SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Charles Ted Wright thinks a trolley service that runs between local beaches and hotels would go a long way toward solving parking woes and be a draw for tourists eager to shed their cars during vacation.

Plus, it could bring those same tourists to shop in downtown Wakefield and at Narragansett’s Pier Marketplace.

The South Kingstown Economic Development Committee has tapped Wright, who offers a trolley service for tours and weddings in Narragansett, as a resource as it begins preliminary research into the feasibility of providing such a trolley service.

“If we could get people around without having to use cars, I think it would be a nice future,” William K. White, a committee member, said. Wright ran a similar trolley service in Watch Hill last summer.

Wright envisions a service that would ferry people between area beaches and hotels such as the Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn and Lighthouse Inn, in a 13-mile round-trip route that would run every two hours, three times a day during the summer. He estimates the costs at $27,000.

“I think it’s something the town has to look at” in terms of public transportation, Wright said.

The Economic Development Committee, working with the Narragansett and South Kingstown Chambers of Commerce, will reach out to the hotels and businesses to gauge the interest level, White said.

The committee hopes to get some financial backing from the towns and the Chambers as well as the businesses. Wright says he would like to see some of the 2-percent meals and food tax that the towns receive go toward the project.

“I think it’s a good idea. I think everybody’s for it,” committee Chairman Larry Fish said. “It’s just who’s going to cover the cost.”

White says he views a trolley service as a way to bring the hotels, the Village at South County Commons, Wakefield and the Pier Marketplace together and bring in money-making business.

Wright launched a similar trolley service last summer in Westerly, but he said yesterday that it didn’t survive because it did not gain enough support from the business community.

Wright said he is simply advising the town. If the project goes forward, he would be interested in submitting a bid, said Wright, a former state legislator and Narragansett town councilman.

“We have probably the prettiest part of the country here,” he said. “We should show it off.”

kmulvane@projo.com