LAKELAND, Fla. — Whenever Connor Jacobson comes to downtown Lakeland, she often rides The Squeeze.
“I can park as far away as I need to when parking gets a little crazy downtown. I can find a spot that’s further away, and I know that I can hop on and get to my stop quickly, and it’s just a lot more convenient,” Jacobson said.
The Squeeze is a free shuttle service that takes downtown visitors around on eight-passenger golf carts. It's one of Citrus Connection's most popular transit services and could indicate that residents are open to more microtransit options, like a bicycle-sharing program.
“I love the bikes, and the scooter-share idea in addition to The Squeeze. If one of them is coming around and not at your stop yet, you can just hop on and makes it even more convenient,” Jacobson said.
Citrus Connection and Lakeland Downtown Development Authority are considering bringing a bike-sharing program back to the city.
The city previously had a bike-sharing service from 2015 to 2018, but it ended because of low ridership.
“There are a lot of reasons for that. I think part of it was it may have been a little too early for our city, but also they were petal bikes. Lakeland has a couple of hills that are not so fun if you’re not used to riding bike,” said Julie Townsend, executive director of Lakeland Downtown Development Agency.
Townsend believes a relaunch of the program could be successful now that the city's population has grown by about 13% since the first go-round.
The agencies are still determining which bike—or scooter-share programs might be willing to partner with the city and the costs of such a program.
To gauge the public’s interest in reviving a bike-share program, residents are being asked to take an online survey.
“We’re asking questions about how they would use this system. Would they use it just for leisure? Would they use it for transportation? Citrus Connection is very interested in how users would ride it as part of their transit system,” Townsend said.
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