Changing the trolley route again

The City Commission will be discussing changes in the Coconut Grove and Brickell trolley route at today's meeting, June 14. 

There is a resolution to authorize the City Manager to modify the trolley routes. 

The route changes in Coconut Grove will connect riders to transit services at the Coconut Grove and Douglas Road Metrorail Stations and provide stops at City recreational areas, including Douglas Park, Virrick Park, and Armbrister Park. The Brickell route will be extended from Mercy Hospital to Miami City Hall to improve connectivity to Brickell and Downtown.

This is all well and good for Village West but will screw up the northern end if there is not a Grove trolley at Mercy Hospital, too. Because if not, instead of hopping on the trolley at Mercy Hospital and taking it through the whole Grove in one long ride, you will have to make a trolley change at City Hall, making the ride even longer by adding wait times for the second trolley. I guess it's the same difference as waiting for the trolley change at Mercy, but it seems that Mercy basically encompasses the whole Grove now and stopping at City Hall for a trolley change from the Brickell route to the Grove route will sort of be an inconvenience and time killer once you get to City Hall.

The Brickell trolley should cover Brickell, the Grove trolley should cover the Grove, people should not be made to stop and change trolleys in the center of the Grove. That makes no sense. Grovites should not be made to change trolleys for such a short run.  This whole route change is being considered because the Village West was screwed out of the 249 bus, so now the city is trying to make up for that by screwing the North Grove.

We have less and less parking spaces and are told to take public transportation because that is the way of the future, but the city and county refuse to put money into public transportation and do it the right way. I'm betting none of these commissioners or city leaders take trolleys so they don't really care how they operate. I know I should wait until the new route it planned before complaining about it, but if we don't complain now, it may be too late after the damage is done.

It's amazing that trolleys have been around for over 100 years and operated so well but today we can't get from here to there without a problem. Maybe the solution is once we are dropped off at City Hall we can take an electric scooter from City Hall to Center Grove or to Mercy if that's the direction you're headed.