Key West Transit Development Plan FY2025-2034

3.1 Existing Transit Services Overview

The Guidance/Care Center is the designated Community Transportation Coordinator (CTC) for Monroe County. It has three locations throughout the Keys—Upper Keys, Middle Keys, and Lower Keys. The remainder of trips under the ADA, TD, and Agency categories is supplied by other contracted service providers. 3.1.6 Transit Facilities In 2016, KWT introduced its new LEED Silver-certified transit facility on College Road in Stock Island, adjacent to Key West. This facility acts as the central hub for the transit systems, housing administrative offices for KWDoT (which operates KWT), bus operators, and transit mechanics. Funding for this improvement came from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Another project in progress is the Key West Intermodal Center (KWIC), currently in the early planning stages with preliminary documents set to be completed in 2024. KWIC will comprise several components, including an automated parking facility for park-and-ride services, housing for transit employees, staging areas for commuter buses and transportation network companies, and a public safety element featuring an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). 3.1.7 Park-and-Ride Facilities The current park-and-ride facility for KWT is a 300-space public parking garage located at Grinnell and Caroline streets in Key West. . Of the 300 parking spaces available, 50 ground floor spaces are dedicated to Keys Energy employees while the rest of the parking spaces are available to the public. Additionally, there are bicycle racks provided at the main entrance. Parking is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, with daily and hourly parking available to the public and KWT bus riders. Anyone who uses the park-and-ride garage may ride any KWT route except the Lower Keys Shuttle for free until the $4-per-hour/$32-per-day

Limitations Seasonal Residence Data: Due to a lack of direct data on seasonal residents, hotel occupancy rates were used as a proxy to represent seasonal residency. While this is an effective indicator of tourist demand, direct measurement of seasonal population fluctuations would provide

more insight. Conclusion

The results of this analysis demonstrate a clear link between tourism— particularly cruise ship activity—and KWT ridership. The decline in ridership is closely tied to periods of low cruise ship activity. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had a significant impact on tourism and transit ridership. The 2020 data reflects atypical trends due to lockdowns and reduced travel, which may affect the generalizability of the results for post-pandemic periods. 3.1.5 Special Transportation Services (STS) In addition to fixed-route bus and on-demand services, services for persons qualifying under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are provided by Key West Transit and Monroe County Transit, complementing the existing public transportation service for residents who live within 3/4 mile on either side of the fixed-route system but are unable to access it due to an eligible disability. Monroe County provides and schedules appointments for ADA service one hour prior to a trip and Monday–Friday 8:00 AM–5:00 PM. Scheduled pickup times for ADA service are 8:00 AM–5:00 PM, and trips have a 30-minute pickup window. One-way trip fare is $2. Monroe County Transit (MCT) provides paratransit in the Florida Keys from mile marker 0 in Key West through mile marker 113 in Key Largo. It meets the requirement of the ADA and provides door-to-door service to those who qualify.

Transit Development Plan FY 2025–2034

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