Streets for People / Work To Upgrade Lower Keys Shuttle Bus Stops Completed

The City just completed a two-year, mostly grant-funded, $1.4 million dollar “Final Mile” construction project improving all 62 bus stops along the Lower Keys Shuttle bus route that ferries residents, workers and visitors between Marathon and downtown Key West along the Coastal Highway. Given traffic congestion on U.S. Route 1 and workers’ laments about the high cost of owning and driving a car, making it easier and more attractive to use the public transit is a worthy project and congratulations are in order to City staff for getting this done.

What We Got

  • To encourage more people to bike the “final mile” to the bus stops, a total of 121 bike racks and 28 secure bike lockers have been erected providing new parking for 298 bicycles.
  • To further aid bicyclists, bike repair stands or Fixit Stations were also included at 17 stops.
  • Trash and recycle bins were installed at 60 stops to help keep them tidy.
  • 43 of the stops received solar flagging stations that include a light that is activated when passengers are present for safety and to help the bus driver notice riders in the dark.
  • And all 62 bus stops got map and schedule information signs attached to the poles. As a lack of information at bus stops has been a subject of multiple articles (here and here), we are particularly pleased to see how nice these turned out.

Why This Is Important

Ridership has not climbed back to pre-Covid levels on Key West Transit services within the City and Stock Island. But Lower Keys Shuttle customer levels have been climbing in recent years and is the only service projected to surpass pre-Covid levels this year. So, investing in this steady workhorse of a route is smart.

As more workers are forced to live up the Keys because of high housing costs,  providing viable transportation alternatives to needing to own and operate a car to commute for work helps our beleaguered workforce.

Here’s what Ryan Stachurski, The City’s Multi-Modal Coordinator, who has overseen this project puts it:

“This Final Mile project, paid for with federal grant funding and a small portion of parking revenue, is a step forward for our Department of Transportation in providing world-class alternative transportation service. By improving bus stop amenities, we can provide better service to existing riders and encourage others to make the switch. By including a bus or a bike trip in their commutes, riders can minimize their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions as well as reducing traffic – something that almost everyone can appreciate.”

What the City/County Should Do Next – Add More Frequent Service

With this new investment in bus stops the City and County should add more frequent service if it really wants to entice more people to use public transit instead of driving. Currently there are only 10 trips in each direction per day at between 90 minutes and two hours apart. That should be cut to every 60 and then every 30 minutes in the next few years.

We All Win When We Invest In Great Public Transit

Kudos to Ryan Stachurski who oversaw the Final Mile project and got additional money for it and to Alison Higgins who wrote the original grant back in 2019. We should celebrate when City staff pull together and get good things done.

Public transit is a basic city service that needs more investment like this. Making our bus service eases our workforce’s burden so every adult in a household doesn’t need a car to get around. It takes vehicles off our congested streets, reduces parking conflicts downtown, helps address environmental issues, assists our local Mom and Pop retailers to be more prosperous and makes our little island healthier and happier.

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Previous stories on the Final Mile project:

For more information on all of Key West Transit’s bus service visit our Getting Around Key West by Bus page. We also have a bike, walk and parking page too.

Chris Hamilton is founder of the local advocacy group Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown. Subscribe to the blog. Follow on Facebook and Twitter. A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led nationally renowned efforts promoting transit, bike, walk and smart growth for Arlington County, VA’s DOT. Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a few non-profits. You can find all of KONK Life Streets for People column articles here and here.

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