Bus riders: You can get $8 discounts on Uber, taxis in September in Palm Beach County (2024)

Chris PersaudPalm Beach Post

Which routes will Palm Tran cut?

These routes will be cut:

Route 21, which zigzags between The Gardens Mall and the Mangonia Park Tri-Rail station in about 50 minutes, running once an hour.
Route 52, which is a 40-45 minute journey connecting the Mall at Wellington Green, the Royal Palm Beach Super Walmart on State Road 7, Palms West Hospital and Palm Beach State College’s Loxahatchee Groves campus.
The segment of Route 92 in east Boca Raton that runs along State Road A1A or Hillsboro Boulevard.

Where will Palm Tran pay for Uber or taxi fare?

Would-be passengers will instead be able to summon an Uber or a taxi and shave up to $8 off their fare, when going to or coming from any of these places:

Most places between Interstate 95 and the Intracoastal Waterway, between 36th Street in West Palm Beach and just north of PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens. This includes most of Riviera Beach, North Palm Beach, Mangonia Park, Lake Park, St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, The Gardens Mall and Palm Beach State College's Palm Beach Gardens campus.

The Mall at Wellington Green and the strip malls around it, Wellington Regional Medical Center; virtually anywhere within Royal Palm Beach village limits; and anywhere within about a half-mile of Southern Boulevard between Forest Hill Boulevard and Palm Beach Sate College's Loxahatchee Groves campus.

The Town Center at Boca Raton mall, along with most places within the Bus Link zone bordered by I-95 on the west, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Glades Road on the north and the Hillsboro Canal on the south.

Palm Tran has instructions for signing up for its new voucher program at PalmTran.org/BusLink. The service will be offered weekdays, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Some Palm Tran passengers may pay more but can go more places faster

Even with Palm Tran's $8 subsidy, some trips in the BusLink zones will cost more than the bus fare of $2.

An Uber ride from 45th Street in West Palm Beach to The Gardens Mall would cost passengers $7 to $11, according to a Tuesday afternoon ride search, even with Palm Tran credit. That 8-mile trip would take 15 minutes on Uber, but at least twice as long on the bus.

An Uber trip from FAU's Boca Raton campus to the Town Center mall would cost $3 to as much as $10 during rush hour, and take about 15 minutes, compared with more than half an hour by bus.

Palm Tran said as recently as June that subsidized Uber and taxi trips would cost riders no more than $2. The agency now emphasizes that BusLink is meant to help connect riders to bus routes.

"This program not only connects residents to our fixed-route network, but also opens up new opportunities for reaching essential services and destinations," Palm Tran Executive Director Ivan Maldonado said recently in a news statement.

Palm Tran will change routes 20 and 33 to stop more frequently or in more parts of the West Palm Beach-Palm Beach Gardens BusLink zone.

The agency will give Uber up to $424,000 for the service, it has said, saving an estimated $2.4 million. The money saved on "unproductive routes," Palm Tran spokesman Evan Henderson said, will boost more popular routes.

Palm Tran will improve these routes with BusLink savings

Route 3 on Military Trail — running from Boca Raton's Town Center mall to The Gardens Mall — will run every 20 minutes on weekdays in the morning rush hour and afternoon, up from every half hour. It will run every half hour on Sundays, up from every hour.
Route 20, a winding 45-minute journey between the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail station and The Gardens Mall, will improve weekday frequency from every 60 minutes to every 40 minutes.
Route 1, which runs along U.S. 1 and Dixie Highway, will start its weekday runs earlier, with a 5:10 a.m. southbound departure from the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail/Amtrak station and a 5:18 a.m. departure northbound from Atlantic Avenue and Federal Highway in Delray Beach. It's also getting northbound service to the Atlantic Avenue stop on Sundays at 8:21 a.m. and 8:51 a.m. But its full run, between The Gardens Mall and Camino Real in Boca Raton, will increase to more than two hours and 50 minutes during the evening rush hour, up from about 2½ hours.
Route 2, which goes mostly along Congress Avenue, will run later on Sundays, with its last southbound trip departing the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail/Amtrak station at 6:40 p.m. The route runs between the train station and the Town Centre at Boca Raton Town mall. It runs on Military Trail and Yamato Road between Town Center and the Boca Raton Tri-Rail station, before going along Congress Avenue north, including the segment where the road becomes Australian Avenue after Palm Beach International Airport.
Route 31, which connects the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail/Amtrak station and the VA Medical Center in Riviera Beach, will start earlier on Sundays, with northbound trips starting at 9:10 a.m.
Route 33 will stop at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Azure Estates (formerly Stonybrook Apartments), Park Avenue, Northlake Boulevard and Holly Drive.

Palm Tran will trim service on these routes

Route 30, running along Blue Heron Boulevard in Riviera Beach, will run every hour on Sundays, down from every 30 minutes.
Route 10's run on Saturdays at 6:10 a.m. will end. The route runs on much of Military Trail in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, connecting The Gardens Mall, FAU's Jupiter campus and Indiantown Road.

Chris Persaud is the transportation reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at cpersaud@pbpost.com.

Facebook Twitter Email