Some changes on the trolley route

I took the free trolley again yesterday because I was getting new tires, so I left my car at the station and took the trolley home and then back again to pick up the car. There have been some changes since the last time I used the trolley. On June 4, they changed the route.

There are good points to this and not so good. The best thing is that it covers more of Coconut Grove, so almost everyone in the North and Center Grove can get to where they need to go. You can take it to Shell Lumber now and both Metrorail stations - 27th Avenue and 37th Avenue and you can even take it to Merrick Park. The trolley now goes down 27th Avenue and Oak Avenue and it really does cover a large area.

This is the new map, click on it for a larger version or you can see more details at the city's website here.

This map doesn't show exactly the direction the trolley is going so it's a bit confusing, but basically, it comes from Mercy Hospital, goes down South Bayshore Drive to Mary Street, turns up Grand and goes straight down to Douglas and crosses the highway. After that, it's a bit tricky, it winds around that area and ends up at the 37th Avenue Metrorail station then comes out to US1 and crosses on Bird Avenue back into the Grove and here is where the change comes in, rather than turning onto McDonald back into the Grove, it now goes all the way down Bird Avenue it turns onto 27th and goes toward US1, crosses to the Metrorail and then comes back down 27th Avenue and goes to the peanut and turns on Tigertail and then onto Oak. It then turns on McDonald at Oak and ends up back in it's old route, stopping at Fuller Street and proceeding back to South Bayshore Drive and back to Mercy hospital. A bit confusing, but it covers a large area.

The negatives are that the wait times are much longer now and what used to maybe take 20 minutes takes up to an hour in travel time, since the route is much longer. It makes a weird pass through the industrial area of Coral Gables, on the other side of US1 and then ends up at the Metrorail after that.

But hey, it's free and convenient. People are nice on the trolley and so are the drivers. I would just allow a bit more time to get where you're going now. There is an app which is great because you can see the trolleys moving on the map in real time, so you know when to go to the stop and when to expect them.