After brief reopening, Hilton Head trolley ends season due to COVID-19 staff shortages
The Hilton Head Island Palmetto Breeze trolley has canceled the remainder of its 2020 season after closing and briefly reopening last week, according to a news release from the Town of Hilton Head Island.
It restarted service Saturday after being closed for over two weeks while drivers were reassigned to cover shifts on other routes while those drivers quarantined.
“As before, the trolley drivers are needed to cover the higher priority Palmetto Breeze commuter routes that serve Hilton Head Island,” the news release said.
The 2020 season was scheduled to end on Sept. 15. County leaders announced the trolley would restart service on Thursday last week, but it was then delayed to Saturday. After running for three days, the service is now shut down.
The free trolley typically runs between Shelter Cove Towne Centre and the Coligny beach area on the south end.
It was paused on Aug. 19 so drivers could cover commuter bus services that bring people who work on the island in from Allendale, Hampton, Colleton and Jasper counties.
“We sincerely appreciate everyone’s patience as we worked though our temporary driver shortage,” executive director Mary Lou Franzoni said in a news release.
The trolley usually runs from 1 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and to midnight on the weekends. It picks up passengers in front of the Belk department store in Shelter Cove and is designed to move both workers and visitors around the island car-free.
Usage of the trolley has grown in recent years, and this summer is the first year the trolley service dropped its $1 fare.
Deborah Johnson, 65, relies on the trolley to get to work at the Shelter Cove Kroger each day. She was thrilled by the news that the service was restarting because it means she won’t have the additional costs of getting from her home on the south end to the grocery store without a car.
“It’s been a real hardship not having it,” she said Tuesday. “I’ve been having to pay for Yellow taxis or Ubers and that’s a lot of money to put out.”
As a 30-year island resident, Johnson said she’s disappointed Hilton Head doesn’t have a more robust public transportation system, but she’s “really grateful” for the Breeze trolley during the months of the years she gets to use it.
Johnson and others who rely on the trolley to get to work once again will be without transportation.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
