[bagboy]

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.

[Kahuna32162]

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.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by twoplanekid

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 70 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.

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.

[CFrance]

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.

[Baltimore Guy]

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 ??

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

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.

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.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by tomwed

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.

[Kahuna32162]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

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.

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?

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Kahuna32162

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.

[Beechie]

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?

[twoplanekid]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

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..

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?

[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by Villager Joyce

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.

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.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Kahuna32162

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.

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.

[Beechie]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

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.

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

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by Beechie

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?

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.