Duval Loop Eliminated: A Tragedy — and a Turning Point

The Loop is gone. But the conversation has shifted — and that may be the first step toward a smarter future.

Key West is about to make a decision that defies logic, economic sense, and basic urban planning. The elimination of the Duval Loop — the city’s best-performing transit route — is a textbook example of short-term thinking with long-term consequences.

But something changed at Thursday’s budget hearing, even as they decreased this year’s transit budget by $1.3M versus last year’s. For the first time, city staff and commissioners seemed to begin talking seriously about long-term funding solutions — cruise ship disembarkation fees, Tourist Development Tax allocations, expanded Park-n-Ride revenue. These ideas should have been explored months ago, even years ago. Their absence is what led us here.

Still, the shift matters. It’s like turning a cruise ship — slow, deliberate, and overdue. But it’s movement. And that movement deserves recognition.

We mourn the loss of the Duval Loop. It didn’t have to be this way. But if the city follows through on the ideas now being discussed, this moment could mark the beginning of a smarter, more resilient transit future.

In the sections that follow, we’ll break down why this decision is so damaging, how the Loop became Key West’s most vital transit service, and what — if anything — can still be done to reverse course.

The Duval Loop: A Route That Works

Transit Service	% of Total Rides (FY2024–2025)
Duval Loop	43%
Lower Keys Shuttle	29%
Key West Rides	23%
Workforce Express	6%

Since its launch in August 2017, the Duval Loop has quietly become the backbone of Key West’s transit system. Designed to serve visitors and locals alike, it offered a simple promise: a reliable, free way to explore downtown without the stress of parking or traffic. And it delivered.

Ridership has rebounded dramatically since the pandemic, climbing from 63,055 in FY2020–2021 to over 152,000 projected in FY2024–2025. That’s a 141% increase — and yet, this is the route they’re cutting. The Loop now accounts for 43% of all Key West Transit rides, outperforming every other service. It’s not just popular — it’s essential.

Fiscal Year	Duval Loop Ridership
FY2018–2019	331,603
FY2019–2020	201,077
FY2020–2021	63,055
FY2021–2022	71,981
FY2022–2023	109,044
FY2023–2024	125,655
FY2024–2025*	152,000+

Cutting the Loop doesn’t just hurt riders — it risks future funding. Federal and state transit formulas rely heavily on ridership data to determine allocations. Every ride counts. By eliminating 43% of the system’s total rides, Key West could jeopardize its eligibility for future funding, compounding the damage for years to come.

Research Tells Us Downtown Depends on the Loop

City management and transit leaders presented short-term fixes to preserve Key West Rides and Workforce Express. That’s encouraging. Someone is finally thinking about new sources of funding. But no money for the Loop, that since its launch has quietly become the backbone of the island’s transit system — serving visitors, workers, and locals alike with a reliable, free way to explore downtown.

In our March Madness and the Duval Loop, March 29, 2024 article, we showed how the Loop absorbs seasonal surges, keeping downtown accessible even during peak tourism. It’s not just a convenience — it’s a pressure valve. Without it, traffic clogs, parking overflows, and the visitor experience deteriorates.

During a recent conversation with USRadio 1’s Nick Wright, we talked about how the Loop fuels downtown vitality. “It’s the one thing that makes downtown feel like it works,”we said. “You take it away, and suddenly everything feels harder — for visitors, for workers, for businesses.”

Research tells us that 77% of overnight visitors drive to Key West. And if they have a car and don’t have an easy-to-use alternative, they’ll default to the car — because it’s there. Even those who do walk, often come from car-dependent places where walking isn’t second nature. Add in the heat, and many visitors won’t explore beyond a few blocks. The Loop opens up areas of downtown that might not otherwise get visited — and that’s good for our retailers, restaurants, and destinations.

Business owners have echoed this sentiment for years. From Duval Street retailers to waterfront restaurants, the Loop brings foot traffic that translates directly into revenue. It’s not just transit — it’s infrastructure for prosperity.

Cutting the Loop sends a troubling message: that downtown mobility is expendable. And if that’s the message, then Key West risks undermining the very infrastructure that makes its economy thrive.

The Loop: Not Just for Tourists

The Duval Loop isn’t just for visitors — it’s a lifeline for locals too. That fact is about to become even more obvious as 126 units of workforce housing begin opening at The Lofts, located right on the Loop’s route. The city was rightly praised for placing affordable housing downtown, with direct access to transit. Now, it’s preparing to cut that very connection.

Officials claim the Loop is “only for tourists,” estimating that 95% of its riders were visitors last year. But that figure is disputed — and it overlooks the lived experience of downtown workers who rely on the Loop to move between jobs, errands, and lunch breaks.

The Park and Ride Garage on Grinnell Street will also lose its downtown shuttle connection. Workers are encouraged to park there — so are tourists — but without the Loop, there’s no easy way to get from the garage to the heart of downtown. This isn’t just inconvenient. It’s a step backward for mobility, equity, and common sense.

Residents use the Loop. Workers use the Loop. And the city’s own planning decisions — like placing affordable housing downtown — were built around its presence. Eliminating it undermines years of smart, mobility-focused development. If the city is serious about restoring the Loop, it must start by recognizing its full value.

The Missed Opportunity That Brought Us Here

This isn’t the first time Key West has been caught flat-footed by transit funding shortfalls — and it won’t be the last if leadership continues to rely on unstable grants. As we laid out in our August 3 Dumb and Dumber Transit Cuts article, the city’s dependence on federal and state dollars has created a cycle of surprise and retreat. Each year, officials act shocked when the money doesn’t materialize, despite years of warning signs.

There’s been no sustained effort to build a reliable local funding source. No contingency planning. And now, the city is cutting its most successful route — not because it failed, but because the system wasn’t protected.

Transit has too often been treated as a secondary concern — something for those without cars, rather than a core part of the city’s infrastructure. That mindset has shaped decisions for years, and the consequences are now playing out in real time.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. As we explored in our August 31 article Could Tourist Dollars Be the Answer? the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) is a viable, logical source of funding for the Duval Loop. Commissioners Monica Haskell and Sam Kaufman have pushed for this — Haskell even met with the TDC Executive Director, who expressed support for using those funds. The door is open. City leadership now has a chance to walk through it.

Is the Cruise Ship Starting to Turn?

In the days leading up to Thursday’s budget hearing, Commissioner Sam Kaufman exchanged emails with the City Manager, pressing for answers about the Duval Loop and the city’s long-term transit strategy. These quotes come directly from that exchange — and they reflect a growing awareness that something needs to change. Some of these themes were echoed on the dais during the hearing itself, suggesting that the cruise ship may, at last, be starting to turn. Here’s Commissioner Kaufman’s question to the Manager:

“The City’s 10-year Transit Development Plan lays out a bold vision, but this budget drastically cuts transit. How do you reconcile those cuts with the commitments in the TDP? And specifically—why are we eliminating the Duval Loop, our fastest-growing route, up 21% this year while others are flat or down? Cutting the Loop not only hurts downtown and visitors but also weakens our state funding formula. What’s the plan to restore this service? I understand grants play a role, but the City has known for years that transit funding is unstable. Why hasn’t a sustainable local funding source been prioritized to protect essential services like the Duval Loop? Without a plan for dedicated funding, aren’t we setting ourselves up for the same crisis year after year?”

Kudo’s to Commissioner Kaufman. He gets it. Here’s how the City Manager responded:

“Yes, the Transit Development Plan was developed with a bold vision, but the pages also identified that there was a lack of funding overall. Identifying new, local revenue sources is something that we have actively been working on, however, many of the ideas do not have a short-term implementation. We have identified $3.4M in local funding for the operations of the Transit System, however, grant funding for the system has been decreased to $2.6M in FY2026. The City has identified increased advertising initiatives, dedicated parking fees, and a dedicated portion of citation fees as immediate local funding increases, however, longer term ideas such as TDC Funding, a possible increase to disembarkation fees, participation from the business community, and other options are not immediately available for implementation. The disruption of services is not desirable; however, the suspension of the Duval Loop will have a lesser impact on our local workforce. The suspension of the Duval Loop does not equate to the City surrendering its long-term vision which is in the pages of the TDP. The City is committed to continuing its efforts to enhance revenue opportunities, and in turn, its transit system.”

It’s a familiar pattern: acknowledge the vision, point to funding constraints, and promise future action. But once the Loop is gone, the urgency to restore it may fade — especially if the city adjusts to operating without its most successful route. That’s the danger of short-term cuts: they risk becoming permanent.

The city says it hasn’t surrendered its long-term vision. That’s encouraging. But vision without urgency is just paperwork. If leaders truly believe in restoring the Loop, they’ll need to act — not just plan.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

At Thursday’s budget hearing, city staff laid out a few short-term fixes to preserve Key West Rides and Workforce Express — including a $10 cut of parking citation fees projected to raise $200K and new revenue from special event parking. These are welcome steps. City Hall is finally thinking creatively.

But for the Duval Loop, the timing may be off. The ideas now being explored — while promising — won’t arrive in time to prevent its suspension.

The city is now exploring longer-term ideas like cruise ship disembarkation fees, Tourist Development Tax allocations, and expanded Park-n-Ride revenue. When asked about when we’d see funding plans for these ideas by Commissioner Kaufman, the City Manager said recommendations could come “a couple of months into the new fiscal year.” That’s progress — but it won’t save the Loop.

Commissioner Sam Kaufman rightly asked for a legal memo on disembarkation fees, noting that Key West charges far less than other Florida ports. He also pushed back on raising worker parking permit fees, emphasizing the need for fairness to workers.

There’s movement. There’s momentum. But the Loop is still being cut. And unless the city commits to restoring it once new revenue is secured, this moment will be remembered not just as a tough pill to swallow, but as a turning point that came too late to save what mattered most.

A Window of Hope

Something seemed to shift at Thursday’s budget hearing. For the first time, city leaders began talking seriously about long-term transit funding — not just in vague terms, but with real ideas: cruise ship disembarkation fees, Tourist Development Tax allocations, expanded Park-n-Ride revenue. These conversations should have started years ago. Their absence is what led us here.

But they’ve started now. And that matters.

Commissioners Sam Kaufman and Monica Haskell have been consistent, vocal, and strategic — not just in this budget cycle, but across years of transit advocacy. Kaufman’s letter to the City Manager laid out the stakes with clarity and urgency. Haskell’s push for TDT funding and her reaching out to the TDC Executive Director, who expressed support for using those funds, is a good sign. They’re not just talking. They’re leading.

We see the flicker of effort at City Hall. We recognize the shift. And we encourage it.

But we also remember what’s being lost. The Duval Loop didn’t fail — it was failed. And unless the city reverses course with a Hail Mary pass by final budget adoption on September 25, this decision will be remembered as a missed opportunity to protect what worked.

So, we remain hopeful. But we also remain watchful.

Trust, but verify.

Because when we invest in good, frequent, easy-to-use transit, we build a better Key West – for workers, for residents, for visitors, for businesses and for our future.

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Chris Hamilton is the founder of Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown, a local advocacy group championing sustainable mobility and vibrant public spaces. Subscribe to the blog and follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Substack for updates. All stories are cross posted at KONK Life News. Originally from Washington, D.C., Chris spent over two decades leading nationally acclaimed initiatives in transit, biking, walking, and smart growth for Arlington County, VA’s DOT. Since moving to Key West in 2015, he has embraced a car-free lifestyle downtown, dedicating his time to non-profits and community projects. Explore all Streets for People column articles here.