Connecting Collier and Lee Bus Systems

Naples Daily News article Missing link: Could Collier and Lee bus systems be connected?

We need smarter ways of providing transportation to places / routes / times that people want to travel. Ideas like this make sense -- unfortunately there is lots of inertia in the way of making it happen.

Collier and Lee counties’ separate transit systems both end just shy of the county line, leaving residents and visitors to bridge the four-mile gap by finding private transportation or hoofing it.

Officials in both counties have been talking for years about providing a link between the LeeTran and Collier Area Transit systems, but statewide budget crunches may place yet another roadblock in the way of that vision.

Together, the counties have a combined $1 million in grants to link the two systems, but the logistics have yet to be worked out.

Officials on both sides of the county line agree it will be necessary to pool the money to allow one transportation system to run the route, conduct the marketing and oversee upkeep.