In their first two weeks of service, the Free Shop Local Shuttles are not only saving parking spaces on the island, they are seemingly delivering local shoppers to each of Coronado’s business districts.
Since their launch on Black Friday, the daily shuttles have transported 6,855 passengers. As expected, the complimentary service was used most often on Fridays. On average, over 1,700 business travelers and residents ride the Free Shop Local Shuttles each Friday.
Discover Coronado, who is covering all costs of the shuttles, launched the program to better connect visiting conventioneers with local shops and restaurants. As the name suggests, the service is free for passengers and comes at no expense to the City of Coronado.
Records show that November 23rd, the official start of the holiday shopping season, is currently the day of highest usage (646 passengers).
Historically, the first two weeks of December are a difficult time for merchants. Early data suggests ridership between December 1-7 remained consistent with the last full week of November. Ridership is expected to jump in mid-December as transplanted Coronadans return home for the holidays and party-goers use the shuttles as an alternative to impaired driving.
Each day the Free Shop Local Shuttles make 74 trips on the route that includes Orange Avenue, First and Second Streets.
