Little Rock — Trolley Opens

Rail Transit Online, December 2004

Dedication ceremonies for the 2.5-mi. (4 km), $19.5-million River Rail streetcar line were held in both North Little Rock and Little Rock on Nov. 1 despite heavy rain.  The public was then allowed to climb on board the three replica Birney cars supplied by Gomaco, and rides were free for the remainder of the week.  Beginning Nov. 8, the normal adult single fare of 50 cents was charged (half-price for seniors and the disabled), with an all-day pass priced at $2 and children riding free.  Cars operate daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday-Wednesday, until midnight Thursday-Saturday and to 5 p.m. on Sunday.  After a week, ridership has leveled out to about 500 a day.  Local officials are confident that River Rail, which connects the centers of the two cities across the Arkansas River Bridge, will be significantly expanded beyond the planned $9.2-million, quarter-mile (0.4 km) extension that should be completed late in 2005 to near the Bill Clinton presidential library.  “This is really just the beginning,” Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines said at the North Little Rock ceremony.  “What we’ve got now is the hub.  There’s no telling what we can do with variations of this.”  Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey listed west Little Rock, Jacksonville and the airport as possible destinations.  “We’ll see this move us into light rail in the future,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.   Streetcars last operated in Little Rock on Christmas Day 1947 but the North Little Rock system was scrapped in late 1938.