{"id":404536,"date":"2026-09-19T11:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T11:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/404536\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T11:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T11:52:11","slug":"fort-lauderdale-may-charge-non-residents-for-water-trolley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/404536\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale may charge non-residents for water trolley"},"content":{"rendered":"

There aren\u2019t many free rides in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

But for 12 years now, thousands of adventurous souls have been riding free of charge on the city\u2019s downtown water trolley, a popular service that takes an estimated 140,000 passengers a year on an eight-stop loop along the New River.<\/p>\n

That free ride, however, might soon start charging a fare.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

The service itself is not free.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale pays the owner of the Water Taxi $255,000 a year to operate the 19-passenger water trolley nearly year-round, 12 hours a day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

To help offset costs, commissioners are now looking at charging out-of-towners a fare while possibly keeping it free for residents of Fort Lauderdale. The fares could be in place as soon as early next year.<\/p>\n

Because the water trolley has become quite the hit with tourists and locals, city officials think folks will still pay the price to ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s turned into a little mini river cruise,\u201d noted Mayor Dean Trantalis.<\/p>\n

Videos taken by trolley riders have gone viral on social media, only adding to the appeal, according to Ekaete Ekwere, deputy director of the city\u2019s Transportation and Mobility Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word is out. People love the water trolley,\u201d Ekwere told commissioners during a recent City Hall meeting. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. It speaks to our waterfront appeal. But it is creating a lot of operational challenges as far as long wait times are concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ridership has doubled over the past five years, from 67,000 passengers a year in 2022 to a projected 140,000 this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re averaging about 730 people left behind on the dock per month because of how popular the service has become,\u201d Ekwere said.<\/p>\n

\"FortFort Lauderdale\u2019s free water trolley makes its way down the New River on Sept. 12. Ridership has doubled in the past five years, city officials say. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

When the river trolley was first launched in 2014, it was intended to ferry locals from point to point along the river.<\/p>\n

But today, tourists flock to the boat for a free 30-minute ride down the river.<\/p>\n

\u201cRiders are staying on the boat longer because they\u2019re using it as a leisure experience,\u201d she said. \u201cThey will ride through all eight stops, experience the riverfront, and then the captains have to politely tell them (it\u2019s time to step off).\u201d<\/p>\n

To accommodate the growth in ridership, the city might add a second 19-passenger boat to the route at an additional cost of $255,000 a year.<\/p>\n

A cheaper option would call for adding a second boat to the route during peak months and special events for $40,000.<\/p>\n

The city might also procure a larger 49-passenger boat to make the loop between Esplanade Park and Laura Ward Park. That would cost $300,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\"FortFort Lauderdale\u2019s free river trolley service, shown on Sept. 12, is projected to hit 140,000 riders this year. The service itself is costing Fort Lauderdale taxpayers $255,000 a year. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

To put it simply, something\u2019s got to change, Water Taxi owner Bill Walker told the city.<\/p>\n

Crowds of passengers are using the water trolley as a free tourist activity, leading to massive lines and wait times as long as 90 minutes, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the yachting capital of the world here,\u201d Walker told commissioners. \u201cAnd this service was amazing. It\u2019s amazing that it\u2019s gone up to 140,000 people (a year), plus 730 people a month standing at the dock. It\u2019s gone from this public transportation system to a, \u2018Hey, I get a free ride on a boat.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen said he\u2019d like to make sure the city\u2019s residents can keep on riding for free.<\/p>\n

Before adding a second boat to the route, Sorensen suggested they wait and see how many people still want to ride after they have to pay a price.<\/p>\n

The mayor suggested the fare be more than $2 but less than $10.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Steve Glassman recommended the city look into adding a new boat and also charging non-residents a reasonable fee.<\/p>\n

The good news for trolley fans: No one talked about shutting down the ride down the river.<\/p>\n

Said Glassman: \u201cI think it is a really cool thing for us to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There aren\u2019t many free rides in Fort Lauderdale. But for 12 years now, thousands of adventurous souls have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,28,249,251,250,114,266,109],"class_list":["post-404536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}