Virginia Beach’s iconic trolley service restarts Sunday, celebrating 40-plus years
VIRGINIA BEACH — Trolleys will ply their way up and down Virginia Beach’s resort area again starting Sunday.
Hampton Roads Transit is celebrating 40 years of operating the Oceanfront trolley service known as VB Wave, but the iconic contraptions actually first ambled down Atlantic and Pacific avenues 44 years ago.
Virginia Beach’s original shiny red bell-clanging trolley cars had wood trim and were designed to resemble San Francisco’s cable cars. Today’s trolleys still have that nostalgic feel, but they’re blue.
The city first purchased and operated four trolleys in 1980, according to The Virginian-Pilot archives. They ran Atlantic Avenue between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It cost 25 cents to hop on. Surfboards and bicycles were allowed. Inside were slatted, wood seats and polished brass holding rails along the ceiling.
The trolleys’ original purpose was to make it easier to get around and to alleviate traffic and parking issues — but they quickly became an attraction as well. Passengers could ride on a platform along the back, and the driver would ring an old-fashioned brass bell to announce its arrival, adding to the charm.
Three more trolleys were added in 1981. Ridership reached 450,000 in 1983. Then in 1984 — hence the 40 years anniversary —Virginia Beach sold its fleet to Tidewater Regional Transit, which was eligible for state aid and able to expand the service. A ride from the old Dome to Lynnhaven Mall cost $1 each way in 1984.
Fast forward to 2008. The fleet was in need of costly repairs and was taken out of service. HRT instead experimented with hybrid electric buses on the VB Wave routes. But ridership declined. In 2015, the city paid $2.7 million to bring back cable car replicas. A state grant helped pay for the 11 blue trolleys HRT will operate this summer.
Trolley service took a hiatus summer of 2020 due to the pandemic. In 2023, total ridership was 175,457 on four routes, a far cry from the early days.
VB Wave operations last season cost $2.5 million and generated $146,929 in revenue. Route 30, which travels the length of Atlantic Avenue, was the most used with roughly 121,000 rides in 2023.
Virginia Beach provides nearly $1 million from a tourism tax fund to help fund the trolley service. It’s also supplemented by state and federal funding. But the novelty of the ride has kept the wheels turning, said Ray Amoruso, HRT’s chief planning and development officer.
Route 34, which connected riders to the ViBe Creative District and the sports center, was discontinued this season due to low ridership. Route 35, the bayfront trolley that travels along Shore Drive with a stop at First Landing State Park, will return to 30 minute service frequencies instead of hourly service and will encompass a portion of the former Route 34. Each of the routes are active through the Neptune Festival at the end of September.
In 2022, the city started a pilot program with Freebee, a free ride service, and some people questioned whether it would undercut HRT’s trolley service. But Freebee’s cars hold a limited number of passengers and a notable part of its ridership has been local residents.
“They were plucking maybe a few riders that were visiting from out of town,” Amoruso said.
The city’s contract with Freebee ends soon, and no formal announcement to extend the service has been made although some residents and resort area business owners have asked to continue it until the end of September.
Today’s trolleys can hold up to 28 passengers and are 34 feet long. They feature mahogany wood trim, aluminum wheels, bike racks and open windows in the summer “so you have the ocean breeze coming through,” said Amoruso.
Single trip fares are $2 for adults; discounts are available. Visit gohrt.com.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
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VB Wave 2024 season routes
Route 30: Atlantic Avenue, 8 a.m. – 2 a.m. (about every 15 minutes)
Route 31: Aquarium and campground, 9:30 a.m. – 11:10 PM (about every 20 minutes)
Route 35: Bayfront, 8 a.m. – 12:30 a.m. (about every 30 minutes)
