Joliet tram more like a ‘large golf cart,’ not a monorail, city official says

A future Joliet tram will be more like a “large golf cart” than the public transportation system characterized in some social media postings, city officials said.

Officials chafed at social media portrayals that they said suggested Joliet would create a monorail system downtown for electric-engineered public transportation.

“It’s like a large golf cart,” Public Works Director Greg Ruddy said of the tram expected to arrive late this year or in early 2025.

A social media reaction to the tram led to some debate among the City Council before it voted 7-2 earlier this month to accept a federal grant that will pay for the $95,000 cost of acquiring the electric tram and installing a charging station to keep it running.

The anti-tram reaction also led to the city rebranding the vehicle as a shuttle.

The vehicle will seat 15 and will operate on an electric battery without the aid of any rail system. It will be used primarily, if not exclusively, downtown.

Ruddy said the city has not yet decided how the tram will be used but compared it to previous shuttle buses operated by the city, including the most recent one designed to look like a trolley car.

Maintenance for the tram/shuttle is expected to be “pretty minimal,” he said.

“It’s changing tires and wipers,” Ruddy said. “It’s not substantial.”

The city plans to assign a part-time employee already on payroll to drive the tram/shuttle when it is used by the city for special events and other uses. It also will be made available to the Joliet Area Historical Museum and Heritage Corridor Destinations for historical and visitor tours.

Whether the vehicle could be used on a daily basis in a way that would benefit downtown businesses has not yet been decided, Ruddy said.

City spokeswoman Rosemaria DiBenedetto said her research on the subject indicated that the city operated some form of shuttle, including the so-called trolley car, until 2008.