenue business district during the peak summer season. And perhaps, as Councilwoman Carrie Downey suggested, shuttle patrons may enjoy the experience enough to keep using the bus to get around town even when the free summer service ends.
“The service, which replaces the normal Metropolitan Transit Service (MTS) 904 route, provides four more hours of daily service by beginning one hour earlier and remaining in operation three hours later, seven days a week,” the city’s public information office pointed out in a press release.
Besides inaugurating the service three years ago, the city has also taken steps to promote it. There are special signs along the bus route, so people will know where to board and disembark. Printed bus schedules, with a map of the route, can be picked up aboard the bus or at local hotels and businesses. These were paid for, City Manager Blair King noted, by revenue from onboard advertising.
From left to right: Councilman Bill Sandke, City Manager Blair King and Councilwoman Carrie Downey
Andre Zotoff, general manager of the Hotel Del, suggested the surfing motif design and was more than pleased with the result. “I love it. It looks even better than I thought it would,” he said.
In the spirit of the surfing theme, King said the city also asked the MTS if the drivers could wear Hawaiian shirts, but the agency nixed the idea.
This is the third year for the free shuttle and ridership continues to grow. It is the MTS’s highest performing route in terms of passengers carried per hour of operation, according to Zuniga. Councilman Bill Sandke noted that ridership goes up every year, not just among tourist but also among residents. “Last year more than half the people taking the shuttle were residents,” he said.
The success of the free shuttle program also demonstrates what a community can do when all of its stakeholders join together. As King pointed at Friday’s ceremony, the Summer Shuttle represents a collaboration of city government, the local business community and the MTS.
The Coronado Tourism Improvement District (CTID) paid for the shuttle wraps, and also helped promote and coordinate the service. MTS allows the city to repurpose MTS buses and provides the drivers. The city reimbursed the MTS for the lost revenue over the summer.
Along with the new wrap and expanded service, the city also held a special orientation session for the Summer Shuttle drivers to school them about Coronado.
All are regular MTS drivers who volunteer for the shuttle. People think the shuttle is a kind of tour bus and the drivers know everything this to know about Coronado, King pointed out. None live in Coronado, and many have no idea where to eat dinner, play golf or buy an ice cream cone. Now, though, thanks to the orientation drivers will be able to direct people to the beach or suggest a place they can get a slice of pizza.
The Summer Shuttle is not just for tourists. “It’s a great way for residents get across town bus without having to contend with summer traffic.”
In introducing the new wrap, King noted that Sandke was the one who suggested the free service. “Citizen Sandke came up to me at a Rotary meeting and asked why we couldn’t ride the bus for free in the summer.”
King remembered thinking is was a less than stellar idea when Sandke first proposed it. Then he talked to Al Ovrom, who was on the city council at the time. Ovrom, not one to spend money unnecessarily, thought it was a great idea. King began to rethink the idea, eventually coming on board and shepherding Citizen Sandke’s idea forward. Now in its third year, the Summer Shuttle has become one of the city’s most successful programs.
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
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