West Palm Beach is preparing to unveil a new transit service that city leaders hope will encourage more people to leave their cars at home. West Palm Move is a low-cost mini-bus service combined with an on-demand Uber-like service — a combination that a city administrator touted as “unlike anything that you've seen anywhere in the country.” Expected to start up in late August or early September, the initial fixed route will run from the Norton Museum of Art on the city’s south side through downtown to the Northwood Village commercial district on the north end. That route will be extended later, and a separate east-west route eventually will run along Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. City leaders are hoping to entice riders to what they call “the
city’s premier mobility service” with low fares and short wait times.
West Palm Move replaces the city's previous transit service: the RideWPB fixed route and on-demand pick-up services, which ended in May. One-way fares for the new fixed route system, which will be serviced by a fleet of shuttle-style mini-buses, will be $1, half the price of Palm Tran, Palm Beach County’s bus service. The city says the company providing the service, Via, is required by its contract to make sure that wait times are no longer than 10 minutes. Connecting with the fixed-route service will be an on-demand, Uber-style service that ferries people from their locations to the nearest fixed-route stop. The on-demand service will serve anyone in the city east of Interstate 95 and will cost $2. Wait times for the service are intended to be no more than 15 minutes. The service, which passengers can use with a cell phone app, is designed to be quick, clean and convenient, to entice as many commuters as possible to leave their cars at home. “We’re trying to create a premium service so there’s no excuses,” Deputy City Administrator Armando Fana said. “Once people try it, we think they’ll be pleasantly surprised.” The service will operate from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the first year and will expand until midnight in future years, according to a city brochure. “It's designed to have people choose this service,” Jessica Keller, the city’s parking and mobility administrator, told a city committee in May. “I can confidently say to you that the program that's going to be launched here in the city of West Palm Beach will be unlike anything that you've seen anywhere in the country.” For more information, visit the city's website here.
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Move, city’s new transit service, is coming. What to know
