Santa Barbara Trolleys resume rides

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Despite less tourists in town, Santa Barbara Trolley Tours have resumed with a reduced number of rides.

Since reopening in July, business is down nearly 25% with fewer people wandering out and about. 

"Any kind of special event, reunion, wedding or cruise ship has been cancelled,” trolley tour guide Richard Garrett said.

"All of the things that you can do normally, you're just not doing this year,” SB Trolley advertising director Stephen Meade said.

Tours have temporarily suspended hop-on hop-off services, as people must reserve spots in advance online. 

Prior to the pandemic, most trolley’s could be filled up to 35 people. 

Nowadays, plexiglass divides each seat while some are entirely taped off with a max capacity of 20 individuals. 

“We have less capacity to start with,” Meade said. “That's something we need obviously for the social spacing."

However, that’s not stopping some tourists from sightseeing Santa Barbara within the vehicle’s open air environment. 

“The fact that it was just a few of us on the trolley, it's not packed so it felt very intimate,” Orange County resident Young Chang said. 

As a result of State’s Street closure to cars, the trolley’s have revamped their routes. 

“We just go up Chapala Street and come down Santa Barbara Street,” Meade explained. “It's not really too difficult because we're only really missing ten blocks of State Street."

Most savor the scenic experience rolling through Santa Barbara’s historic spots. 

"They're enjoying it and they want to do something,” Garrett said. “They like the open air."

“It was great just to get a bird's eye view of things,” one tourist Christy Lee remarked. “Then be able to go back and check out things that really interested you."

Tours depart at 10 am, 12 pm and 2 pm Thursday through Sunday near Stearns Wharf. 

For more information about Santa Barbara Trolley Tours, visit their website.