Fans of the fare-free Island trolley can now donate to keep the trolley chugging along from one end of Anna Maria to the other. Donation boxes in the place of fare collection boxes were installed last week on all six Island trolleys as part of an effort to raise money to keep the trolley a free service to the public.
The small boxes are not to be confused with fare boxes, which the county also installed on the trolleys. If the donation boxes work, along with plans by various heads of commerce on the island to raise funds, the fare boxes won’t be necessary.
They are led by David Teitelbaum, a developer, resort owner and member of the Manatee County Tourist Development Council, who came up with a plan to raise the money through the private sector and donations from riders and citizens to pay for the trolleys after it was announced a couple of months ago that county funds would no longer stretch far enough to keep them free.
According to the Anna Maria Island Sun newspaper, 'The next step [is] to sell advertising inside and outside the trolleys. Teitelbaum also wants to sell the rights to name the trolleys to private and commercial entities. Finally, he wants to raise money through a Real Florida Festival similar to the way the Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival raises money for the Florida Institute of Saltwater Heritage.'
Good luck to him, we say. And we should all do everything we can to help keep this vital tourist transport system free for all.
Monday 14 September 2009
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