Balboa Peninsula Trolley ‘airport shuttles’ to be replaced with vehicles modeled after historic electric rail cars

Newport Beach officials approved plans to replace the vehicles that look like “airport shuttles” running the Balboa Peninsula Trolley’s routes with some that are reminiscent of electric rail cars from the early 20th century, and they extended the local transit program for another seven years. The company has been operating the Balboa Peninsula Trolley for the past seven years and also runs other shuttle services in Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, San Clemente and Irvine. The Balboa Peninsula Trolley currently operates during summer weekends and reaches 22 stops mostly along Balboa Avenue and Newport Boulevard. “We’ve referred to this as the ‘airport shuttle’ for a long time because I look at a lot of friends up and down the peninsula who would never get on the current shuttle we’re operating,” Councilman Noah Blom said during a study session in September regarding the renewal of the trolley.