Page City Council voted in favor of buying two new trolley cars. Only Vice Mayor Kocjan voted against the purchase, citing wait times and other city priorities. Delivery of the custom cars is expected within 12 months. The primary use of the vehicles is to transport visitors from their hotels to Horseshoe Bend, though residents can use the service to reach other destinations, such as the sports complex or uptown Page.

Schedules, routes and stops for the trollies aren’t established yet and the city acknowledges adjustments will be made to fit the demand. City Manager Darren Coldwell told the Chronicle, “Well, we'll just see how the schedule goes. But for now, during the summer, in the busy season, we’ll probably have one start in the morning and then another one come on board later in the afternoon or in the morning, and then you have both of them going through the busy time of the day.”

“It's like the Field of Dreams ‘build the ball field they will come,’ said Councilor David Auge. “We're going to have to advertise it, promote it and get it out there.” Auge said part of the outreach would include city events and information boards located in about 52 businesses in town, including hotels.

Regarding Horseshoe Bend admission fees from the trolley, Coldwell said, “Right now, we picture an installation, an app on your phone that you will have to show the attendant to get dropped off there. So, as you're getting out the door, you'll have to show the bus driver, and he'll allow you once you have the app and you're paid for.”

The passenger trollies purchase was preapproved by council for the 2025 fiscal year budget. According to a Specialty Vehicles quote dated July 31, 2024, the price tag for the two Hometown trollies and delivery is $428,777. The California style design is reminiscent of the iconic San Francisco trollies. The vehicles are equipped with 120,000 BTU HVAC systems to keep drivers and passengers cool.

Kyle Christiansen, director of Public Works, said the vehicle holds 26 passengers plus four which means four of the seats are designed to fold away to accommodate wheelchairs. The trollies also have wheelchair lifts. 

Funding for the vehicles, operations and maintenance will come from Horseshoe Bend income.

“Specialty Vehicles is a company, a distributor out of Phoenix, but these come from Hometown Trolley Manufacturing,” Christiansen told the Chronicle. “They're a Ford-based chassis, and so they use a 7.2-liter V8 engine that we're familiar with in our fleet already.”

Hometown Manufacturing in Crandon, Wisconsin, is the only American company building trollies. The company’s roots go back to inventor Lewis Kiser in 1903. Kiser invented and patented the air compressed engine and later the chassis.