Rogelio Hernandez, Director of Transportation for the city of Key West, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about traffic.
The power boat races are in full swing.
Hernandez said, “Fantasy Fest kind of kicked off all these other events that are forthcoming. The boat races start tomorrow, and I believe there’s another one the seventh and on the ninth. We just want to encourage anyone that’s looking to attend these events to use public transportation. We have the Duval loop down there, which is a great way to travel with ease to these events. We also have, of course, the Lower Keys Shuttle. If you live up the Keys, it’s a good way to avoid paying for parking down in Key West downtown area. Of course the added stress of searching for parking and the last bus leaves Key West heading up to Marathon around 7pm, so you get to enjoy the races and leave the vehicles at home and avoid the stress associated with that. But as far as parking goes, parking is limited down there at the Truman Waterfront Park, the city does have a parking lot at 300 Grinnell Street, Old Town, parking garage, plenty of parking there. For those that do park there, can enjoy the Duval loop and get to the races for free. You just have to show proof of pay to park there, a payment.”
The Duval loop will be offering services, too.
Hernandez said, “We’re out there. We’ll be having service to and from the events. So that is a good way to get around town and not have to worry about searching for parking.”
There are some upcoming public meetings that are mandated by the FTA.
Hernandez said, “We’ll be hosting our first meeting on November 13, at 5:30 here at the Department of Transportation located at 5701 College Road. They’re mandated. There’s a threshold that that must be met in order to have these meetings. But we don’t meet that threshold just yet because there’s no major changes happening soon, but we’re still going to go ahead and have these meetings just to ensure transparency, encourage public engagement and support a smooth transition for all riders once we suspend the Duval loop on December 31. So what we’re hoping to do during that meeting is provide an overview of the current routes and services. We’ll talk a little bit about these updates, like the suspension of the Duval loop at the end of the year, and then we’re also going to be offering guidance and best practice on utilizing our public transportation system, along with some trip planning tools that’s out there. If anyone out there is interested in learning about Key West Transit, or wants to know about these updates that are coming up on the routes and services, we encourage people to come and and join. We’re also having another meeting the week after Thursday, November 20. This will be at the Frederick Douglass gym in Bahama Village, 111 Olivia Street, also starting at 5:30.”
Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are the major holidays that transit is not open in Key West.
Hernandez said, “We believe it’s really important to allow the employees to spend time with their families, loved ones, friends, or just take the three days off out of the year to kick back, relax, before starting the fresh new year.”
New Year’s Eve is a big event for transportation.
Hernandez said, “We’re looking forward to another safe ride event on New Year’s Eve.”
The website allows you to see exactly where the busses are headed.
Hernandez said, “It removes the guesswork. You go there, you can find out exactly how crowded the bus is. In the future you’ll you’ll know how many bike positions are available. So if you would like to bring your bike on board, you could. It provides a lot of valuable information. You can set up alerts to let you know when the bus is nearby, in case you’re that close to the bus and and you want to rush out there a few minutes prior to it arriving. So it can do that. There are several ways to get that information, kwtransit.com is one. You can also download the app called Passio Go, select Key West Transit on the app, and then, last but not least, we have a trip planning tool through Google Maps. So all of us are pretty used to when we’re traveling, you go to Google Maps, you type in your destination, where you’re starting, and then there’s an option afterwards that you select public transportation, and it’ll automatically populate which route to take, what time. It does all the guesswork for you. So that’s another valuable tool on Google Maps.”
Key West Rides is another option.
Hernandez said, “Especially to get to all these events that are occurring in Key West all the time, and even the Workforce. That’s another great option as well, too. But yes, KW transit and Passio Go has all that information live, and it’s very user friendly.”
For more information, click here: https://kwtransit.passiogo.com/