Palm Tran

Palm Tran is the public transit bus system run by the Palm Beach County Government, serving Palm Beach County, Florida. During fiscal year 2015, Palm Tran provided 10,773,132 one-way passenger trips and 889,056 paratransit trips to Palm Beach County. Palm Tran also serves a portion of Broward County, Florida where it overlaps with Broward County Transit. Palm Tran has four main facilities (North Campus in West Palm Beach, South Campus in Delray Beach, Palm Tran Connection/Military Trail and the Belle Glade Facility) with its main headquarters in West Palm Beach on Electronics Way. The current Executive Director is Clinton B. Forbes.

Palm Tran

Slogan	To provide access to opportunity for everyone; safely, efficiently and courteously.
Parent	Palm Beach County
Founded	1971 as (CoTran) later renamed as Palm Tran
Headquarters	West Palm Beach, Florida
Service type	Bus, paratransit
Alliance	Broward County Transit, Tri-Rail, Amtrak, Martin County Transit
Routes	32
Stops	3,200
Destinations	West Palm Beach Intermodal, VA Medical Center, Boca Town Center Mall, Wellington Mall, Tri-Rail
Fleet	192
Daily ridership	36,546 (average weekday 2015)
Annual ridership	10,177,132 (FY 2015)
Fuel type	Diesel, diesel-electric hybrid, compressed natural gas
Operator	Palm Tran Inc.
Chief executive	Clinton Forbes
Website	palmtran.org

History

In 1971, Florida Transit Management, Inc. began service with 20 buses on seven routes. In 1980, this service was expanded to over 60 buses in 22 routes, then renamed CoTran, short for "County Transportation". Finally, in 1996, CoTran was completely restructured to over 150 buses in over 30 routes, then renamed Palm Tran, its fleet repainted to the present white and teal design scheme, and has been that way since. At that time the basic design of the livery of the buses was changed from white and orange to white and teal, some of which are screen-wrapped to the logos and design of the company that sponsors those particular buses, but preserve their Palm Tran logos and bus numbers, the latter of which are assigned a four-digit number according to the year and order in which they were acquired. Also at that time, Florida Transit Management was replaced with Palm Tran Inc., a nonprofit. Palm Tran will introduce USB charging stations on its newest fleet in early 2017.

On September 30, 2018, Palm Tran implemented the first overhaul to the entire network since 1996. In addition, free Wi-Fi was added on all busses.[1]

Future

On April 23, 2019, The Palm Tran broke ground on an expansion project on its South County Facility in Delray Beach, Florida.[2]The current 3,800 Square foot space will be converted into a three-story 34,000 square foot facility.[2]The project is set to cost 25 million, 90 percent of which is federally funded.[2]The facility will feature charging stations for their fleet of fully electric buses; along with service stations for 20 additional buses.[2]The building will feature art by Palm Beach County's Art in Public Places Program.[2]

Fare

Plexiglass shields on the driver's side are in place, to reduce interaction.

The standard adult one-way fare is $2. People eligible for the reduced fare, such as students, disabled, and senior citizens, pay $1. $5 buys an unlimited 24-hour pass ($3.50 for reduced fare). Daily and 31-day unlimited ride passes are also available for purchase at Palm Tran Connection. There are 31-day unlimited passes that are available reduced or regular costing $55 and $70 respectively. Kids below 9 ride free with fare-paying rider, limit is 3.[3]

Bus technology

All Palm Tran buses have bicycle racks on the front, capable of holding two bikes. They are also equipped GPS and video surveillance cameras which record activity on the bus and the outer side facing the bus stops.[4] Recently Palm Tran has equipped all fixed-route buses with Automatic Vehicle Location technology that enables passengers to track buses and bus arrivals in real time. Palm Tran also offers real-time bus arrival information on its website or through its MyStop Mobile app, as well as on-demand through SMS. In October 2018, all 159 fixed route buses started to offer free wifi to its riders.

The Palm Tran announced plans to incorporate new payment methods in addition to cash.[5]The new upgrades will allow the service to accept credit cards and smartphone payments.[5]The upgrade is set to cost between 5 million and 6 million dollars.[5]

Palm Tran Connection

Palm Tran Connection is a shared ride, door to door, paratransit service that provides transportation for residents and visitors in Palm Beach County under six programs:

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Program
• Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) Program
• Division of Senior Services (DOSS) Program
• Board of County Commissioner (BCC) Program
• County Senior Transportation (CSTS) Program
• Medicaid

Palm Tran Connection is operated by private transport companies and oversight is provided through Palm Tran. They travel to every destination in Palm Beach County - from Jupiter to Boca Raton and from Palm Beach to South Bay. Palm Tran Connection schedules all trips, prepares vehicle manifests, handles customer concerns & commendations, determines eligibility, and monitors the performance of the Transportation Providers.

Route list

A PalmTran bus at Florida Atlantic University

Routes are divided into four regions within the county.[6]

Main Corridor

Main Corridor routes traverse the primary north–south surface roads of the county from Boca Raton in the south to Riviera Beach in the north.

Route	Terminals			Primary streets traveled	Service notes
1[6]	Palm Beach Gardens The Gardens Mall	↔	Boca Raton Camino Real	US 1
2[6]	West Palm Beach Intermodal Transit Center	↔	Boca Raton Town Center Mall	Congress Avenue
3[6]	Palm Beach Gardens The Gardens Mall	↔		Military Trail
4[6]	West Palm Beach Military Crossing	↔	Riviera Beach VA Medical Center	Haverhill Road

North County

North County routes mainly serve Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach, and Jupiter.

Route	Terminals			Primary streets traveled	Service notes
10[6]	Palm Beach Gardens The Gardens Mall	↔	Jupiter Jupiter Town Hall	Indiantown Road, Military Trail	No Sunday service
20[6]		↔	West Palm Beach Intermodal Transit Center	Northlake Boulevard, Congress Avenue
21[6]		↔	Mangonia Park Tri-Rail Station	US 1, Old Dixie Highway	No Sunday service
30[6]	Riviera Beach VA Medical Center	↔	Singer Island Lake Drive	Blue Heron Boulevard
31[6]		↔	West Palm Beach Intermodal Transit Center	45th Street, Tamarind Avenue
33[6]	Palm Beach Gardens The Gardens Mall	↔	West Palm Beach Cross County Plaza	Australian Avenue, Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard

Central County

Central County routes serve West Palm Beach, Wellington, Lake Worth, and Belle Glade.

Route	Terminals			Primary streets traveled	Service notes
40[6]	Belle Glade West Tech Education Center	↔	Wellington Mall at Wellington Green	Southern Boulevard
		↔	West Palm Beach Intermodal Transit Center	Southern Boulevard, Australian Avenue	Rush hour service only
41[6]	Palm Beach Palm Beach Inlet	↔		North County Road	No Sunday service
43[6]	Wellington Mall at Wellington Green	↔		Okeechobee Boulevard
44[6]	West Palm Beach Vista Center	↔		Belvedere Road, Cherry Road
46[6]	Wellington Mall at Wellington Green	↔	West Palm Beach Palm Coast Plaza	Forest Hill Boulevard
47[6]	Canal Point Community Center	↔	South Bay Second Street	SR 15, SR 715
49[6]	West Palm Beach Executive Center Drive	↔	West Palm Beach Intermodal Transit Center	Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard
52[6]	Wellington Mall at Wellington Green	↔	Loxahatchee Groves Palm Beach State College	SR 7, Royal Palm Beach Boulevard	No Sunday service
60[6]	Greenacres River Bridge Centre	↔	West Palm Beach Intermodal Transit Center	Purdy Lane, Summit Boulevard, Parker Avenue	No Sunday service
61[6]		↔	Lake Worth Palm Beach State College	Cresthaven Boulevard, 10th Avenue North
62[6]	Wellington Mall at Wellington Green	↔	Lake Worth Lake Worth Beach	Lake Worth Road
63[6]	West Palm Beach Vista Center	↔	Lantana Hypoluxo Road & US 1	Jog Road, Lantana Road
64[6]	Greenacres WIC Center	↔	Lantana County Public Health	Melaleuca Lane, 6th Avenue South	No Sunday service

South County

South County routes mainly serve the cities of Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton.

Route	Terminals			Primary streets traveled	Service notes
70[6]	Lantana County Public Health	↔	Delray Beach Tri-Rail Station	Seacrest Boulevard
71[6]	Boynton Beach Lantana Road & Military Trail	↔	Boynton Beach Boynton Beach Mall	Lawrence Road	No Sunday service
73[6]	Boynton Beach Bethesda Hospital West	↔	Boynton Beach Tri-Rail Station	Boynton Beach Boulevard	No Sunday service
	Boynton Beach Military Trail	↔			Sunday service
80[6]	Delray Beach Delray Square	↔	Delray Beach Plaza at Delary	Lake Ida Road, SW 4th Avenue
81[6]	Delray Beach Hagen Ranch Library	↔	Delray Beach Atlantic Avenue & SE 6th Street	Atlantic Avenue	No Sunday service
88[6]	Delray Beach Lakes of Delray	↔	Delray Beach Plaza at Delray	Linton Boulevard, Lowson Boulevard
91[6]	Boca Raton Sandalfoot Square	↔	Boca Raton Florida Atlantic University	Glades Road
92[6]		↔	Deerfield Beach Hillsboro Boulevard & Federal Highway	Palmetto Park Road	No Sunday service
94[6]	Boca Raton Tri-Rail Station	↔	Boca Raton Camino Real & Federal Highway	NW 8th Avenue, NE 20th Street	Serves Florida Atlantic University

See also

• Transportation in South Florida

References

1. http://discover.pbcgov.org/palmtran/Pages/RPM.aspx
2. "Palm Tran Breaks Ground on its South County Facility Expansion Project". www.MassTransitMag.com. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
3. "Your Guide to Palm Tran's QUIK PASS & Fare Information" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
4. http://www.pbcgov.com/infopoint/
5. Ostrowski, Jeff. "Palm Tran to move out of 'Dark Ages' by taking credit cards for fares". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
6. "Rider's Guide" (PDF). Palm Tran. January 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2019.

External links

• The official Palm Tran site