Elmhurst May Scale Back Trolley Slightly

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst's downtown trolley survived budget cuts last fall, but the City Council is looking to cut its hours, saving $7,300.

The city launched the trolley more than a decade ago to promote the city's central areas to visitors and residents alike.

On Tuesday, the council is set to vote on continuing the trolley. A council committee proposes to trim the hours to noon to 11 p.m., from 11 a.m. to midnight. The city said it wants to reduce spending and align hours to the highest demand.

The program runs for 16 weeks during the summer and five weeks during the holidays.

Under this year's proposal, the program would expand to two trolleys during September's Rock the Block event. They would run from noon to midnight.

According to city data, the trolley's ridership has stayed about the same in recent years – 20,618 in 2025, 22,293 in 2024 and 20,928 in 2023.

"The effectiveness of the Trolley Program is continuously evaluated by the City using a variety of data points, including ridership counts, social media activity, website traffic, GPS tracking, survey results and qualitative feedback," the city said in a memo this week.

When accounting for $24,000 in advertising income, the program is set to cost the city $55,810 this year, not including the $15,000 for marketing and data tools, the memo said.

Because of the city's budget crunch, aldermen considered deeper cuts to the trolley program last fall, but ultimately rejected that idea.

In recent years, Alderman Jacob Hill has pushed for trying different trolley stops. He has been unable to persuade enough of his colleagues.