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.