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06/16/2021 08:30 AMThe free-to-ride Clinton Trolley is back again this summer with a new twist: The trolley will now run seven days a week and will also transport Westbrook and Clinton riders into Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison.
The trolley officially opened Memorial Day weekend and will now run seven days a week through Labor Day. It runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday and Monday and from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.
The trolley will travel along Route One and make seven stops in each direction: Hammonasset Beach, the Clinton Town Dock, Lobster Landing and Shanks, the Arts District, Liberty Green, the Stop & Shop Plaza, and the Westbrook town line. It will take about 50 minutes to complete the route roundtrip.
The trolley is a joint venture between the Placemakers, the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, and the Economic Development Commission (EDC) as part of an effort to increase interest in Clinton beyond just the outlets. It debuted two summers ago and is operated by 9 Town Transit (9TT).
9TT Executive Director Joe Comerford explained, “The expansion of the trolley hours is part of a Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation pilot called ParkConneCT, all centered around Hammonasset. The goal is to improve access to state parks and reduce congestion around them.”
Originally, the trolley took people from the Clinton Crossing Outlets to various locales around town and only ran on weekends. That changed this year thanks to help from the state. EDC Chairman John Allen noted that while the organizers were soliciting donations that would have funded the weekend operations, the state’s program will cover the expenses for the additional days. Allen said prior to getting the notification that the state would approve the extension of the ride out of Clinton the plan was to do an all-Clinton route and start the rides toward the end of June.
Allen said that there are still sponsorship opportunities available.
“It makes us start a little earlier here than we thought, but we’re excited about the ability to go down to Hammonasset now,” Allen said.
Allen said the addition of the beach on the route serves as a kind of test to see how feasible it is to have it as a long-term stop. The roads leading into Hammonasset are generally notoriously crowded on sunny weekend days, a problem that became worse in 2020 due to limited capacity in the park related to COVID restrictions.
“The test is really all about the traffic,” said Allen.
Still, Allen said adding more hours and access to the beach are benefits.
“The fun thing for us is it really goes along with what we wanted, which is a way to get more people into Clinton,” said Allen.
The hope is that the addition of Hammonasset in the route could increase ridership on the trolley as people use it as a way to get from Clinton into Hammonasset without having to worry about parking. People could then also use the trolley as a way to escape from the beach to downtown Clinton to get food or shop.
While the trolley enjoyed a successful first year, the COVID-19 pandemic affected ridership in summer 2020. With many restaurants doing only takeout or outdoor seating with modified hours, it was hard to draw as many riders. Additionally, the trolley riders were required to observe social distancing guidelines, which led to a reduced number of allowed riders.
Bad weather put a damper—literally—on the trolley’s kickoff weekend, but organizers are excited about its return.
“Our first weekend was Memorial Day weekend, which the weather did not cooperate. We had only a handful of passengers. This past weekend we saw much stronger ridership, topping 20 passengers [on] multiple days,” Comerford said.
“We’re all really excited it’s back,” said Allen.
People can learn more at estuarytransit.org/ParkConneCT and at clintontrolleyworks.com.