Rod Delostrinos, the Director of Transportation for the city of Key West, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on with traffic.
The transportation department is prepared for all situations – even a tropical storm.
Delostrinos said, “We’re doing really the same thing we’ve been doing for this season here. We’re making sure we have a generous amount of fuel on hand, topping all the vehicles off, and really watching that weather to see our safety protocols of 35 miles per hour sustained winds before we stop our operation. So I mean, we understand that people need to get to and fro, but we want to make sure that everyone’s safe.”
Transportation at Fantasy Fest was flawless.
Delostrinos said, “We really are proud of providing that great service with the alternate means of transportation for others. We’re already ramping up for New Year’s Eve, believe it or not. It’s really a never ending train, so to speak. But we’re happy to do it, and I think it’s going to be good. We just have to get over hopefully final hump in the hurricane season.”
Will transportation services be running on Veterans Day?
“Absolutely,” Delostrinos confirmed. “They’ll be slightly interrupted by the parade, but we’ll be able to go around. We coordinate really well with the parade officials to make sure that it’s a minimal impact. It’s a great thing for our community and we want to make sure people also can get access to the parade, and hopefully we’ll see everybody there.”
The on demand service continues to set records.
Delostrinos said, “That’s just one another option that people have. We still have some of the fixed routes, the Duvall loop, commuter assistance. One of the things I’ve been working with closely with the Department of Health in Monroe County, along with a lot of other local partners, it’s part of the community health improvement plan, and in this particular case, we’re involved in the prevention of human trafficking. The city of Key West and Key West Transit has already been participating with Homeland Security in our Blue Campaign, but now we’re joining forces to maximize that anti human trafficking effort here in Monroe County. We have stuff on the bus, and we’re going to provide training to our people, because, believe it or not, that kind of thing is very prevalent on public transportation. Some of it is, like forced labor or that type of exploitation and sometimes it’s really difficult to detect, but it’s not necessarily the whole thing where you’re having, I don’t know 50 people and that type of thing, but it’s really these little things that that can detect and potentially help these folks who are in dire straits, whether it’s from things like even, I think, the economic reasons, or their status here, there’s a really a host of things. The Community Department of Health, they’re really experts in this thing. We’re just providing, because we’re always out there. So it seemed a very logical step to partner with them.”
With the holidays coming up, public transportation can be a big help.
Delostrinos said, “We just received a new bus right off the factory floor in California. If you’ve been tracking it, they drive it over. There’s a couple reasons. One, if any bugs happen in that from coast to coast drive it shows, but also for us, it’s really a great thing to know that we’re getting a great product, and hopefully that bus will be in service by New Year’s Eve. We have to put all our screens and that type of thing in there, and our fare box, that kind of thing. So it’s with the same type of service as any other bus that we have in a fleet.”
What about the electric bus?
Delostrinos said, “Nationwide I think there’s only maybe two manufacturers in the US and there’s really a high demand. We ordered, as a matter of fact, the electric bus before we ordered this bus, it is regular diesel. I think they’re saying we’re probably a year out, but we’re hoping for maybe next Christmas for our gift.”
There’s no transportation on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Delostrinos said, “We really need that rest after that long evening providing transportation. Otherwise, you’ll see us day in, day out. With weather concerns, we err on the side of caution, so to speak, when it comes to public safety.”
For more information, click here: https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/595/Schedules-and-Route-Maps