The new summer trolley service at Fashion Island might seem solely about convenience but it is much, much more.

For passengers unfamiliar with the center, driver Carla’s commentary makes the interior loop feel like the sort of entertaining tour you’d pay for on vacation, yet the service is free. Longtime members of the community might also learn a tidbit or two.

Did you know, for instance, that until recently the wind chimes outside Macy’s, a popular trolley stop, were the world’s largest? “Listen, you can hear them in the breeze!” Carla says, obviously excited, though she’s made the loop hundreds of times.

“Those olive trees make you feel like you’re in Tuscany,” she says outside new RH. “You can make your own perfume in there,” she says, pointing out Elia Parfum. And that’s just the first five minutes.

Later, she notes that Privé is the center’s only private club; that the line goes around the block for gelato at Bacio di Latte on weekends; and that there’s a reflecting pool in the dining room at Ocean 48.

The trolley is San Francisco-style and gleaming; it last operated pre-pandemic. Weather permitting, it runs noon to 5 p.m. through Sept. 1, with a half hour break daily at 2:30 p.m.

Dedicated stops include R+D Kitchen, Ulta Beauty, Starbucks, the lower Macy’s flagpole, P.F. Chang’s and Mendocino Farms, but passengers can hail Carla anywhere it is safe to do so.