CITYOFGULFPORT

The Gulfport special events trolley offers people free transportation from their parked cars in various parts of town to events in the Waterfront Redevelopment District at least twice a month, depending on the schedule. It began operating again last December after a lengthy hiatus.

The previous large-scale events trolley was a vehicle leased from the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, according to Justin Shea, Gulfport’s cultural facilities and events coordinator. That vehicle required a driver with a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and other specifications.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused wide-scale facility closures and event cancellations. Because of that, the city employee qualified to drive the trolley moved out of the area.

“Moving forward, we searched through the job applicants for a CDL-qualified driver. We did not have any good candidates to drive the trolley,” said Shea. “For almost a year we went without a trolley for art walks and large-scale special events.”

City officials decided to adorn a smaller GEMS vehicle with the same outer design as the large-scale trolley. A regular licensed driver can operate this vehicle.

“It gave us more flexibility to program a driver to service the events,” said Shea.

The regular schedule calls for service from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. every first Friday for the Art & Gallery Walk and every third Saturday for the IndieFaire. The city’s website lists other events throughout the year that include Looper service: Fine Arts Festival at Veterans Park; Get Rescued; Pink Flamingo Home & Garden Tour; Fun in the Sun Day at the Recreation Center; Gulfport PRIDE; 4th of July Independence Day Celebration; and GeckoFest.

The regular route contains a dozen stops and drop-off points. Those include Gulfport Beach, the Cather- ine Hickman Theater, and the Historic Gulfport Casino Ballroom. Other stops with offsite parking are located all around Gulfport.

“What we are trying to do is build back the awareness that the Looper is servicing the off-site parking locations in the city during these events, and will shuttle in people from these locations to the event area,” said Shea. “I think it will take a good year to get people talking about it again.”

The city operates the shuttle and it is free to riders. As you see the vehicle approaching, just wave to the driver to indicate that you would like to board. When you are ready to get off, just let the driver know where along the route you want to be dropped off.

“We stop at the off-site parking locations and wait 5-10 minutes with the door open,” said Shea. “Also, as we drive, if someone hails the driver, we stop at the next safe location and bring them into the event.”

Visit mygulfport.us/trolley for more information and a route map.

“We want people to utilize the service,” said Shea. “We want to bring you to the event, and we want you to enjoy the experience.”