Rogelio Hernandez, Director of Transportation for the city of Key West and Key West Transit, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
How is the electric bus coming along?
Hernandez said, “It does take a while to get those built. There’s a lot that goes into building a battery electric bus, but this is our first ever battery electric bus, and we’re proud to announce that we received it about 30 days ago. It’s a 686 kilowatt of onboard energy, one of the highest capacity available out there in the market. We are hoping to get about 2.1 kilowatts per hour mileage down here, however, we’re going to be finding out soon. Currently, we’re doing driver training, maintenance training as well onto the mechanics, and we’re hoping to get it out there on the road and in route in the next 90 days for our customers. We’re looking at possibly getting about 330 miles out of it. So it can literally run all day on one single battery, if not more than a day. It has a seating capacity of 32 passengers with 20 standing. So it can move over 50 passengers in one trip.”
What route will it be taking?
Hernandez said, “Those are things we’re going to be testing out to see where we can get the best bang for the bucks when it comes to energy. So we’re going to be testing out on routes, and then we’re going to figure that out as we go. Because when it comes to real world testing, Key West is a little bit unique, flat surface down here, the heat, the humidity, and, of course, the drivers. That’s why the driver is going to get plenty of training, because we want to make sure we’re getting the best kilowatt per hour on usage.”
There’s a change with the bike racks on the existing busses.
Hernandez said, “We received six new three position bike racks to replace our older two position models. We’re starting with the Lower Keys Shuttle, which makes sense, traveling from Marathon all the way to Key West, we expect people to want to bring their bikes on the bus to be able to commute when we get down here to downtown Key West. These racks are designed to minimize their footprints on the bus, improve the bus turning radius, especially within tight corridors and areas such as downtown, and just contribute better safety altogether. Included with these new bike racks is a real time data system, which will allow us to track rack usage by route and time of the day. But that information is also going to be available to the riders, and it’ll help those riders plan smarter, operate more efficiently, and support multimodal travel to boost ridership. So what will happen is riders will be able to get on the app on keywesttransit.com or Passio Go app and be able to tell how many positions are available before they even try getting on the bus. They’ll know if they can bring the bike with them, or if they should just leave it behind because the bike racks are full.”
Key West Transit has several convenient ways to get around town.
Hernandez said, “Even traveling between Key West and Stock Island and throughout the Lower Keys from Marathon to downtown Key West. And those services include the Lower Keys Shuttle, the workforce fixed route, and the Key West ride on demand service. You can always call the office and we can book you the ride over the phone, and I want to highlight some great news about the Key West rides, our on demand service. Since we launched the service back in December of 2022 we recently hit a major milestone. For the past year, we consistently saw about 12,000 ride requests per month. But this past January, we saw a huge jump in ride requests. They climbed a little over 17,000. That kind of growth just shows that the community is embracing the new service, and it reflects the demand for flexibility on the reliable transportation across the island.”
Driver Appreciation Day is coming up March 18.
Hernandez said, “This is an annual event that often spans the entire month of March. We recognize the bus operators who keep the system running every day. Our drivers navigate through busy streets, narrow streets, streets that probably shouldn’t be streets, in all type of weather down here, rain in which we haven’t gotten much late lately, but certainly they’re the front line professionals that keep Key West transit in the city moving. We encourage everyone that hops on board the bus to say thank you and those that are passing by, maybe a hand wave and a head nod would be nice.”
The Lower Keys Shuttle on April 11 will be affected by the Seven Mile Bridge closure.
Hernandez said, “We had exact departure times since that first trip will be delayed because of the closure. We will be departing a bit later, and that information can be found on the city website or kwtransit.com. We’re excited about the progress we’re making, from the electric bus to smarter bike racks to expand service options. And we’re looking forward to a great year.”
For more information, click here: https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/347/Transportation-KWDoT