Brownwood is five minutes away from where I live. If a special event (such as college color day) is going on at Spanish Springs it would be easier for me to drive to Brownwood and park in an outlying lot and hop the shuttle to SS. I can then leisurely ride while enjoying the scenery and talking to my wife and friends. The shuttle would drop me off at the square. I avoid events because of the hassle of trying to find a spot, dodge pedestrians in the parking lot and hoofing from BFE to get to the square (my wife is handicapped and can't walk distances of more than a few hundred feet).

How are any bus drivers paid? The drivers would be paid by the trolley vendor from the fares generated.

I would think that's why the valet parking didn't work. Not enough fares were generated to pay people. That was just paying people, not having to figure gas & wear & tear.

This post provides several of the many good reasons for having a shuttle between town squares.

Unfortunately, this thread, like all others, has "owners" lying in wait, ready to pounce on reasonable suggestions from others. They know everything.

:bigbow:

Owners? What does that mean?

My very smart husband thinks a bus service could work. I would like to point out that no matter how I come up with anything to argue, discuss, disagree, he almost always turns out to be right. And I don't know how he does it. I think I am wrong a lot and all of what I just said is most sincere and is not meant to be disparaging. I just am of the belief that many of the things that only a few out of all of us want and need could not be easily kept financially afloat. And that is the reason for a lot of overspending in "typical" cities.

I was born with a condition called fiscal conservatism. And Sweetie has it too, so there MUST be some merit in a bus service.

I took it to mean residents of TV, nothing sinister.

Photo - I have to disagree. The 4th square will be built near the Turnpike entrance to the Village of Okahumpka. The square near Orlando will be the 18th and adjacent to the Village of Disney. After that it is only 6 more build outs to the Ft Lauderdale area where the Village of Everglades will complete the official last & forever buildout of The Villages. At least until the developer buys Cuba and starts all over.

Who's the "owners" ? So no post should be made unless they agree that this would be a good idea ? I thought it was open for discussion, not just "yes" people.

HA! Good one! I have reconsidered my initial thoughts on Orlando, and yes, you are correct, the 4th square should be built near Okahumpka. Plus, its a darn fun name to say.

We live across from Brownwood and would take a Shuttle every time if it were available to either LSL or SS.

REASONS WHY:
Say I want to have dinner at Ay Jaylisco but hear the band at Brownwood. Don't want the hassle of parking and walking. Or I am torn between two bands and want to hear some of both. Or I catch a movie at Barnstorm Theater and then want to hear the band at Spanish Springs or get ice cream at Kilwins. Or we have one car and my wife wants to go out with her friends and I wanna go listen to some music but don't want to take the golf cart. I wanna avoid the gasoline, parking, driving, and the hassle and I want to converse with my group of 8 who can't fit into one vehicle.

HOW:
Run the existing trolley buses from Parking lot behind Kilwin's Ice Cream with stops at Lake Sumter Landing parking lot behind the shops, and Brownwood parking lot, with possible additional stop at Colony Plaza or Pinellas Place. $2-$3 a night per person or a monthly, weekly, or annual pass for appropriate charge. Run all trolleys continuously until at least 11:00 PM.

I like it.

I think so too. I am sad I have made you think I am an opinionated old woman because I am such a fan of yours.


Sigh. I am pretty sure I am an opinionated old woman too.

Your plan seems pretty reasonable. I especially like the suggestion for pre-purchased tickets. That would certainly give a prospective operator some idea of income and profit potential. As an operator I would also give priority access to those with monthly or lengthier pre-purchased tickets. The incentive would be especially noted at peak use times (like parades) when a single use ticket holder has to wait for preferred passengers to take their seats. If there are any seats left then single use ticket holders can take a seat or wait for the next bus. (if you think of the tee time system and priority golf status, it could function something like that. In fact, a similar system could be used to make reservations.)

No worries, Gracie. I'm an opinionated old man! :)

Shuttle between the Squares
 

Don't feel too bad, GG. We are all opinionated aren't we? And you are only as old as you think - which makes you about 28 IMHO!

Of course it's a good idea! We and our friends have stopped dining and attending the movies at the squares because of the difficulty of finding parking. We figure it means nothing to the developer and business folks because there always seems to be someone to take whatever space we don't take up! It's too bad though - we used to enjoy dinner and a movie on the square often.

Yeah, nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded.

Agree

Been here 14 years and have never not found a parking place at any square.

I think this is different. With the valet service everyone arrives at the same time and leaves at the same time. You need a lot of drivers in short spurts.

It's worth a try.

This might sound weird and a sign of my age but I like riding in a bus and looking out the window.

I see no reason for it at all. If more people used their Golf Carts we'd have much easier parking. Also in Sumter Square IF TV put a Walk Thru like the one by Starbucks where the Sales Center is there would be more then enough parking. Also as others have said I pick my Square before I go out and that's where I go. So no need to Square Hop especially at night. JMO

Something to consider: Many people do not drive at night or drive cars at all. I agree that it would be an economic challenge, but thought it was a good idea. The merchants may or may or agree if asked to subsidize. The overall consensus here seems to be that it is not a good idea. That's fine...I just put it out there.

I originally thought that this idea had no merit. Now I read about the Village of Fenney to be built on CR468. I'm beginning to see the possibilities for this idea.

With the new section of The Villages off of 468, a shuttle might be a reality after all

Subsidies?
 

Fares alone would not cover the expenses of a shuttle bus or busses to provide adequate service. Who would help subsize this service?

Who pays for the "trolley" busses (which are nearly empty) that run all day?

Aren't those part of the TV marketing strategy? Maybe it's factored into the Lifestyle Visit fee, or else it's just part of their operating expenses.

More than likely, that is true.

I think it's a fabulous idea~ nobody said it would be for everyone, but for those who want it, why not?

Seems like something that could easily be done on a trial basis to see if there really is a demand. If using the existing trolleys then the startup costs would be almost nothing. If successful, great. If not, then stop it and very little lost.

to accomplish two jobs more trolleys would need to be purchased as I assume this would not only be for nighttime otherwise it wouldn't fly financially.

How do you know that?

We go to one, and often two town squares almost every night, to have dinner and watch the bands and dance. We live closest to LSL, and so if we like the band better at Spanish Springs or Brownwood, we go to one of those. We might dine at one square and go to enjoy music at the other for a couple of hours until 9pm when the bands finish.

A big reason to take a shuttle between squares is the time it takes to get there by golf cart. It's a long haul, going from north of 466 to Brownwood, and vice versa.

Faster transport by trolley bus would give people far more options of where to spend their time. Not everyone plants themselves for the whole night at one bar or in one square to enjoy the live entertainment.

Shuttles between squares would also alleviate parking (far away) at Spanish Springs when The Sharon has concerts and events with 1,000 attendees.

Transportation systems lose money. Who would pay? Without Government support, most transportation systems would close down today. Government support for a bus/train or whatever in TV----forget it. This might look good but when you peel back the layers it becomes less and less practical.

I would rather see a horse and carriage around Brownwood by a private entrepreneur on a Saturday night than a bus with about as many passengers (as a horse with a carriage) going back and forth between the various Squares wasting gas and money.

///

[QUOTE=justjim;1206300]Transportation systems lose money. Who would pay? Without Government support, most transportation systems would close down today. Government support for a bus/train or whatever in TV----forget it. This might look good but when you peel back the layers it becomes less and less practical.

QUOTE]



You are correct. This says that municipal transportation systems typically only fund about a third of their operating costs from fares.


Public Transportation Funding: The Basics

One of the things that surprised me when we first looked at TV was that there wasn't any sort of public transportation. I imagined a place this big would have some sort of shuttle. Maybe press those sales trolleys into service starting at 3:00 PM and run until 11:00 or something.

Operating Costs

In addition to paying for the bus, transit agencies have to pay to operate the bus. Usually we talk about the operating cost per revenue hour - how much does it cost to drive a bus in service for one hour? Some examples of operating costs include New York City ($172.48 for bus and $171.48 for subway); Los Angeles ($124.45 for bus, $330.62 for the Red Line subway, and $389.99 for the light rail lines); Honolulu ($118.01); Phoenix ($92.21); and Houston ($115.01 for bus and $211.29 for light rail). Learn more about the operating cost differences between buses and light rail transit vehicles .

Of the above costs, a majority is the cost of employee wages and benefits - about 70%. In addition to drivers, transit agencies employ mechanics, supervisors, schedulers, human resource staff, and other administrative employees. Some transit systems attempt to save money by contracting out to private operators, which is discussed more in my three part series about privatization in public transit . Of the above examples, New York City, Los Angeles, and Houston operate service directly while Honolulu and Phoenix contract out all of their service to a private company.

Lest you think that transit costs less to operate in smaller cities, it still costs $108.11 in Lansing, MI but only $69.27 in Bakersfield, CA and around $44 for Beach Cities Transit, which operates three routes in an around the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach. Again, all of these costs can be expected to keep rising at a rate at least equal to inflation every year.

I gotta think we would more like Bakersfield, CA. We are not going to pay the drivers very much. They own the busses now and I know there is the total cost of ownership. In four hours how many miles would a bus go connecting the Squares?

Tie it into sales in the daytime during most months of the year. Are the busses filled on the off season?

If Uber (or night time shuttle) were available in TV, we would use it regularly to get from Brownwood to SS and Vice versa getting home.

Why not start by trying 1 trolley certain nights each week (which developer already owns) at 5 pm returning at 9:15 from Brownwood to SS and then use the same one at 5:30 from SS to Brownwood returning SS at 9:45ish

We would be willing to pay $5 per person or so. Can't imagine that you would not be able to fill it up - try it for a month. Not really a big deal or expense. A whole lot different scale than a full blown city transit system.

I hope the good folks at Villages Transportation don't read this thread and start to wonder how they're staying in business. Maybe the 'Developer' is subsidizing them as one of our 'unseen' amenities???