Groome direct bus, formerly Workman
 

Rode the airport shuttle yesterday. Large bus said Workman on it. Same schedule, same gate at airport. nothing has changed but the vendor

Wonder what they do with direct pickups. Having to wait while 25 people get dropped off all around the villages would give me second thoughts.

The Groome bus I was on held eight so maybe four stops. We weren't the first stop so it didn't seem too bad. A post in another thread complained about what they perceived to be inefficient routing (they were the last stop).

Don't know how many a "large" bus might hold.

We always parked at Brown wood hotel and picked up the shuttle straight to mco. Wonder if that will change

No change. Reservation comes with parking pass if needed. The website is a replica of Workman site. See Groome faq.

Parking at Brownwood Hotel & Spa: You can park your car for any length of time at The Brownwood Hotel, if a Groome Express Depot customer! Passengers must park in “overflow” parking which is the lot to the far left when looking at the Brownwood Hotel. Place your parking pass that was sent along with your confirmation email on your vehicle dashboard prior to departure. View Map of "Overflow" parking for Groome Express Depot Customers.

I hope they start earlier and later than workman. With workman sometimes there was 2-3 hours between shuttle times

I had a 1am scheduled pickup with Groome back in June...arrived by 1:10am. I could not get their driver map location to work on my phone. No complaints though. I had a very early flight.

Groome shuttle
 

No Groome has two types of routes now so not dropping off tons of people all over. The same as workman used to run it leaves from LSL and brownwood hotel only and goes directly to airport for $40. If want home pick up with this route it is an additional $15 and takes you to LSL OR hotel. This is called their express service and exactly run like workman. No changes. Then they also have their other system in smaller van that picks up and drops off all over and goes to airport. So the express workman route is the way to go. Vehicle size will range from 6-30 seats depending on reservations. Workman wants to focus more on day and multi day trips

Georgia user of Groome's.
 

[QUOTE=asianthree;2252440]I hope they start earlier and later than workman. With workman sometimes there was 2-3 hours between shuttle time/QUOTE]

I used Groome's all the time and was pleasantly surprised to find their services here. They are consistently on time and run 23 times a day, making it very convenient for flight times. The one thing we did not have was pickup to my home town so I had to drive to the depot to meet the van. I do know that they had institured the home pickup - for a small additional fee. I loved the service and the convenience of being dropped off directly at the boarding doors of the airport.

Groome used to charge $35 to pick up/drop off at your house. Now, it looks like it's $40. Not an additional $15... I think it went up last Spring when due to increased gas prices...

The $35 -> $40 change was recent - I paid $35 for a trip in early June.

The $15 is an additional charge to take you to your home from the Express depot (Brownwood hotel). Think of it as a taxi ride from the depot to your home so that you don't need to leave your car in the hotel parking lot.

Works the same for Lake Sumter depot……….
No parking lot.

We will be giving them a try

I -did- say "I think prices went up in the Spring"...

Why pay an additional $15 to get a ride home from Brownwood or LSL when they'll take you directly home for less money?

Depending on where you live, the extra $15 is chump change compared to your time. If you live in the northern sections of the Villages, you will be the first picked up or last dropped off resulting in a MUCH longer ride. That was before a single home was built south of 44, I can only imagine the additional time now. If they had home pick up services that were exclusively for smaller sections of the Villages that would be different.