Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Trollys as transportation within the bubble?
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Old 03-31-2024, 02:42 PM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
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I think people are considering this idea from the wrong perspective, for the wrong reasons. The idea of a trolley/tram system isn't to get people from one square to another, and it's also not to eliminate driving.

It's to minimize driving outside the "relative safety" of a residential village area, to get to either non-residential village areas, or to someone else's residential village area. Not eliminate it - just minimize it. To reduce traffic outside the residential village areas while providing a service to people who would most benefit from the service. Who would most benefit? People who PREFER not to drive, or can't drive cars anymore, CAN drive golf carts, but don't really want to. Or who don't feel comfortable driving on the bigger roads, or into the traffic of the squares or other commercial areas. It would also serve those who live in immediate proximity to the pickup/dropoff stops, such as the houses next door to or right behind rec centers, or (for example) the townhouses that surround Spanish Springs, or the Cottages at Sumter.

There are a lot of people who would love to not need to drive "into town" every time they want to come into town, especially if it's for dinner, when the return trip would be at night. Or on festival days when you spend an hour, white-knuckled and gritting your teeth, just to find a parking space and then having to walk four blocks to the festival because there just aren't any, any closer.

This would relieve some folks - while at the same time, reducing the number of vehicles at these destination points. Yes, they still have to get to a rec center to be picked up. But these are people who are still able-bodied and COULD drive, even if it's only driving their golf cart and not their cars anymore. It's also people who /shouldn't/ be driving anymore, but do anyway because how else are they going to get anywhere? The shorter distance they have to go, the less likely they are to cause an accident.