Villages Airport Van
 

My wife and I have been using the Villages Shuttle for all our arrivals and departures with no problems.It's a great service.
On this trip have decided to go with Villages Airport Van
Our main reason for doing so our last few trips due to flight schedules we would miss the airport shuttle departure by a few minutes thus have to wait an hour till the next shuttle. { I know an hour WOW }
From what i understand is with the Villages Airport Shuttle they schedule your pickup based on your arrival time.
That once you have your luggage just call they are waiting on site
then will proceed to the baggage claim area to pick you up.
I guess my question is has anyone used the Villages Airport Shuttle and have any concerns or issues about their service. Thank you

Airport Shuttle
 

We have used the Airport Shuttle several times. They arrive at your home on time, sometimes early, and you do arrive at your airline drop off on time for your flight. BUT, they pickup throughout The Villages, and when you have a full van you spend some time picking up passengers. On one trip we picked up from the far North end of The Villages to almost 466A at the far South end. Other than that I think it is an excellent service and we would recommend it.

My husband has used them twice a month for almost 2 years. Sometimes the ride is longer due to drop offs or pick ups...but he doesn't complain.

Last time we used them, we waited with other passengers for over an hour at the airport and were told the shuttle was waiting for someone at the other terminal. After we boarded, we went back to the other terminal to pick up the passenger they were waiting for. After we got into TV, the driver seemed unfamiliar with TV. At one point, he was heading for Virginia Trace after dropping off a passenger on Bailey Trail. He turned right on Bailey Trail and drove south all the way to Buena Vista passing St. Charles. He ignored all our pleas to go the other way, even ignoring the advice of the passenger he was supposed to drop off. He then went all the way to Stillwater on Buena Vista even though the passenger lives near the Canal Street rec center. Then, instead of turning left onto Odell to take people to Caroline, he turned right back onto Buena Vista back to Stillwater. When someone mentioned that people know where they live and the best way to get there, he told us we were wrong! It took us almost 3 hours to get home from OIA. This may have been an aberration, but I won't take the chance again.

BTW. Our ride to OIA was fine.

are you speaking of the shuttle or the van ?

I think I was on that van ride. Took 4 hours to get home

Sorry, the van.

We’ve used The Village Airport Van numerous times to pick up/drop off visiting friends and relatives. So far, all of them have been completely happy with the experience. Perhaps it was just luck (and late-evening flights), but none of them have had to wait at the airport for more than 15 minutes after calling for the Van. And since we live in the southern end of TV, they are usually the first to be dropped off at my house and last to be picked up at my house. My friends and relatives have always visited during the off-season too...so that might make a difference as well.

Does anyone know of a company that picks up from Sanford airport?

Enterprise
 

We discovered that Enterprise rental cars keep their rate at $75, and since we had 2 people needing a ride, it was basically the same price as the van or shuttle. Our total was $85 as we let them pay for the gas. Enterprise will pick you up at house and take to Lake Sumter where their office is located to get the car, if you need. By using the rental car, we could leave when we wanted.
We are new to TV, and haven't tried the van or shuttle, but have friends who have used the van and had good experiences.

Probably was new. They usually have a Garmin that takes them to wherever they are going. I personally have had good service with them, and have used them at least 15 times

I have used both services. There is good and bad to both, so it just depends on what is more important to you. The Village shuttle is on time and has a decent schedule, especially since they have just increased the number of runs from the transportation centers. The last time I took the Village Van (not the shuttle), they were 45 minutes late picking me up at my house. By the time we finally made it to the airport after all the stops to pick up the other passengers, I barely made my flight - I had a full 5 minutes to spare after sprinting though the airport. The ride home was about the same - it took forever to get home. It seems I'm the lucky one - the first to get picked up and then have 5-6 more stops before we head to the airport and the last to get dropped off after watching 5-6 people get to their houses before me. Can you tell I'm not a big fan of the Village van?

That was part of the frustration. He had a Garmin. I don't know if he entered addresses in it or just looked at the map. But he apparently trusted the Garmin more than the passengers who knew where they lived and the best way to get there. He also had a small diagram of the entire Villages that he referred to at times. When he turned south out of Pelican Path towards Cane Garden to get to Virginia Trace instead of going towards the Odell circle on Buena Vista and everyone told him he was going the wrong way he insisted that going our way was going to take him to 466A and was the long way. And he was not pleasant in saying it. If he was new, I would think he would accept that people who live here know where they live.

But, like you say, this may an unusual case. Unless I am landing after the hours the Villages Shuttle runs, I am unlikely to use the Van again. My wife insists that she will use anything but the Van, and she usually is most understanding of circumstances.

My mother used the Van once she stated it can get agrevating waiting for others to get dropped off if your on a schedule. That being said I have flown in 6 times and taken the shuttle each time. Never had one problem with the shuttle drivers are great there clean and plenty of room.

There goes the tip!!!!!!! hehehehe I understand, but could be a new person or just didn't want to admit he was wrong. I just like the service, because they come to the house, and pick you up at airport. Plus, they schedule for you. We are pretty lucky to have that service here for such a low price. Happy motoring no matter who you choose!!!

It bothers me a whole lot that folks seem to have considerable difficulties differentiating between The Villages Shuttle and the Villages Airport Van.

They are two totally different services, with absolutely no connection, one to the other!

The Airport Van is a late-comer, trying very hard to offer competetive service, but, by many reports, failing. The Shuttle has been around much longer, offers much more comfortable vehicles and a very reliable service.

Yes, both have their faults. Indeed, I've been known to decide that I can do a much more acceptable job than either of them!

However, I am a firm believer that The Villages Shuttle [<TheVillagesTransportation.net>] will serve you best!

SWR
:beer3:

Do all the drivers (for most companies) charge 35. p.p.(one way) to the airport in Orlando?

Villages airport van is $35 each way (tip extra/optional).

If you live in the southern end of the villages then the return home is better since you will be dropped off first. But northern end folks may wait for some time - I've heard as much as 1 hour once inside TV if the van is full.

But I've used them a few times with no complaints thus far.

I have used them as well as Village Cab. They both take you to your home and the other thing is they don't charge you an extra $5.00 for golf clubs.

We have used the Villages Airport Van numerous times. Will pick you up and drop you off at your airlines' terminal door. Pickup is based upon your flight time and you are not subject to a schedule. Great door-to-door service.

We had no problem with them on our ride to the airport. We were picked up at the house and had a pleasant ride to Orlando. The problem was our trip home from the airport. We were flying in from the UK and it had been an extremely LONG day and a half. We weren't the only ones waiting over an hour for the van to arrive at our terminal...there were many tired passengers. After we were picked up it was back to the other terminal to pick up passengers we thought had already been boarded. The ride to TV was pleasant, but taking over an hour to drop off passengers was annoying because the driver insisted he knew the area better than the residents he had in the van. Tired people saw their house, but couldn't get to it because the driver insisted on going the way his map or Garmin routed. I'm sure this young man wasn't particularly familiar with TV and it's better to be dropping off than picking up where there is a deadline, BUT it's put them on my prefer not to use list. We landed at 8pm and didn't get home until close to 1AM, and we were not the last group to be ferried to our homes. Have flown often, used a number of shuttle services.....the trip home wasn't an experience enjoyed.

The Villages Airport Van for me
 

Like The Villages Airport Van better. I have always had great experiences.

Once had delays with my flights and missed the last Villages shuttle for the night. That was in the days before The Village Van. Not a happy experience.
Plus back then you had to pay for your taxis to and from the shuttle. Prices were going higher and higher for the shuttle. The competition has brought them back down.

The Villages Transportation Service (the shuttle) recently increased the number of round trips to/from Orlando International Airport to 14 times a day.

For going to the Orlando Airport, the first shuttle departs from Spanish Springs at 4:30 AM and Lake Sumter Landing AT 5:00 AM. The last shuttle departs from Spanish Springs at 9:00 PM and Lake Sumter Landing at 9:30 PM.

For coming to The Villages, the first shuttle departs from "Terminal B" at 7:00 AM and "Terminal A" at 7:15 AM. The last shuttle departs from "Terminal B" at 11:30 PM and "Terminal A" at 11:45 PM.

I don't think it can get much better than this.

The Villages Shuttle vs Village Airport Van
 

If you have read some of my past posts on the Pros and Cons of TV Shuttle vs. Village Airport Van, you will see that I was fair and leaned toward TV Shuttle Service. However, I have changed my opinion.

I did have a negative experience with Village Airport Van. I went right to the "the top dog", the owner....and he not only talked to me on the telephone but also responded to me in a PM as Swimdawg. He did not know that the person who complained to him on the phone was Swimdawg.

This is part of his PM to me:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good afternoon Swimdawg,

I am the owner of the Village Airport Van. I frequently peruse the Talk of the Villages blog to see what the community is saying about our organization. We are always striving to improve our service, and I just wanted to touch on some of the points you brought up in a post recently, in which you compared the pros and cons of both our company and our competitor.

Firstly, I'd like to discuss the waiting area at the airport. Orlando International Airport provides benches for most parking spaces along level 1 (Ground Transportation). For some unknown reason, the spaces that we make use of (A45 and B49) are further from these benches than any other spaces. The spaces in fact have no designated benches assigned to them. Accordingly, we have contacted the director of Airport Ground Transportation, Paul Issler, to request that additional benches be furnished. We have gone as far as to offer funding for installation of said benches and have been notified by Mr. Issler that the matter is being looked into further. This request may first need approval from the Orlando International Airport Ground Transportation Committee, so we must wait for the airport to address this issue before we can move forward.

Secondly, you commented that our vans are not as clean or organized as our competitors. To that end, we have recently committed $65,000 to ensure that our vans are immaculate both inside and out. If you should ever feel that a van's level of cleanliness is subpar, we would encourage you to please notify our office of the same, either by phone or through the comment cards located in our vans. Your van should always be of the same level of cleanliness you'd expect it to be after driving it off the lot at a car dealership. Furthermore, in reference to the appearance of our drivers, we have recently invested upwards of $8,000 to equip all of our drivers with new uniforms.

Finally, in addition to always trying to improve the cleanliness of our vans, we also strive to provide the safest travel possible. To that end, we have invested $3,000 in new running boards, which are currently being installed on each and every van. Despite the medical-grade step stools that we provide, we have heard recently that various customers have experienced difficultly in boarding the van.

In closing, I hope that some of these details will help you understand the level of commitment we have to our customers. I do not exaggerate when I say that we always want to be faster, cheaper, and better than our competitors, and that we will work tirelessly to reach that goal. I encourage you to try our service again in the future, and to provide feedback on your trip through our comment cards (located in all vehicles). I cannot express how grateful I am for customers such as yourself - your feedback is invaluable and is the most important tool to helping us become the most affordable, fastest, and best airport transportation service in The Villages.

I'd like to thank you once again for your comments and hope to hear back from you soon!

Village Airport Van
www.VillageAirportVan.com
(352)-241-2000

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have to hand it to him. He really did what he said in this PM. The vans are very clean and the drivers are cautious, attentive, well-dressed, clean and very professional. The last driver even offered us bottled water which I thought was a nice touch.

It is so nice to be picked up at my home in Swimdawg South and be taken to the airport without having to transfer via cab as I did with TV Shuttle. The wait time has been much less using Village Airport Van. Now my vote goes to Village Airport Van!

Incidentally, Village Airport Van has 24/7 door-to-door service and every 10th trip if free. The price was the same with both services.....but I did have to pay $5. extra using TV Shuttle for the cab ride to/from the Shuttle Waiting Area.

YES TO VILLAGE AIRPORT VAN!
...And I will update as time goes on. I travel a lot......zipping back and forth from Western New York to TV.

This may be a dumb question in light of the discussion thread, but....
My wife and I are planning on coming down for a lifestyle visit next month. Should we consider taking the shuttle or van from the airport instead of renting a car? We plan to fly in, see TV, and leave. We're not planning on driving anywhere except to and from the airport.

If you're planning to see The Villages, will you have a golf cart to drive around in? The place is HUGE, about 12 to 15 miles from one end to the other.
The shuttle is fine, the van is fine, but you do have to make reservations for either. (I didn't care for my return trip to The Villages by the van, but not all have had bad experiences using the van.)
Come, have fun, and I can guarantee you, you'll be back!:MOJE_whot:O

Do you know if Enterprise lets you drop off a rental at MCO if you pick it up in T.V.?

I'd suggest the Villages Transportation Shuttle. Pickups at the airport every hour and arrive in a large safe bus-like vehicle. Get assigned a Villages sales agent ahead of time. Talk to the person ahead with the info as to your arrival. The good agents meet their prospects at the shuttle. If the person won't, demand a different one.
Depending on the number of days you spend here , the free golf cart should do you fine. If you want to tour off the reservation for a day, rent a car in TV for a day. Probably cheaper in the long run. You should also hook up with an independent realtor, such as Executive Realty. That person should also offer to pick you up at the shuttle terminal. Just ask them. The good agents go out of their way in trying to make a sale.
A good realtor will probably give you a brief tour off the reservation too, if you ask.
Have a good visit.

Well it does get better than this all the other transportation companies will pick you up or deliver you at these times and all other times, are cheaper, and don't "charge" for clubs. And you don't have to get over to the bus station, they pick you up at home!!

Yes they do/

Thank you !!

...

Village Airport Van
 

I mentioned in an earlier post that we use Village Airport Van and have been very satisfied with them.

We have had an experience showing just how good they are ...... a few years ago when the Volcano in Iceland (I think) caused the ash to severely disrupt airline service all over the world, my husband was in Europe and got stuck in London for several days trying to get a flight back to the U.S. I stayed in contact with the Village Airport Van both night and day because I was constantly having to tell them he was coming on such and such a day and flight and then that would be cancelled and so on and so on ........... Finally I got a call from him as he was boarding a flight asking me to make sure he would be picked up the middle of the night at Orlando! I called the Van, they stayed in touch with me throughout the day and into the night and picked him up in the middle of the night and brought him home safely. NOW THAT IS REAL SERVICE. I am sure we were not the only people that they assisted with exceptional service during that difficult time.

I have been using an airport service company that will take up to 4 passengers to or from the airport for $75. They pick up right at your door. They also show up at the airport luggage area with sign in hand, grab your luggage and take you home. The service has been great. There # is 352 728-1411.

Last year was my first experience ever driving a golf cart. My first rental house last year was in the Village of Chatham, near Nancy Lopez (far north end of TV). A couple of times I had dinner towards the south end of TV - at Cane Garden and at Havana. I'm estimating Havana is 12? miles from Chatham. Being a newbie golf cart driver last year, I did not feel comfortable driving by myself in the golf cart from Havana back to Chatham at night, especially with my tendency to get lost. I'm sure experienced TV golf cart drivers daily drive from Havana and points south of 466A to Chatham, but as a newbie golf cart driver driving that distance at night by myself was not something I was comfortable with doing. Now I drove with my friend in her golf cart, (she lives in the Village of Caroline) from her house to Chatham, but she knew exactly where she was going.

As Pooh indicated, TV is pretty spread out from north to south, and getting more spread out now that there are villages south of 466A. Before you say, that you are sure you will not need a rental car, I think you may want to assess what distance you want to drive in the golf cart, especially if you are a newbie golf cart driver. I believe you can rent an automobile in TV from Enterprise if you just want a rental car for a day or two -- someone correct me if I am wrong on that. I will be back in TV next month, and I will be using the golf cart that comes with the rental house, but I like the option of having a car, as I usually venture out of TV a least a couple of times while I'm renting in TV as I love to drive around FL. Just my 2 cents. Have a fantastic visit :wave:.

Extremely bad experience with the Villages Airport Van.
 

Very bad experience with the Villages Airport Van involving two teenage girls-- ages 15 and 18. On the trip from Orlando International Airport on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 they could not get on the van even though this had been prepaid $70 by the homeowner. The homeowner received a call from a very responsible 18 year old girl who described the problem. Then he called Villages Airpoirt Van and straightened out the problem. It seems like prepaid trips had been cancelled some how the day before, June 12, 2012.

It also took the girls 3 hours to get from the Orlando airport to our home near the Villages High School.

On the trip back to the airport (June 20, 2012), which was again prepaid, our two teenage girl visitors were offered the choice of paying right then or facing the police according to the driver. He said that no payment had been given for these two rides to the airport. These fares cost $70. Luckily, these two teenage girls had the $70 from money given to them as a safety net and for their lunches and other needs during the trip. These two teens were travelling alone from Orlando to the Phoenix area.

Again, the excuse as with the trip from the airport was that the prepaid Villages Airport Van trip had been deleted.

The homeowner here in the Villages called Villages Airport Van and learned that this was one of their best drivers!!!!! Not even an apology was offered for what these two teens went through. Again, these were two teen age girls travelling alone.

We were out of the house when the teen age girls called with the news that the cops would be sicked on them if they did not pay for their trip ($70). Not a word from the driver about these two fares not being paid when he picked them up from the Villages homeowner doorstep. He picked them up among a number of adults who were also visiting here in the Villages.

No one in this household will use the Villages Airport Van again.

Prepaid Village Van
 

Five days ago, we were picked up by the Village Van at Orlando Airport. We had prepaid for the trip to and from the airport. When the driver requested payment we told him we had prepaid, he said there was nothing on his sheet to indicate that, I produced the receipt and he called it in and the office then found our prepayment. The lesson here is to always carry the receipt for a prepaid trip.

Would suggest to the owner of The Village Van that he gets more efficient office staff, and that the van driver accepting prepayment make a note of it on his work sheet in VERY LARGE LETTERS.

The problem we had is that the teen girls (15 and 18 year olds) had the van receipt with them but I guess the office said that the trip had not been prepaid. That was because some office worker at the Airport Villages Van had deleted these prepaids.

So two teenage girls get threatened by a call to the police if they do not produce the cash.

They should double-check always when kids are travelling alone if they have trips that have been prepaid. What would have happened if the kid panicked thinking she would miss her flight but did not have the cash needed on her? Fortunately our 18 year has a very level head on her and after trying to call here--but not getting anyone-- managed to scrounge $70 from her and her 15 year old sister's emergency travelling money.

Just think that is horrible not to have some kind of policy that covers checking for prepaid fees at the pick-up door when kids are involved so that the kids do not get abandoned at the airport and/or miss their flight. These are TEENS! This happened at the trip picking up the kids at the airport as well that the office worker deleted the prepaid record which we had the receipt for both round trip Villages Airport Van trips. The receipt acknowledgment of these 4 $35 fares was e-mailed to us on June 9, 2012 from the Villages Airport Van with confirmation numbers.

I've used both many times the Shuttle before there was competion and the Van since they started (and by the way they have been around for years now). The Van goes to your house HUGE ADVANTAGE if you need to get your neighbor up to take you to the bus stop you might as well pay them to take you to the airport! The Shuttle charged me $5 extra for my clubs! Hello!!! My clubs happed to be the lighter of the tree bags I had!
I'm a firm believer in the Airport Van right to your door, on time, and no extra charge for clubs!

The Villages Airport Van was roughly on time when they picked up the two teens from the door on June 20, 2012. But they did not check if these kids had prepaid or not at the door. Bad policy with respect to kids. They were prepaid but the office deleted the prepaid status even though we have the receipt for it and the confirmation number sent via e-mail from the Villages Airport Van which was also forwarded to the parents of the two teen girls.

It did take though about 3 hours to get the kids from the Orlando airport to our door on the trip here on June 13, 2012.