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Economy affects Beach trolley business

By Staff | Apr 7, 2009

The Lee County Transit Beach trolley system has seen a severe decline in riders so far this year.

According to Lee County Transit principal planner Mike Horsting, the number of trolley riders has been much lower than usual.

“It’s a fairly substantial decrease,” said Horsting. “A gradual decrease is about 3 percent. We’re really contributing it to the economic times.”

February numbers for the two Beach service areas are as follows:

n Rides from Summerlin Square to Bowditch Point: 2008 – 34,361; 2009 – 28,582 = 16.9 percent decrease

n Rides from Lover’s Key to Bowditch Point: 2008 – 51,684; 2009 – 41,413 = 19.9 percent decrease

Preliminary 2009 March data for the same rides show more than a 20 percent decrease than 2008.

In recessionary times, one might think riding a trolley for 50 cents would be more economical than driving a vehicle. But that doesn’t appear to be the case.

“We compare numbers to what’s going on at the airport,” said Horsting. “Airport numbers are down and general traffic seems to be down. It’s kind of consistent in terms of transportation in general.”

Currently, all of the trolleys are diesel-fueled vehicles.

“We don’t have anything that’s hybrid or alternatively fueled in our fleet at this point,” said Horsting.

LeeTran’s new “summer” trolley schedule for the Beach takes effect on Thursday, April 23. Schedules are available at any Lee County Publix Supermarket or most Lee County libraries.

History and routes

According to Horsting, a private transit service started “Tropic Transit” in April of 1952. The 18-passenger minibus made four trips daily to Fort Myers. The service was discontinued after approximately two years of operation.

The Florida Department of Transportation launched a three-year service demonstration project for today’s trolley service in December of 1987. Lee County then took over the funding of the service.

LeeTran has run its trolley system for more than 20 years. It is currently operated under the authority of the Lee County Government and the Board of Lee County Commissioners.

“Our numbers, in terms of ridership, goes back to 1988,” said Horsting. “It started out as a three-year demonstration project by the state of Florida and then was continued by Lee County after that.”

LeeTran operates 18 fixed bus routes – including a park-and-ride trolley service to and from Fort Myers Beach – and provides more than 3 million rides to residents and visitors in Lee County annually. It also operates Passport – an American Disability Act paratransit service for disabled citizens who are unable to use the fixed route system.

Green project and survey

LeeTran recently began a project to see if Beach trolleys could help Lee County become more environmentally friendly.

The project looks at reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants that occurs during heavy traffic conditions. It includes an online survey at www.trolleysurvey.com which anyone can participate in and be eligible to receive a $100 cash prize.

LeeTran plans on hosting the survey through April 15 and the data collected will determine how the trolley service can reduce future traffic congestion on and around Fort Myers Beach. The project will look at trolley enhancements to entice potential riders.The savings from switching to fossil fuel and more environmentally friendly fuels will be assessed.

“If we can find ways to entice more drivers to leave their cars off the island and take the trolley, we can reduce the amount of time cars spend idling in traffic,” said LeeTran director Steve Myers. “Not only does this reduce emissions, it also saves fuel. Between stimulus funds, potential grants, and provisions being discussed for the re-authorization of federal surface transportation funding, there may also be the opportunity to obtain trolleys that operate on more environmentally friendly fuel to replace our existing trolleys as the fleet ages.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, LeeTran is receiving over $6 million from a federal economic stimulus grant given by the Federal Transit Administration. Part of that money will be made available to purchase eight replacement trolley buses.