Rod Delostrinos, the Director of Transportation for Key West, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on with traffic.
Key West Rides has really helped with issues of transportation.
Delostrinos said, “We are actually about 127,000 rides that just completed this past month, and it’s looking pretty good. We obviously want to do a little bit more with that, but right now, our average wait time is 24 minutes. So from the time you call for a trip, it’s about 24 minutes on average. But we always encourage folks to pre book. If you already know you’re going to go to work or some place there, if you can do it a few hours, and I would always recommend you could choose when you want to get picked up or when you want to arrive. I always choose when I want to arrive that way you know you’ll be there at a certain time. So it’s really great, and we hope to in the coming fiscal year to really improve the service. But I think we’re doing pretty well.”
Did Key West Rides exceed the numbers that were originally predicted?
Delostrinos confirmed, “Absolutely. We were getting probably about 120 trips a day in the city. But now we’re about 200, which is a great thing, because then it would reduce the congestion, because if you can imagine just those amount of people that are not in the cars or the different scooters or that type of thing. So I think it’s helping.”
How can someone book with Key West Rides?
Delostrinos said, “We have an app and you just where you get your apps from, you look for Key West Rides, and you download that and you set up a profile. But if you don’t want to do that, you can always call us at 305-809-3910, and that’ll put you in touch with one of our folks, and they’ll be able to either book a ride or even talk you through the process of installing the app. So really, it’s a great service, and we’re definitely here to help.”
There is a budget meeting for Key West tomorrow.
Delostrinos sasid, “We’ve been working really hard since April, trying to get everything listed out there and then having workshops. So now the City Commission is going to be approving our budget, and we have a couple of great things on there. One of it is the much needed Park and Ride renovation and the good thing about that is it’s pretty expensive, at a little over $2 million but FDOT is fully funding that for us, so it’s definitely a win. But of course, our process requires the City Commission to approve those type of things, and so we’re looking forward to that. Park and Ride on Grinnell Street’s been operating since the mid 90s, so we hope to give it a kind of a great, fresh look.”
After Labor Day, traffic typically picks up in the Keys.
Delostrinos said, “We always work with all the special events folks, and if we can help from the transit perspective, we do. We got with the organizers, and we were talking about Just a Few Friends Festival, and it was decided that it would make sense to increase some of our services, so we extended some hours on the Duval loop, we tried to add another bus and that type of thing. Of course, with the Key West rides, we extended the hours because down in that area it can get really congested. So I think it was really successful. Our ridership numbers were high, but really it provided a service so folks could get in and out of that area, really, with no problem. So I think that was successful.”
Do the passengers in our transportation system remain pretty courteous and follow the rules?
Delostrinos said, “By and large, everybody follows the rules. It really boils down to just simple courtesy. I think some of the issues we have are with the food and the drink and those are just kind of housekeeping things and that way we can keep the bus clean throughout the day. But really, we don’t have very many problems, and if we do, we usually can resolve them with the bus driver. But unfortunately, sometimes we have to get law enforcement, and we have great partnerships with Key West Police Department and of course, with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.”
Remember you must be on the proper side of the street to pick up the ride.
Delostrinos said, “That’s just critical, obviously, that’s where the door side is, but then the driver can see a little bit better out of that, and then they don’t have to worry about the traffic, and that’s why one of the things that we’re hopefully going to do in this fiscal year is get every bus stop to have the number, because with the Key West rides and it says, oh, go to a certain corner, one of the issues that we have found out since we’ve been operating is what side of the street, and I think it would be helpful if the app were to say it’s on this side, but here’s the bus stop number, So I think that’s going to alleviate some confusion.”
Is there an update on the electric bus?
Delostrinos said, “Those things are in such high demand. I think we’re still 12 months out, but we’re really crossing our fingers and getting our manufacturer to hopefully push it out a little earlier. We’re doing our thing, and we’re going to continue with the safe shuttles we have, which will get you around town and also up to Marathon and back and all parts in between, so that way people are safe as they’re having a great time down here.”