City of Hope now offers a regular tram service at its Duarte, Calif., campus.

Four full-time drivers and additional volunteer drivers will travel a loop inside the campus. Paid drivers will provide uninterrupted service primarily for staff from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., while volunteers will drive between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to serve patients and visitors.

“Tram service on campus will switch over to a regular route with set tram stops,” said Gary Ward, director of security. “We found that our current style of taxi-style service allowed for very personalized service, but was not very efficient and caused long wait times for people calling in service requests.”

Riders will no longer call in advance for a tram. Instead, they may wait for regular service at a marked tram stop. A route map showing all stops is available on the intranet at www.coh.org/tram.asp.

The route includes stops at the patient/visitor parking lot, Platt central walkway, Helford/Brawerman, the cafeteria, the Blood Donor Apheresis Center, and parking lots C, D, E, F and G.

Volunteer drivers will handle special-needs requests, which are available through the Security Kiosk at ext. 62006, as well as regular service within the main patient and visitor area in the north end of campus.

A full circuit around campus takes 10 to 12 minutes, with estimated wait times of six minutes or less. Inclement weather, high volume and sporadic traffic congestion may temporarily affect wait times.

“This is the beginning of improved tram service on campus, and it will evolve as the campus grows,” Ward said. “I welcome any comments and suggestions that would help further improve the tram service and meet the needs of everyone at City of Hope.”