Two years later and a few tweaks along the way, downtown Lakeland residents and employees may see the lunch Squeeze relaunch this fall.
The Lakeland Downtown Development Authority’s board of directors has talked with Polk County’s public transit agency Citrus Connection to consider bringing back a golf-cart transit service during limited lunchtime hours.
“We’ve worked out what we believe to be most of the kinks,” said Tom Phillips, Citrus Connection’s general manager. “Now that we have special event and evening Squeeze down, I think a lunch Squeeze could be successful.”
Citrus Connection first attempted to launch a public transit golf cart system, called The Squeeze, in October 2021. It started with a weekday lunch service from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. catering to local employees and an evening service aimed to offer visitors an easier time getting around downtown.
The evening shuttle service on Friday and Saturday nights, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., has become a popular fixture providing rides for 200 to 300 people a night, Phillips said.
“It’s a very successful program,” he said. “It’s the first time we’ve introduced City of Lakeland or Polk County to a premium transit service, and the community is using it a lot.”
Julie Townsend, LDDA’s executive director, said relaunching the transit service on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. would cost an estimated $37,000 a year. The total could change if LDDA’s board is interested in having more than three carts in circulation, or if the hours or days of operation are changed.
Phillips also suggested The Squeeze’s lunch service could be seasonal in nature. He said ridership is likely to peak during hot, humid summer months when people don’t want to walk outside versus more comfortable fall and spring seasons. This could reduce the potential budgetary cost to the LDDA.
“Lakeland doesn’t have a parking problem, it has a walking problem,” he said.
The new route for the lunch transit service is still under development. Phillips suggested he’d focus on businesses or office buildings known to have a large number of employees. Another suggestion was to have a shuttle service, The Squeeze or something, to transport people from the city’s Parking Lot B, near GrayRobinson off Lake Morton, into Munn Park.
Phillips has been asked to work with Citrus Connection staff and the city’s transportation planners to come up with some viable routes to present to the LDDA board of directors at their next meeting.