The Kona Trolley Is Back on Weekdays. The Old Trolley Car Never Left Ali'i Drive.

At 9 a.m. on weekdays, an open-air trolley with brown wooden seats, etched glass at each end and a bell its owner likes to ring at every stop starts a one-mile loop through Historic Kailua Village. It's been running since October 1. At about the same hour, and on Saturdays and Sundays too, a Hele-On bus works its way down Ali'i Drive on Route 201. Some days the vehicle is the old Kona Trolley, with its name taken off the side. It costs nothing to ride.

From now through New Year's, the village's biggest dates fall almost entirely on weekends and evenings. The trolley that just came back doesn't run then. The one that never fully left does.

A Savannah Trolley on a One-Mile Loop

Big Island Now reported that Island RV, the private company behind Clark's Hawai'i Tours, bought the new car from Savannah Trolley Tours in Georgia. Company president Tania Cyrlin told the outlet she "spent almost as much to ship her here as I did to purchase it." The Kailua Village Business Improvement District asked her to bring a trolley back. Cyrlin had wanted a summer launch but waited a few months because of weather and funding.

The car seats up to 41 and runs one loop an hour. Confirmed stops are Kona Commons, which has two, Kailua Pier and Kona Brewing Co. on the Brewery Block. Riders buy passes online, because the trolley doesn't take cash, and can follow it in real time on a TripShot tracker the way they'd watch a rideshare approach. That tracker answers the main complaint about the old service, which Big Island Now says was that it often ran late.

The route is meant to grow. Businesses can sponsor stops as ridership builds. A second trolley would cut the wait to 30 minutes, and the long-term plan is to run seven days a week. For now it runs Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Old Car Went Back to the County

The first village trolley started in 2010. Robert's Hawai'i ran it until the pandemic halted service in 2020. Hawai'i County brought it back in 2021 as part of Hele-On, free to ride. Mayor Kimo Alameda told Big Island Now it was discontinued just before he took office in 2024. Ross Wilson Jr., the district's executive director, said it had been carrying 144,000 riders a year, "not only for visitors, but also for locals moving around the village."

The car itself is still in service. It went back into the Hele-On fleet and sometimes runs Route 201 on Ali'i Drive. "You still see it around sometimes," Wilson told the outlet, adding that the "Kona Trolley" lettering has been removed. The name hasn't completely gone either: the web address for the county's Route 201 schedule still reads "kona-trolley-via-ali-i-dr."

Here's how the two compare this fall:

Route 201 runs from the Loloku Street Park & Ride down to Keauhou under a schedule that took effect July 12, 2026. The county says times are approximate and can change without notice. Kama'aina trolley passes require a valid Hawai'i State ID or driver's license. Visitors pay $8 a day or $35 a week, and lap children under 3 ride free.

The two routes overlap less than the shared name suggests. The trolley connects the Kona Commons area to the pier and the brewery. Route 201 runs the length of Ali'i, past Coconut Grove and on toward Honl's. Someone heading from Kona Commons to the Kona Inn on a Tuesday afternoon has a real choice. Someone heading to the village on a Saturday evening doesn't.

Why a Trolley Became a Village Priority

Parking is what made getting into the village hard. Big Island Now counts a patchwork of about 21 lots between the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel and Coconut Grove, with rates of $9 to $21 an hour as of March 2026. Some lots give residents free time or a discount. The county owns the only free lot, with about 90 stalls.

The county has tried a few fixes. In 2025 a pilot turned Ali'i Drive into a one-way street from Kailua Pier to Hualalai Road, which added about 50 free street spaces. It started May 1 and went back to two-way traffic on June 16, after about 45 days of strong community opposition over congestion and backups on Kuakini Highway. This year Council Member Rebecca Villegas introduced Bill 132, which would have made the first three hours free and capped rates at $2 an hour after that. It was withdrawn on May 19.

The Council then passed a narrower measure unanimously. Bill 162, adopted July 21 as Ordinance 2026-055, requires every paid-lot entrance to post its rates, extra fees, hours, towing charges and the towing company's contact information. Big Island Now reported that before then, most lots showed only a QR code for payment and no hourly price. A broader proposal, Bill 154, would stop new commercial parking lots from being a permitted zoning use. It was amended in committee on October 6 and is still pending. Civil Beat covered both sides in May: complaints about unclear pricing and shorter shopping trips, and an operator's view that paid parking helps offset rising costs.

Seen against that history, the trolley is a way to get people to the shops that doesn't depend on a parking lot. Wilson told Big Island Now it's an "absolute plus for Kailua Village."

The Kona Inn Is Ready for Visitors Again

The best-known address on the route has its own fresh start. Big Island Now reported that the Kona Inn Restaurant, built in 1928, came through years of strain, which the outlet said included the paid parking that arrived in the village in 2023. The restaurant now belongs to Island Restaurant Group, formed by the owners of Jackie Rey's, Harbor House and Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill. On June 18 the group launched a new menu and a refreshed dining room. General manager Leila Kanuha, who has worked there 19 years, told the outlet that "every single day has been something better." The group also plans to rebrand its neighbor on Kailua Bay, the Kona Canoe Club, while keeping a nod to the canoe in the new identity.

The Holiday Calendar Falls Outside Trolley Hours

This is where the schedules matter. The village's headline dates between now and Christmas land on weekends or after 5 p.m. on a weekday:

1. Friday, November 6: the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival's lantern parade runs from Kailua Pier to Hale Halawai, 6 to 7 p.m.
2. Saturday, November 14: Artisan Market at Kona Commons.
3. Sunday, November 15: Kokua Kailua, 1 to 6 p.m., with Ali'i Drive closed to cars.
4. Saturday, December 12: Artisan Market at Kona Commons, followed by the Kailua Village Christmas Parade at 5:30 p.m. This year's theme is "Mele Kalikimaka Magic."
5. Sunday, December 13: Kokua Kailua returns, 1 to 6 p.m.

None of these falls within the trolley's current weekday hours. All of them fall within Route 201's 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. service. The one exception on the festival calendar is the Made in Hawai'i Artisan Market at Hale Halawai on November 6, which runs 2 to 9 p.m., so you can take the trolley there for the afternoon and catch Route 201 home after the lanterns. On the two Kokua Kailua Sundays, Ali'i Drive will be closed to vehicles for the afternoon, so check the county schedule before planning a bus ride along that stretch. The Kona holiday concert at Emma's Square and the Kailua Bay lighted boat parade are both still listed as "December TBA."

On weekdays the new trolley stands on its own. Errands between Kona Commons and the pier, lunch near the Brewery Block, or an out-of-town guest who wants to ride a trolley that rings a bell all fit its hours, and a $65 kama'aina monthly pass costs about what three to seven hours of village parking does at the $9 to $21 hourly rates reported this year. If the second trolley and weekend service arrive, the holiday picture changes. Until then, the free bus covers the dates that draw the biggest crowds.

The ordinances above are reported as general information, not legal or financial advice, so please confirm anything that affects you directly with the county or the right professional. At Schenk Properties, we've followed Kailua-Kona's town center for more than three decades, and we're glad to talk about how changes like these are reshaping the village. Contact Us.