banning outside buses from squares
 

I can appreciate District Manager Jane Tutts arguments against letting outside transportation companies from picking up or dropping off passengers at the squares or recreation centers. Her statement that “The purpose of my communication to you is that if you have a group planning a trip (whether for a day or longer), the bus companies need to explore pick up location options other than the downtowns or recreation facilities.” has me wondering if there is any place inside The Villages that could be used for this purpose. She doesn’t suggest one.

While I am not yet full time in The Villages, I have heard of many exciting day trips that I would enjoy taking in the future.

We have gone to all of the places that people go on buses, in our car.

Except the gambling places, gambling isn't fun for us.

You are forgeting that some people either don't drive any longer but still want to go places, and also some people want to go but there cars are not reliable enough for the trip...

I think charter buses are a great idea and are usually cost effective.

The cost of a day trip on a bus is far greater than driving a car.

Everyone I know has a reliable car here in The Villages and can drive.

I realize that some love bus trips. I am sure the tour bus owners will soon solve this problem. They are the ones that are making money, them and the travel agents.... AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT..

Having riddden buses all over Europe, Central America and Asia on tours riding a bus is far, far less costly and more convenient than driving myself, even here in the good old USA. Plus, I can snap photos out the window, eat lunch, even go to the potty while the bus driver deals with the traffic, finds a parking spot and so on.

BTW, my Porsche probably cost about $2/mile to drive. A bus ride runs a small fraction of that.

Well, my Chrysler 200 costs a bit less than your Porsche to drive, although it's not as much fun, but I agree with you.

Another thing to consider is that often it's not only the destination, it can be the journey too. Every year the Three Rivers Club takes 2-3 busloads of Pirates fans to a spring training game in Bradenton. Food/drink is allowed on the buses, videos of Pittsburgh or movies filmed in Pgh are shown, and it's an all-around good time on the bus plus a total convenience to have someone else do the driving on the way back. We probably wouldn't go if we had to drive ourselves.

Went on a bus to Spring Training and the bingo games are so annoying I wanted to jump out the window. R22, C36. They repeated each number at least 3 times. Few things annoy me but this really did.

I think that the point is that parking has become an issue at all the rec centers from time to time. And at the parking lots behind the squares, the business owners don't want their customers inconvenienced more than necessary.

As I understand it, the problems are caused by the cars left behind in the parking lots. One solution might be for the bus/travel agencies to purchase parking spaces from the churches that have parking lots that virtually sit empty Monday through Saturday. Good for the church. Good for the bus/travel agencies. It could be a great budget enhancer for some of the smaller churches located just off property.

I can understand The Villages not wanting buses to take up parking in the downtown squares and other commercial areas. But, what is the harm in using a large regional rec center parking lot (designating a remote corner) for parking for a day bus trip? Villagers are beneficiaries, we indirectly pay for the rec centers, and, unless there is a special event at the regional center, there is generally ample parking available on the fringes. Seems like that would be a suitable compromise. I don't think any rec center or commercial area should be available for multi-day (e.g. cruise ship) parking.

No place to park in The Villages?

A friend of ours back in Urbana organizes Snooty Fox bus tours for the ladies to ride the 90 miles together to Cincinnati and then shop all day. Not something I would do but my wife thoroughly enjoys the experience. Everyone parks in the local county government’s lot in full view of government officials. If a small community of 10,000 can be accommodative, why can’t a community of 100,000 whose claims to be the friendliest hometown?

I understand that The Villages is watching their residents spend money on the outside and not getting a cut. The idea of using a Church parking lot may work but why do taxpaying residents have to go outside of The Villages? I bet that if these bus trips were a developer sanction activity it would be allowed in The Villages. I believe that the parking issue could be mitigated. As long as local residents don’t have to pay more for the journey, I say let the developer provide the transportation to keep it local and in The Villages.

Come to a Pirates game. We don't do bingo--only polka in the aisles.:a20:

It's a little off topic but did you know you can take a greyhound bus from Ocala to Miami for $40. I have family down there and looked into it. It's a short trip to Ocala from here but much more expensive. I wrote to Greyhound and asked them to look into making The Villages a stop.

Maybe they also have great deals going east and west but it doesn't do us any good unless the bus stops here.

I would think there would be more bus riders from The Villages then most communities. We have the time to forget the fuss and leave the driving to us [er them].

I also read that you can take an Amtrak bus from Spanish Springs to Lakeland and then board a train to Miami for around $100 round trip. Does anyone have that experience.

I also don't understand why a private bus has to go "off campus" for a village pick-up. But I guess meeting in a Walmart or other big outside parking lot shouldn't make that much of a difference.

there are plenty of places for buses like the shopping strips along 466, this is a non issue

It sure didn't take long to blame all of this on the developer...the town square parking is for Villagers and visitors to use when they are shopping, dining, and enjoying various types of entertainment. The recreation center lots are strictly for the use of Villagers and visitors for the purpose of enjoying the recreation options available. A district rule, not a developer rule.
The tour bus companies are a "for profit" entity that can certainly work out a pick up/drop off solution. This is their business, it's what they do.

I can’t help but notice that the enforcement of this rule is only targeting “outside” bus companies. The Villages Transpiration, operating out of Lake Sumter Landing, attracts large numbers of customer’s who park in the lots surrounding the hub for sometimes weeks at a time. I also see from their website that they have begun to offer special trips to concerts, shopping and even large buses to the cruise ports. This does seem like a double standard in my eyes and to me, looks like The Villages trying to bully out the competition from other bus companies. Will The Villages transportation be subject to the same kind of restrictions? Or will their customer’s be allowed to continue to fill the lots in front of Cody’s and Barnes and Noble? With the coming addition of the new restaurant in the old TGIF location as well as the continued retail expansions expected to occupy current vacant spaces, what is the plan to accommodate that increase in parking needs?

We are members of the Villages Parrotheads and have enjoyed quite a few of the day trips offered by the group. The buses hold approx. 48 passengers, which translates to about 24 cars parked at the furthest back portion of the Barnes and Noble parking lot for approx. 12 hours. I have never seen a time when the spaces in that lot were so limited that customers of other venues had to seek out alternative places to park. The lot is so empty on any given day that hundreds of bicyclists met up there almost every morning because of the wide open spaces.

As the Villages continues to grow and expand, Lifestyle groups will do the same. I believe that enforcing these restrictions on “non” village transportation companies is wrong and sends the wrong message to anyone trying to plan outings and events for the members of their groups to enjoy.

The developer here is not the enemy. AND they own the parking lots which benefit US the Villagers. Why should any of us be aggravated looking for a parking space to help a private business make money? The parking lots were built for us villagers..


And I say let the company making the money solve the problem. What if it was the rec center where I go every week? Or the other folks who live here? WE don't ALL benefit from the bus tour. .

Let the tour bus company and the travel agents buy some vans, hire some drivers and pick up their folks and deliver them back to the homes. The tour bus company and the travel agents are making the money.... which of course would make the price go up......... It is called the cost of doing business. Or they could rent parking places from us THE VILLAGES. It could be put in a fund to pay for things like the bridge sinking or people cutting down trees.

It is NOT greed, it is doing business. The tour bus people aren't our mother. We have invested our money by buying a home here and paying amenities here in THE villages.

When we went to an expo in Orlando put on by Eukanuba, the buses picked us up in the Target parking lot. Of course, is that TV-owned property?

When it is a TV-related trip put on by one of the TV-sanctioned clubs, I don't see the problem with parking in a TV lot. If there's enough parking for a thousand people to attend the PAC while there's entertainment at SS, there's enough spaces for 150 cars to park while three buses take them somewhere. And maybe that's the rub--they have to make up for a parking problem they may have created.

Why wouldn't it be "blamed on the developer" if it was announced by Janet Tutt?

There is not enough room at any of the grocery store parking lots, at least down in the 466A area, because the lots aren't big enough to hold the shoppers to begin with.

What about a bus coming in at night from say Wildwood or Leesburg and dropping of a bunch of kids at the squares and coming back later to pick them up ??

What if the cost of doing business prices the trip beyond the means of the villager? We have a good thing going here for day trips. I'd hate to see that go away. It always seems that whats going away are the fun things for non-active adults. Sooner or later that will be me.

If the cost of ANYTHING is beyond the means of anyone..........then the person should not do it. .

We can't have everything we want.

AND I think that MAY be political.

I disagree, answer a few questions...why is this suddenly being enforced....why is TV transportation exempt...If you do not participate in these activities, why bother to even add a comment?

Who owns TV Transportation? I think I read that it was sold to a private entity some time ago? Are you saying that they schedule trips and use the parking? I didn't know that. What kind of buses do they have? How much are the trips? I thought they just shuttled people back and forth to airports.

And you are right...I don't use the buses. But when a bus tour person comes on the other news and writes a letter and whines that he isn't getting something free, it gets me all interested.



I will shut my mouth now on this subject, because I really respect you kiddo.

I am trying to get some context to the issues with Non-Villages Bus Companies loading and unloading of Villages daytripper passengers. How often are we talking about? How many different locations are being used? Is there a parking issue as a result in all specified locations? It is a benefit for Villagers so is there a compromise here somewhere?

I didn’t say the developer was the enemy! I believe that many rec center facilities were sold by the developer so now they don’t own everything. All private businesses on the squares could be accused of aggravating parking problems. Everything isn’t owned by the developers. As long as us Villagers are going on the trips, why not allow us to use the parking lots?

As an aside, where can this District rule be found? Are parking problems the problem?

This is an excellent idea, and one that Perkiomen Tours (Allentown area PA) used for many bus tours. They were lucky enough that they could actually use the parking lot over Sundays, as they made 2-3 pick up spots, so each stop typically had around a dozen cars per bus.

My suggestion: survey the local churches to see who might be interested.

The other option this bus company used was large shopping centers, however, they occasionally ran in to liability concerns, and had to stick to certain areas.
Hope these thoughts help.

:agree:Add this to the list of things taken away one by one that someone on another thread said was no big deal. Typically a family business doesn't survive past the second generation (only 30% of the time in the second generation, 12% in the third). In this case it has, but when the kids take over the reigns, sometimes things can start to deteriorate.

Perhaps the liability issue is the larger issue at hand? I also agree the local churches could be an option as well.

Imagine a travel agent that handles cruises. And an enticement is "free" transportation to the cruise port. Assume 20 people....further assume 10 cars. The assigned pick up point is one of the parking lots at any one of the squares.
That would be 10 spaces locked up for one week or more. I do not think day trips an issue as using a space for the day would be no different than going to a movie, dinner, night on the town.

Now start to figure how many clubs? How many events? how many buses? How many spaces locked up?

We recently went on a cruise with bus included. The pick up point was behind McDonalds on 441 North across from Walmart. We were told to be driven to the pick up point and not leave cars parked in any of the parking lots.

Some rules like what one can or cannot put in their yard for display are supposed to be for the greater good of the integrity of "the lifestyle".

This is an issue that needs a lot of information to allow folks to have a valid informed decision....in my opinion.

I agree completely with Janet. Parking is for people using the squares. Not long term parking for Cruises and day trips.

Don't the village have two buse stops in LSL and SS? They are not on the squares but close. So what's the point of having bus stop. Arn't the day tour trips for villager's. Don't I pay ammenity fees.

Now I could understand if non-villagers are using our space and not paying the monthly fee.
I take it the restriction also includes the day trips by the long life learning center if they are chartered buses also right?

Hey I've got great idea! Pay for parking in all the parking lots and spaces on village property!:beer3:

The people being picked up leave their cars there for the day. If a bus holds 100 people, that's about 60 additional cars in the parking lot. And they are cars of people that are not using the squares or rec centers on that day.

To me, the biggest beneficiary of these bus tours is us, the people of The Villages.

This is the Mission, Purpose and Vision statement of the CDD from their web site.


It would seem to me a no brainer that the CDD, if it wants to adhere to its own standards, that it would do everything possible to work with the clubs and associations that are sanctioned by TV to make these bus trips possible.

On the other hand, if outside businesses or organizations (such as travel agencies, etc.) want to use our parking facilities, they should be blocked.

You do know that Janet Tutt doesn't represent the developer right? You do know that District operates under the State Law in FL which established CDD's and developer is an independent business? You do do know that while TV sanctions some of the clubs they don't sponsor or make club rules or have any obligation to the clubs. If you want to part at any of commercial parking areas you should get involved and talk to them. They will also ask you to sign a waiver releasing them of liability if your car is damaged, especially if you are bringing in 24+ cars. Let the tour companies work it out, they will find a solution.

But, the rec centers and their parking lots are there for the benefit of Villagers. Some Villagers will have their lifestyle enhanced for the day by using the parking lot so they can go into the rec center. Others will have their lifestyle enhanced by being able to go on a bus trip. Unless there is a major event going on in the rec center, there is plenty of parking available to keep both groups of amenity-paying Villagers happy. It would be fairly simple to set up a permit system so that rec centers which may be having a major event going on would be exempt from having its lot used for bus trips.

Seems to me that the bus services are the ones that need to find a place to pickup passengers. Not sure why we have all this debate over where to park for trips.

If you run a business, it's your responsibility to provide adequate parking for your customers.

As The Villages grow, parking is becoming more of a premium.

A principle argument of those who favor growth in TV is that as it grows, infrastructure grows with it. If that is true, then the number of parking spaces per household should be fairly static.

If it is tour companies/travel agencies who are trying to make a buck by organizing daytrips or longer, I completely agree with you that it is up to them to find a solution. However, if it is a club or group of people within TV that wants to charter a bus for a trip, then we, as Village stakeholders via the CDD should do everything possible to encourage that activity.

Amenity fees are designed to provide amenities. One amenity that is very cheap to offer is a parking spot that in almost all cases is going to be vacant.

Bravo.

What part of your amenity fees are used for the parking lots at LSL & SS?