If you are visiting Panama City Beach and staying on the east end of the beach near Wal-Mart you have a new weekend trolley service to Pier Park.
According to the News Herald…
The Pier Park Express is up and running.
Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst led a group of county government and business officials on board the inaugural trolley run from the Wal-Mart Supercenter to Pier Park on Friday morning as the summer trolley service quietly commenced operations at 10 a.m.
Oberst praised the effort to add weekend trolley service to the Beach, noting Front Beach Road traffic congestion has increased considerably as a result of new resorts and the opening of Pier Park.
“I hope this is the first of many projects” to add transit options to visitors, Oberst said, noting the planning under way to establish a commuter transit system connecting the Beach and the new Panama City-Bay County International Airport at West Bay.
Regions Bank President Rick Dye, who leads the nonprofit corporation that set up the summer trolley shuttle, described the effort as “a great example of where the public and private sectors work together and make things happen.”
Lynn Haven Mayor Walter Kelley, chairman of the Bay County Transportation Planning Organization, said the shuttle could serve as a prototype for greatly expanded mass transit service throughout the county.
Financed by a $125,00 Florida transportation grant and anticipated advertising revenues, the shuttle is designed to provide tourists, residents and Beach employees dedicated mass transit service each Friday through Sunday.
The east-west shuttle service uses two Baytown Trolley vehicles traversing the city in opposite directions from Wal-Mart to Pier Park. The system will operate 10 a.m. to midnight each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with scheduled stops every 30 minutes during its season, which runs from June 20 through Sept. 28.
The Express is in addition to normal Bay Town Trolley operations countywide on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Express fare is a flat rate of 50 cents per person, per ride.
“In marketing, one of the important words you can use is ‘free,’” Dye said. “Well, 50 cents for someone on vacation is almost free.”
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