NATCHEZ — The Natchez Transit System counted approximately 200 trips on its new trolleys over Memorial Day weekend — the first time trolleys have been used in Natchez in nearly seven years, Executive Director of the city’s Department of Adult Services and Public Transportation Sabrena Bartley said.

The two trolleys, as well as a 44-passenger bus, were added to the NTS’s fleet thanks to a grant the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act provided in 2009.

Overall, the grant totaled $543,030, Bartley said, with the trolleys accounting for $374,030 and the bus accounting for the remaining $169,000.

“We got the trolleys and the bus at zero cost to the city,” she said. “There was no match necessary.”

NTS’s bus fleet still totals 30 buses; the recent addition replaced an older bus, Bartley said.

Total revenue is calculated monthly, she said, so any money earned from the trolleys has yet to be determined. Rides on the trolley were free for the first weekend, and data has yet to be gathered for the subsequent weekends.

In three to four weeks, the trolleys’ first month’s report should be available, Bartley said, and once the kinks are hammered out, it’s possible that there may be price deals available for weekends and special events.

Currently the trolleys only travel on weekends through the downtown area from the Visitor Reception Center, but Bartley said as points of interest are determined, NTS will expand the coverage area and the hours of operation.

“We want to provide a unique travel experience to everyone,” she said. “We’re working with the visitors’ center to look at projections for tourism so (the trolleys) can be used most efficiently.”

For example, Bartley said, it would be helpful for tourists to be able to park their cars at the Visitor Reception Center and take a trolley around the city.

Passes for the trolleys are $1 per stop or $5 per person for a day pass.

State grants, match funds from invested entities — including the city — and fare box revenue each cover approximately one third of the costs of gas and upkeep of all NTS vehicles, Bartley said.

“When people look at buses, they’re always looking at gas,” she said. “There’s a $1.1 million budget per year for Natchez Transit. That includes maintenance, personnel and office administration.

“You have to watch your budget closely. The budget we’re operating under now was actually proposed two years ago. Gas skyrockets, insurance changes, maybe an engine blows up in one of the buses — those things cause problems, because they’re additional costs not projected two years in advance. But we’ve been very successful with our budget.”

The City of Vidalia bought one of Natchez’s old trolleys to use for tourism for $1, Bartley said.

“It was probably 15 years old when it was sold,” she said. “It would have been expensive to fix it, because it was broken and unusable.”

The trolley was refurbished by the City of Vidalia and has been on the road for years.

The stimulus funds and the addition of the trolleys to the NTS fleet allowed NTS to hire six new employees, Bartley said. When the trolleys go into everyday service, she said, more jobs, such as driver positions, will be created.

As of now, there are no plans to add any more trolleys, she said.

“Natchez Transit is one of the most utilized and progressive transit systems in Mississippi,” Bartley said. “We’re just excited and waiting to see where it goes.”