Money for downtown Fort Myers trolleys running out

Author: Mike Walcher
Published:

FORT MYERS, Fla.- WINK News has uncovered money is running out for the popular downtown trolley.

The trips are free for riders, but the service is paid for by government grants.

Those grants end this spring, meaning someone has to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars, or the trolleys will come to a halt.

The trolleys run during the busy, visitor season, but some downtown businesses are not certain that they want to kick in money to keep them rolling. They’re supposed to reduce parking and traffic problems in the downtown area.

Now that the grant money is ending, the city and Lee Tran have to find some way to pay for the service.

Some riders say they’d help.

“It’s nice that it is free, but if you have to pay, that’s fine, fine with us,” said Desmond McDevitt.

Yet, even a fare of $1.50 a ride, the same as regular bus trips, would not pay for the service.

With the price tag of $275,000 a year, trolleys carried 37,158 riders last season. That works out to about $7.40 per trip.

Fort Myers officials are considering an option.

“Something like a business improvement district, in which the businesses that benefit directly from the people the trolleys bring down here, would  pay into,” said Don Paight, with the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Some business owners are not anxious to pay for the trolleys.

“They’re big, they’re wide, they take up the whole street. I think it’s a pain,” said Karen Winter, “and I would not be interested in helping to pay for it.”

Lee Tran says during four months last season, the downtown trolleys drew more riders than seven Lee Tran bus routes. Although those routes require a cash fare, it’s significant that the trolleys get a lot of riders. The city has several months to try to find the money.

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