Lakeland Downtown Development Authority’s board of directors approved restarting The Squeeze’s lunch service Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their Thursday morning meeting. It will have a soft launch in early December with full service expected on Dec. 11.
“If we’re going to do it, we need to do it. We need to do it Monday to Friday,” said Michael Kincart, LDDA’s chairman. “I think we should go all in. If the city will do it, I think we should go all in even if it increases our costs because I think it has a much greater chance of success.”
Downtown employees need to feel The Squeeze provides a reliable service in order for the relaunch to be successful, Kincart said. Operating the downtown lunch transit on only select weekdays, as originally proposed, would create confusion and frustration.
Lakeland’s public transit agency, Citrus Connection, launched the downtown system in November 2021. The Squeeze’s weekend service quickly gained popularity and now averages a ridership of 200 to 300 people each weekend, according to Tom Phillips, general manager of Citrus Connection.
The Squeeze’s original lunch service didn’t take off the same. Its schedule of Mondays to Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. failed to attract riders and was discontinued in less than six months.
For a second chance at success, The Squeeze has undergone major changes and has been refined.
This fall, the Squeeze’s golf carts will travel along a new streamlined route aimed at bringing downtown employees into the heart of the city to eat and dine without hopping in their cars. The eight-passenger golf carts will pick up passengers at municipal parking lots B and V, located off Tennessee Avenue between Walnut Street and West Lime Street. The carts will travel east on Lime Street, turning north on Kentucky Avenue before taking Main Street over to The Joinery. The carts will then double back to go north on Kentucky Ave, west on Bay Street, south on Tennessee Avenue to Pine Street.
Citrus Connection has estimated each stop along the route should be serviced every 6 to 8 minutes, according to its website.
The Squeeze’s passengers ride for free after Citrus Connection and the LDDA eliminated the fare for the service in May 2022. It will also be available for an additional hour on weekdays, extended from 1 to 2 p.m.
Resuming The Squeeze’s lunch service is estimated to cost the LDDA a little more than $12,000 annually for each day they decide to run the service. If they run it Monday through Friday, it comes to more than $60,000. That covers the cost of the vehicles, fuel, drivers’ salaries and insurance.
Kincart said he would be in favor of re-evaluating the ridership after a few months and making changes if necessary.