Lehigh Acres Routes
Probably the most under-represented people in Lee County when it comes to transit are the people in Lehigh Acres. Present plans are to reduce the number of fixed routes in Lehigh Acres and in its stead, provide a microtransit alternative. A whole discussion about microtransit is discussed here. Suffice it to say that fixed route is the most stable and efficient method of moving people. Moreover, Lehigh Acres will still be held to only one route in and out of that community, the 110 route, and the service presently being offered in that lone route is pretty awful! Instead the Pulse Plan proposes to have two routes provide an egress out of Lehigh. The 710 Route will provide a western route to the Edison Mall, and the 715 will provide a route south-west to the Hilton Alico Hotel, which leads directly to the Airport, FGCU, Gulf Coast Town Center, Bonita Springs and Naples!
The numbers don't lie -- and the analysis bears it out... passengers can literally save hours in their commute to these destinations using the Pulse Plan's utilization of the 715 Route down the Daniels Road corridor (see red route above!) Consider the time saved with these numbers:
If patrons could save such time in their commute (and have access to the Gateway Community where many people in Lehigh work,) and also have access for people off 23 St. SW, would this not make a compelling case to adopt a route down this corridor? And, again, who would park their car at a Park and Ride in Lehigh to avail themselves of service which gets them to their destination and back in five or six hours? (The average round-trip time that LeeTran offers to the Hilton Alico Hotel, for instance, is 5 hours and 53 minutes.) Such times are abysmal and they are not worthy of a transit agency's reason for existing.
Finally, nearly every person in Lehigh Acres can have access to superior service with a supplementary route which would run at less than half the cost of a fixed route, Route 720. It is a much better alternative than the microtransit service which is being proposed, and with improved service which will generate more ridership and more revenue, the 720 Route will pay for itself!