Coral Gables expects million trolley rides, Doral up too

Trolley ridership is growing in cities like Coral Gables and Doral.

In Coral Gables, the trolley operates daily except Sundays, and weekday ridership is more than 4,000 per day, which is above pre-pandemic levels, according to Kevin Kinney, the city’s parking and mobility services director.

Coral Gables’ Saturday trolley service, which launched in October 2021, has performed better than projected with riders now averaging more than 2,000 each Saturday compared to the original projections of 1,500 passengers, he said.

In 2022, the trolley system had a ridership of 878,000 and in 2023, the number grew to 927,000. This year, the upward trend continues, Mr. Kinney said. The city expects to surpass the 1 million passenger mark for an increase of more than 15% this fiscal year. This would mark the first time since before the pandemic that more than 1 million boardings have taken place, he added.

Trolleys are wheelchair accessible, have bike racks and can be tracked via an improved wayfinder. Free wi-fi is available. A QR code gives riders real-time information. The city doesn’t offer Sunday service, but it is studying new technologies for the purchase of future vehicles and is looking for federal funding to possibly expand the fleet.

“The Coral Gables Trolley system provides the more than 20,000 riders that use our service on a weekly basis seamless access to mass transit at the Metrorail Douglas Station,” Mr. Kinney said. “We operate two routes from the Metrorail Station, one north on Ponce to Flagler Street and the second one to the MacFarlane Historic District. This past October we began running a new trolley service on Saturdays connecting South Gables and the University of Miami to our ever-growing and thriving downtown.”

In the past year, Doral’s trolley system has seen about 55,000 passengers. The city plans to add 10 more bus shelters. Eight trolleys will be added to the fleet, which now has 16 vehicles. Doral city staff said they plan to analyze the existing routes for potential additional routes and modifications to existing routes to better service users.

In December 2021, the Doral trolley’s route was expanded to serve Jackson West Hospital, Doral Academy Charter Elementary School and Vanderbilt Park Area. The trolley route also allows mobility between City Hall in Downtown Doral and the county’s Palmetto Station on Northwest 74th Street.

Codina Partners, the developers of Downtown Doral, invested in the project at the time with the donation of two trolleys.

“Within five minutes you can be at a train station that can take you into downtown Miami or connect you to lines that can take you up the Florida coast to Palm Beach and beyond, making Doral the most central and connected city within Miami-Dade County, boasting some of the finest healthcare in the nation, a model for all municipalities to follow,” said Armando Codina, executive chairman of Codina Partners, about the investment.