Trollys as transportation within the bubble?
 

Someone mentioned a monorail in jest i think, but how about using those sale trollys as a form of villager transportation running during peak hours to various rec centers and squares?
I am sure some seniors would use them as a shuttle frequently, along with their visitors.
Also a way to "enjoy" multiple beverages without putting the key in the vehicle.

Good idea. There are folks here who for whatever reason are finding driving to be more and more of a challenge. Offering them an alternative to driving to wherever they need to go would help them AND would help alleviate the road congestion around here.

How do you suggest this be funded and by whom? Where would the pickup points be, and how many?
Really, how many would consider using?

The trolley would not be able to go door to door. Residents would still have to drive. With most of TV closing by 9 pm, how many trips could it make back and forth to each square?

1. Fares.
2. Mail stations.
3. We wouldn't know until it is tried, but (say) a 90 - day trial in a couple of selected areas would give a good idea.

Users would purchase a monthly Trolly Pass. To start they could go from Town Square to Town Square. If you did not have a Pass it would cost a lot more to ride.

The specifics aside, one thing TV could use is some form of alternative transportation. (Shuttles and taxi's)

If it were profitable, someone would already be doing it. In my opinion, it would just be an additional cost for Villagers to pay, and it would be an underused amenity.

I agree.

Alternate Transportation
 

Uber
Lyft

I'm pretty sure that is the mindset Elon Musk had when he thought up Tesla. "If there was any money in it, someone would be doing it". If only he had followed throught and brought EVs to the forefront of transportation technology.
🫠😉🤭

Excellent questions, I don’t have the answer, but if they can do it for sales…

Musk did not start Tesla. It was founded by Eberhard and Tarpenning. Tesla is a leader in the ever growing EV marketplace and had the best selling car in the world in 2023. I don't understand why you think he hasn't followed through. The company's sales increase each year and they continue to expand their manufacturing facilities, including battery production. Please explain.

Apart from who started Tesla I think you missed the point of that post. Unless I read it wrong.

It is a good idea but multiple posters have mentioned overhead. If you're gonna go with a 2 trolley operation then maybe...with fares, it would work. Any larger fleet will require expensive purchases of additional trolleys, maintenance, fuel, insurance, salaries etc. It's not as easy as it looks and again, if it comes to fruition, watch those line items

There are very few if any public transportation systems that are self sufficient. Most are taxpayer subsidized. Are you willing to have your taxes raised so a few people can have access to a ride? I see Sumter County Dial-a-Ride shuttles all the time. So there are transportation options for people without the means to drive themselves.

Who is going to pay for it, is that a serious question!! It will have to be subsidized with a significant amount of money from the amenity fees. I don't know of any public transit system that pays for itself through ridership fees, public money is always needed to keep them operating. I imagine it would require multiple millions of dollars annually to provide an acceptable and functional trolley service in TV. And like everything else, it will require higher funding every year.

I think you pointed out the problem, its the same one encountered in cities, during peak hours of operation you need much more carrying capacity to keep from being overwhelmed, and at off hours you have a lot of unused, excess equipment not making any $

Where are the environmental people who want to ban plastic grocery bags? Those inefficient trolleys would increase pollution in The Villages more than plastic bags.

Oh boy, another entity that can be sued. Insurance will be a real pocket book buster,I’m sure.

Insurance claims would be a real problem. When transporting elderly people there is a major chance of accidents. Dan Newlin would LOVE this opportunity.

Right!
A couple did mention Elon Musk/EV so I guess that's their Mic drop on it ;)

I am sure that somewhere along the line the developer would have looked into this and decided it was not going to help him sell more houses or be profitable so he dropped it.

A few years ago there was an experimental (Voyager?) company that had driverless vehicles, it shut down, but now I see Orlando (I think) now has reactivated their driverless vehicles. The villages is a well defined area, and it should be very suitable for this type of system. With the proper management system there could be multiple pickups and drop offs on each run. The initial implementation could be town squares, rec centers, mail centers, and then if (big if) the economics work out then door to door. This would be similar to the Uber/Lyft) combined with the Sumter county bus transportation system, but driverless.

I always respect your commentary. But as I stated earlier, where do those purchases (driverless vehicles), the fuel (unless EV), salaries, maintenance and insurance derive from? You know a fare system would be insufficient for such an undertaking especially on a limited schedule/hours of operation. I love the idea...dont get me wrong....but everything costs money and no county or state is going to underwrite a community that has the means to do it themselves. Which worries me and my wallet

Oh no, driving in The Villages today is challenging with carts & cars with drivers doing all kind of weird things with their vehicles………this proposal would mean now watching out for driverless vehicles as well. I vote no!

Theres a cool thing called UBER,

if uber drivers cold make a bunch of money, there would be plenty around.

No public transportation system is self sufficient. New York is the closest (at least they were pre COVID) and they were 75% self sufficient. And that was operating costs, not capital costs, which are mostly paid with federal and state funds.

Who is going to wait 20 minutes for a bus to pic them up? No one is going to ride from Spanish Springs to Brownwood.

The Villages Trolley, presented by Morgan and Morgan.

I like the idea of a driverless vehicle - after they’ve perfected it. Probably safer than many of our current drivers.

If they ran on schedule, there would be no need to wait 20 minutes.

And I think a lot of people would take a trolley from Spanish Springs to Brownwood. If you are getting old and are reluctant to drive, it is faster than a golf cart.

And there is supposed to be billions available for green transportation.

St. Augustine got funding for a free shuttle service. Surely we can get federal or state funding for a pilot program.

Your browser is not supported | staugustine.com

I was actually surprised that the Villages didn't already have a tram system, when I first came to visit years ago. My grandparents lived in Century Village in Deerfield Beach - much much smaller community, maybe the size of the Historic section with one big clubhouse, one golf course, and a pool for each section of condos. There were three or four trams total, that would go back and forth, picking up and dropping off passengers at each section with a stop at the shopping plaza where they had some medical offices as well, and another stop at the clubhouse. They'd go from around 7AM til 9:30PM, when the clubhouse closed for the night after shows (it was pretty big, with a full sized theatre, similar to the Savannah Center).

I could see a similar setup in The Villages, where each Rec Center would be a stop. But instead of one big loop like they had at Century Village, it'd be a series of loops. For instance, the Hacienda Rec Center stop would take people to the Hospital campus, since Spanish Springs is only one block away from that rec center. From the Hospital campus, there might be another route that gets people to and from the Savannah center. Hacienda would also be a stop for a loop to and from the Historic Section. Spanish Springs town square might have a loop to Sumter, another loop to the strip malls (maybe Best Buy?), another to Chula Vista rec center and then to the driving range. People could use these for day-trips, by taking advantage of transfers between loops.

It'd absolutely take much longer than driving yourself, but if you can't drive anymore, or don't want to deal with driving and parking in a town square for entertainment, you could just go to the nearest rec center and hop transfers do dinner and dancing.

Instead of a separate pass, you'd scan your ID. You can get billed by the month, the quarter, six months at a time, a full year, or per trip.

Been reading TOTV for 16 years this pie in the sky topic has been discussed before…..when TV was a whole lot smaller.
Doubt if an Uber driver will haul you from one square to another for a buck or a trolley either.🤦
.

There is nothing new or novel about this. The suggestion by some that there is some 'green' funding or state contribution possibilities is so misleading. The Feds or FL is not going to underwrite a program to shuttle retirees from square to square or other points of interest. That type of funding is usually awarded to communities as a way to connect those work force residents with their places of employment. I know of no grants awarded for connectivity to bars, restaurants or recreation in an amenity based development.

St. Augustine is also preparing to launch a free shuttle downtown with the help of Florida Department of Transportation funds. I don't think this is to connect work residents with their places of employment. I believe that the free downtown shuttle would be primarily for tourists - to connect them to bars and restaurants.

If global warming is as existential as people say, I would think that the Federal and state government would provide us funding to save the planet.

It doesn't hurt to apply for the funds - all they can do is say no. There are a lot of votes in the Villages. And people would save a lot of money if they could stay independent for a year or two instead of going to an assisted living facility or a nursing home.

I agree on the request but understand, St. Augustine is a municipality....big difference. As another posted earlier, if it was that important, the developer would’ve found a way to implement by now. I don’t think it’s amongst their top priorities. There are voters in TV, but I don’t see any politician getting bounced over an issue like this

St. Augustine may be a municipality (which is “any city, town, or village duly incorporated under the laws of the state”) but it has a population of less than 16,000.

Not sure why its political definition makes a difference in funding.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was a $1.2 trillion bill. As far as I can tell, it was not limited to municipalities. One of the bill’s purposes was to address climate change. If we can get 5% of Villagers to use it, it would perhaps save the planet. Surely we can get our fair share of the money.

And the government should also put a connecting rail from the Villages to Orlando airport. That would be very popular!

I guess some folks really believe they live in Disneyland!

Cleverly written the
Vehicle meaning the
car and car with letter
T on the end. That at
least would give those
who believe their empowered from
danger with the
CART an option.
Example: A trolley
from SS 2x 8:30 and
9:30 with a few drop
sites. Those paying
Ride share now would
not even blink at a 10
dollar ride. Just a
thought.

It’s an interesting idea, but there are problems. When I go to a rec center, I need to be there at a specific time. I don’t want to get there an hour early or late. The trolleys are big, use a lot of gas, and they aren’t efficient ways of getting one or two people to a place and doing an at-home pickup and drop off. (We’ve all seen the complaints about shuttle services here.) Many people live a mile from their postal station, so they won’t walk there for a pickup. Driving there for a pickup defeats the purpose, as those who need this can’t drive.

Uber and Lyft are thoughts in the right direction, but those drivers make a living by having lots of fares or long fares. I’ve only taken a few Uber rides, to and from Denver airport to my dad’s house. That’s about a 45 minute ride. The fare ranged, according to time of day and availability, from $50 to $75. That’s more than lots of villagers can afford.

What we need is something like a combination of Meals-on-Wheels and the Community Watch people. That is, something that might be coordinated by a church group or by The Villages. The drivers would all be villagers. The people using it would all be villagers. The destinations would be close to The Villages or to doctors’ offices and hospitals as far away as Ocala. (No airport runs.) The drivers could use their own cars, but they would be electric vehicles, and the driving would pay for them. The cost would be by time rather than by distance, and it would be a max of, say, $15 per hour (including the cost of the driver’s return home after drop-off. There would be a dispatcher to assign cars. Reservations could be made weeks in advance for people who need to go to medical appointments. Drivers could wait indefinitely and accept the responsibility of taking people home after, say, a colonoscopy or other day surgery. This would be a huge benefit for a lot of people here who can’t drive.

It’s possible that there might be county agencies that could help support this. The Villages could own the vehicles, and the drivers could pick them up and return them daily. The people who would need this service would mostly be people unable to play golf or pickleball or even go to clubs in rec centers. Just as all those people pay amenities fees that cover those costs, perhaps we could all help subsidize a service like this, say by covering the cost of the cars and a dispatcher, that would help those who don’t use many other amenities.