Trolley Folly:
TIG/m and Coast Futura
A dark money privately funded local train lobbying organization, Coast Futura, is demonstrating a trolley on the Santa Cruz County Branch Line in hopes of convincing county leaders to publicly finance and subsidize a for-profit railroad company, TIG/m, to run a tourist train from Capitola to Davenport on our publicly-owned rail corridor. In doing so, our control of the use of the rail corridor would be lost. In addition, there is no support among the Regional Transportation Commission to privatize public transit for the benefit of one company, TIG/m.
Summary
This paper is intended to provide independent information about the manufacturer of the trolley being used in the Coast Futura demonstrations in Watsonville and Capitola/Santa Cruz. While the product looks interesting, the company has little experience in commuter transportation. TIG/m has only three active implementations of its trolleys, all of which lack the scale in distance, speed, and passenger volume required for Santa Cruz County. The company also has a history of pressuring local governments to provide special accommodations for their projects. These vehicles are hand-built, non-production rail vehicles supplied by a company with low-capitalization and no track record of long-term success.
TIG/m describes their vehicles as “trolleys”, “trams”, or “streetcars”. First line on the TIG/m website as of 10/11/2021:
TIG/m is an innovative turn-key design/builder of street-running public transportation rail systems commonly known as "streetcars", "trams", or "trolleys".
These are low-speed vehicles designed to travel down city streets at slow speeds. All TIG/m models run on the same underlying platform but have different coachwork, including old-fashioned trolleys or modern looks. Regardless of their outward appearance, they are essentially the same vehicle. It is reported that the wheel systems are occasionally scavenged from other scrapped vehicles.[1]
TIG/m Background
TIG/m was founded in 2005 by the merger of an engineering firm with a manufacturing company with the goal of developing a new kind of urban electric rail car that could operate without overhead wire, carrying all of the power for a full day of passenger service aboard each car.[2]
The merger brought together the company AVG Inc, an engineering and robotics firm formed by now TIG/m CEO Alvaro Villa and now EVP and CFO David Hall with the company Transportation Innovations Group and now TIG/m president, Brad Read.[3]
TIG/m is located in a 25,000 square foot facility in Chatsworth, CA[4] and has 25 employees (about the equivalent number of employees of a typical Starbucks location[5]). TIG/m has reported annual revenue of $5M.[6]
In its 16-year history, TIG/m has only manufactured ten vehicles deployed in four locations, primarily to support shopping areas and tourist attractions with no farebox collection. None of the vehicles operates more than 8 hours a day instead of the 20 hours of operation TIG/m states in its promotional materials.[7]
TIG/m Leadership
Alvaro Villa - CEO
Alvaro Villa with his $400,000 Andy Warhol robot
Mr. Villa is a Columbian Engineer. He has been engaged in robotics research, development, and manufacturing since 1969. Before joining TIG/m, Mr. Villa was the founder and principal of AVG, Inc., and had spent 9 years as head of robotics and electronics for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Brad Read - President
Mr. Read has over 28 years of experience as a corporate executive and brings a hands-on approach to project management based on years of experience in civil, mechanical, and structural engineering. Before joining TIG/m, Mr. Read was President of Transportation Innovations Group and co-founder/President of Laurence/Wayne Research and Development Company.
David Hall - Executive VP and CFO
Mr. Hall joined the company in 2005 and has experience in financial management, project development, technical manufacturing, and industrial product design. He was formerly the Executive Vice President of AVG Technologies, Inc.
As seen in TIG/m’s proposals, Tig/M also enlists the services of contractors, vendors, lobbyists, and rail consultants in its proposal efforts. Locally, TIG/m has retained the services of Mark Johannessen as their local representative. Mr. Johannessen is a local mediation attorney[8] and former city councilman in West Sacramento. He also unsuccessfully ran as Mayor of West Sacramento in 2008[9] and California State Assembly candidate for District 7 in the 2014 primary.[10]
TIG/m Product Portfolio
TIG/m lists four custom-built passenger carrying rail products in its portfolio. Two modern vehicle style designs (MRV) and two heritage style designs (HRT).[11]
MRV-3 Series
The MRV-3 can be configured in an open air or closed configuration with up to 33 seats, holding approximately 100 passengers standing and sitting.This is a similar configuration to a Metro bus at 7-10 times the price. A closed-air variant is being used for the Santa Cruz and Watsonville demonstrations in October of 2021. All electrical power required for a full day of passenger service is carried on-board the vehicle. Once per day the batteries are charged and balanced and the on-board generator is refueled. Battery charging equipment is carried on-board the vehicle and each night the vehicle is plugged in using the supplied high-voltage charge cord. There is only one implementation of this vehicle in service in Doha, Qatar with three vehicles servicing a 2 km (1.24 miles) loop using a Liquified Propane Gas (LPG) generator.[12]
HRT-1 Series
The HRT-1 is available in a single-deck or double-deck configuration. The HRT-1 is an open-air heritage-style trolley design. Similar to the MRV-3, there are a variety of power trains available. TIG/m has experience with this vehicle in two deployments. Its longest running trolley deployment is at The Grove Shopping Center. TIG/m’s largest deployment is in Oranjestad, Aruba, which uses four hydrogen generator HRT trolleys for its short distance low-speed routes.
The other two products have either never been deployed or have ceased operations.
MRV-4 Series
The MRV-4 is an articulated and extended version of the MRV-3. The MRV-4 is a modern-style vehicle designed to hold up to 200 passengers. Similar to the MRV-3, there are a variety of power trains available. The MRV-4 has never been deployed, nor manufactured. This vehicle has been mentioned in proposals for larger metropolitan areas but it is assumed its price has placed it out of contention.
HRT-2 Series
The HRT-2 Convertible streetcars can operate as open cars during temperate seasons but are equipped to close for heating or cooling during more extreme conditions. Similar to the MRV-3, there are a variety of power trains available. The HRT-2 has only had a deployment in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The Dubai Trolley ran with a hydrogen generator at slow speeds and was eventually retired and put on static display before being dismantled altogether. The HRT-2 vehicle is being proposed for use in the unsolicited Public /Private Partnership proposal by TIG/m and Roaring Camp to the Regional Transportation Commission for a tourist excursion trolley from Capitola to Davenport.
Fueling/Energy Systems
TIG/m vehicles use a variety of energy sources. Its vehicles do not have a need for overhead wires or any other type of wayside power systems per se. All electrical power required for a full day of passenger service is carried onboard the vehicle. Once per day the batteries are charged and balanced, and the onboard generator is refueled. Battery charging equipment is carried onboard the vehicle and each night the vehicle is plugged in using the supplied high-voltage charge cord. The generator units can be ordered to run on diesel, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquified Propane Gas (LPG), hydrogen, or other “liquid petroleum fuels”[13] which we believe is another way of saying gasoline.
Implementations
TIG/m’s implementation experience is currently with eight vehicles in three implementations worldwide (The Grove Mall in Hollywood, CA, a cruise ship port in Aruba and a shopping district tram in Doha, Qatar). Its one other implementation in Dubai has shuttered. Their operations are mostly geared around tourist attractions and malls operating at low speeds, short distances and no farebox operations.
The Grove Mall, Hollywood, CA
Built on a historic undercarriage from a 1950s Boston streetcar, The Grove trolley travels along First Street between The Grove and The Original Farmers Market, a distance of 1200 feet (or 0.36 km) at 8 mph.[14] The trolley operates 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. Powered electrically, The Grove trolley is the first use of inductive power technology in the U.S. for a transit system.[15] The Grove has recently opened a top deck restaurant on the amusement attraction called Trolley 1759 where a 90-minute dining experience starts at $1,000.[16] The trolley was first introduced in 2002 and is responsible for the majority of TIG/m’s claimed hours of experience.[17]
Oranjestad, Aruba
The Aruba trolley is the largest implementation for TIG/m with 2 single-deck vehicles and 2 double-deck vehicles. Regular service started on February 19, 2013.[2] The second car, an open-top double-decker, was delivered in June 2013.[18] The line is 1.9 km (1.2 miles) long in a single track with balloon loops at both ends. The trolleys operate at a maximum speed of 8 kph (5 mph)[19] for 8 hours a day, but only 2 vehicles operate from 11 AM to 5 PM.[20]
Many tripadvisor.com reviews note the non-reliability of the tram and many felt it was just easier to walk since the tram operates at such a slow speed and with inconsistent availability.
“We thought it would be fun to take the street car after walking around downtown for a few hours. When we arrived at the end to get on, the car was full and wouldn’t let more on. So we waited while the full car sat there for at least 15 minutes. After it left we waited 30 minutes for the next car to arrive. After we got on that car, it sat for 30 minutes full and didn’t move. Once it finally was in operation, it was a frustrating ride; as many people wanted on but no one was getting off and operators kept yelling that people couldn’t stand on the streetcar. It really wasn’t worth the wasted time or hassle.” - MNSandSeeker.
Another reviewer stated:
“We wanted to ride rhe[sp] street car in Aruba, they said it comes by about every 20 minutes. We waited 45 minutes and it still didn't show up. Later that day we were able to catch it. It [g]oes super slow. Got a short ways, I guess it was the end of the line. The driver got out for a smoke and said they's[sp] be sitting there for 20+ minutes. We gave up and walked back” - jill d[21]
Doha Qatar
The Msheireb Tram in Doha Qatar is the latest implementation of TIG/m vehicles which started service in January of 2020.[22] The three 33-seat Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) generator MRV-3 trams run on a limited schedule from 9 AM to Noon and 4 PM to 9 PM Saturday to Thursday (8 hours total for the day) and 4 PM to 9 PM (5 hours) on Fridays.[23] The trams run on a 2.12 km (1.3 miles) closed loop track around the Msheireb Shopping District. Based on a vehicle completing the 2.12 km 9-stop loop every 18 minutes,[24] the trams operate at an average speed of 7 kph (4.3 mph)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Currently out of operation. TIG/m supplied two hydrogen-generator trolleys for what was supposed to be the Dubai Trolley system. Phase 1 opened after many delays in 2015. It ran in the median of the orbital Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard, with three stops serving The Address, the Manzil Downtown and Vida Downtown hotels.[25] The trolley, operated by Emaar Group, ran a 1.1 km (0.68 mile) route at 10 kph (6.2 mph) and had a daily operational schedule of about 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. TIG/m claimed four more vehicles were going to be under contract for follow-on phases.[26] Further phases of the trolley system never materialized and operating days and times of the trolley became inconsistent, leading to bad travel reviews.[27] By 2019, The Dubai Trolley was out of operation. Stanchion poles were located at the tracks and tram vehicle number one was displayed to the public in the street while the depot is now used as a commercial area for pop-up restaurants.[28]
Other Current Proposals
Riverside, California
TIG/m is currently involved in a study with the City of Riverside. The city awarded $438,000 for a feasibility study in October of 2020 where TIG/m promised to move their operations if the project went forward promising 150 High-Tech jobs to the struggling area.[29] Several parts of the TIG/m proposal to the SCCRTC were “cut and paste” from the Riverside proposal.
Anaheim Streetcar Project
In 2019, Anaheim, CA Mayor Harry Sidhu created a Streetcar Taskforce and submitted a failed grant to the Trump administration.[30] Most work appears to be stalled due to the pandemic.
Failed proposals
TIG/m’s website features an unusual graphic showing multiple global locations and alluding to global projects that TIG/m does not appear to be working on or turned out to be failed projects that involved the company.[31]
Zhuhai, China
TIG/m was one of the companies considered for the Zhuhai Streetcar project but ultimately was not selected. The streetcar went live in June of 2017[32] and officially ceased operations in January of 2021 due to low ridership, operational cost overruns, and safety issues.[33]
The Puertos Los Cabos Marina Trolley
This was a highly publicized project for the new company in 2005 with a scheduled completion in 2007[34] to deploy an HRT-2 double decker trolley along a new man-made port near Cabo San Lucas. There is no evidence that the trolley project ever materialized for the community based on the resort’s current website.[35]
Eilan Hotel Resort and Spa, San Antonio, Texas
Another highly publicized project for TIG/m in 2011, where the trolley was supposed to be solar powered[36] and transport guests around the luxury hotel facility.[37] Tracks were laid and demonstrations were conducted, but the trolley has mysteriously disappeared from any promotional material for the resort. The vehicles from the project were eventually sold to the Oranjestad Aruba project[38] in 2012.
TIG/M and the Coast Futura Demonstration
Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail (FORT) has created a subgroup called Coast Connect which acts as a political action group and has created the Coast Futura project, which has led the charge and lobbying for a demonstration of the TIG/m streetcar on the Santa Cruz Branch Line. Senior members of FORT have maintained a relationship with TIG/m over the years, by going on site visits, creating websites,[39] writing editorials, campaigns of Letters to the Editor[40] of local newspapers, appearing on radio programs[41] and RTC meeting agenda items[42] all in support of TIG/m and their streetcars. FORT has also have senior members and endorsers[43] become local representatives for TIG/m such as Mark Johannessen acting as a grassroot advocate for the company as well as the Vice President of the Santa Cruz Mid County Democratic Club to help with political support.
The Coast Futura Project has thrown all of its support behind TIG/m as noted on it’s website and no other established providers of light rail vehicles:[44]
Santa Cruz County Proposal
Capitola to Davenport Excursion Train
In September of 2021, TIG/m and Roaring Camp Railroads submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) to create a Public/Private Partnership to run an excursion tourist train from Capitola to Davenport using its HRT-2 series trolleys.[45]
Key points:
The TIG/m plan proposes to privatize a trolley service on the rail corridor from Davenport to Capitola. The RTC has never studied or recommended such a use of the corridor.
All the up front investment (tens of millions of dollars) to make the tracks and corridor suitable for passenger service is borne by taxpayers.
There is no service to Watsonville.
TIG/m says it will make a profit on the service and share 5% of the net profits with the RTC (after it has taken all its expenses and 95% of net profits, if any). No train on the corridor has made a profit and there is zero evidence that TIG/m will either.
TIG/m is a small, undercapitalized company in Southern CA. Turning the corridor over to such a business is unwise. The proposal would take our public asset and privatize it.
TIG/m has no experience operating any of its products at this scale. The company has never operated at commuter rail speeds and distances in any of its 4 other short (< 2 miles) tourist implementations, 1 of which is no longer in operation. The “demo” will run at 10 MPH. Some street crossing signals at busy intersections along the demo route do not work, requiring flag persons to stop cars. TIG/m will be using inexperienced volunteer flaggers46 to control vehicle and pedestrian traffic at crossings.
To our knowledge, no RTC Commissioner supports a public/private partnership to privatize the corridor.
There is no funding identified to support this proposal including the many millions of dollars required to make the track infrastructure safe and suitable for trolley-based-rail passenger service.
Since it’s a service from Capitola to Davenport, it is by definition a tourist/recreational service and will not address traffic congestion in Santa Cruz County.
Like other previous train proposals, it will eliminate the possibility of a CONTINUOUS trail on the corridor.
TIG/m would take years to implement, including a new environmental review, and in the end, would not solve the pressing transportation challenges in Santa Cruz County.
TIG/m vehicles are small, providing a maximum of 33 seats when no space is provided for bikes. The current single-track corridor design allows for only eight vehicles operating at a time on the line, which would provide poor utilization of the corridor for public transit.
Conclusion
TIG/m does not have the experience to implement commuter rail projects in Santa Cruz County. Their lack of experience and unproven technologies would pose an extreme and unacceptable risk for a public transit operation. Its small size and lack of capitalization would leave Santa Cruz County in a desperate situation should the company dissolve. After the demonstration, the RTC should redirect its focus towards realistic and funded transportation solutions for Santa Cruz County. :
Railbank the corridor and build an interim trail now.
Continue to invest in Metro to restore routes, increase frequency, move to all-electric buses similar to the ones just implemented for a circulator in downtown Watsonville, install WIFI on all buses, modernize interiors, and provide app-based geolocation and updated arrival/departure times.
Continue to invest in ParaCruz and Lift Line to provide door-to-door on-demand service for the elderly and disabled, which meets their needs.
Move forward expeditiously with approved and funded Measure D programs, including Bus-on-Shoulder on Hwy 1 and Adaptive Signal Control on Soquel/Freedom.
Act with urgency! With the Murray Street Bridge, seismic repair scheduled for 2022, and Bus-on-Shoulder on Hwy 1 planned for 2023, Santa Cruz County’s transportation issues will get worse as two major north-south arteries are impacted by construction. The need to build an interim commute pathway on the rail corridor is urgent.
Endnotes
1. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-made-in-california-trolleymaker-20150527-story.html
2. https://www.openpr.com/news/2190589/tig-m-winner-of-multiple-international-light-rail-awards
3. https://www.tig-m.com/about-us.html
4. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-made-in-california-trolleymaker-20150527-story.html
6. https://www.zoominfo.com/c/tig-m-llc/358695709
8. https://www.johannessenlaw.com/
9. https://www.yoloelections.org/election-returns/archives/20081104/280
10. https://ballotpedia.org/California_State_Assembly_elections,_2014#District_7
11. https://www.tig-m.com/products.html
12. Wahnsiedler, J. (2020, May 1). Next Generation LRT: DOHA. THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE Tramways and Urban Transit p.173. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.lrta.org/
13. https://www.tig-m.com/technology.html
14. http://www.railwaypreservation.com/vintagetrolley/los_angeles.htm
15. https://thegrovela.com/visit/
17. https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SCBLR-Concept-Proposal.pdf
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Oranjestad
20. "Worldwide Review" [regular monthly news section] (May 2016). Tramways & Urban Transit, p. 190. UK: LRTA Publishing.
22. https://m.gulf-times.com/content/pdf/Dailynewspaper/Main2020_1_1917811.PDF
23. https://www.iloveqatar.net/guide/general/msheireb-tram-msheireb-downtown-doha-guide
24. Wahnsiedler, J. (2020, May 1). Next Generation LRT: DOHA. THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE Tramways and Urban Transit p.173. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.lrta.org/
25. https://www.railwaygazette.com/hydrogen-fuelled-double-deck-tram-on-test/40790.article
26. Melero, M. M. (2015, April 6). When The Bell Tolls in Dubai. San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Trolley
29. https://www.pe.com/2020/10/07/could-wireless-battery-powered-streetcars-be-coming-to-riverside/
30. https://anaheiminvestigator.com/tag/tig-m/
31. https://www.tig-m.com/about-us.html
32. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Zhuhai
33. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008454/how-a-chinese-tram-line-went-off-the-tracks
34. http://www.smartskyways.com/Technology/prototyp/Trolley/KB-Promo2.pdf
35. https://puertoloscabos.com/marina/
36. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaEZHHWEk8Y
38. https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/aruba02.htm
39. https://coastconnect.org/a-preview-of-clean-modern-rail-transit-in-santa-cruz-county/
40. https://goodtimes.sc/santa-cruz-news/opinion-understanding-what-we-lost-as-a-community-in-the-fire/
41. https://ksqd.org/the-rail-trail-how-to-move-forward/
42. http://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020-09-03-%20RTC-agenda-packet.pdf pages 23-3 to 23-5
43. https://coastconnect.org/endorsers/
44. https://www.coastfutura.org/
45. https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SCBLR-Concept-Proposal.pdf