Gatlinburg Launching Free Parkway Trolley Pilot Program

  • Friday, June 24, 2011
  • Jim Davis
Gatlinburg Free Parkway Trolley
Gatlinburg Free Parkway Trolley

The city of Gatlinburg will soon be offering free trolley service to summer visitors along the length of the Parkway as an experimental program.

The Free Parkway Trolley pilot program is scheduled to begin operating on Monday, allowing visitors and local residents to board one of three specially designated trolleys at numerous stops along the Parkway at no charge. The shuttle service will extend from Traffic Light #1 at the north end of town to Light #10 at the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“We are pleased to offer this free trolley service on a trial basis during our peak season,” said City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle. “It will provide our visitors, residents and business community more accessibility to sections of our downtown business district.”

The free open-air shuttles will operate from 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m. daily from June 27 through Aug. 14. All Gatlinburg trolleys are handicap accessible.

Approximately 800,000 patrons use Gatlinburg’s trolleys annually, making it the fifth-largest mass transit system in the state. It originated in 1980 with only six trolleys, but the fleet has grown to 20-plus trolleys servicing approximately 50 miles of trolley routes.

You can now hop aboard the Gatlinburg Trolleys all day long for just $2 a day with unlimited access to the Red, Blue, Purple, Yellow and Green Trolley routes. The $2 pass is sold at city welcome centers as well as at City Hall and the Mass Transit Center, plus numerous Gatlinburg lodging facilities.

To view the current location of Gatlinburg’s trolleys, visit www.otvia.com/gatlinburg. A city map will appear. The box color indicates the trolley route color.

For more information, visit any city welcome center or call 865 436-0535.

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