Recent North Beach resident Nancy Chan loves her neighborhood but what she doesn’t love is the lack of parking on her block. When the weekend rolls around, she doesn’t want to use her car and give up her parking spot.

Chan’s problem has been resolved with the City of Miami Beach’s launch of the North Beach Loop. The free trolley route makes numerous stops from 65 Street north to 88 Street, and west to Normandy Isle.

Launched at the end of October 2014, the North Beach loop connects residents and visitors to pharmacies, restaurants, shops, beaches, parks and many other points of interest in the North Beach area. It also provides a connection to regional transit, connecting to seven Miami-Dade Transit routes. The trolley operates Monday through Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to midnight, 365 days of the year.

“I can now run all my errands by using the trolley and don’t have to worry about using gas or finding parking,” Chan said.

The trolley has a capacity of 32 passengers and perks include free WiFi, an external bike rack, and real time tracking and next bus information through the City’s mobile application, Miami Beach e-Gov, available on Google and Apple stores. Four trolleys will be in service at all times, and riders can expect to wait approximately 10 to 15 minutes for a ride at any stop. They also have one spare vehicle that is used during scheduled maintenance of the four trolleys and during breakdowns.

The trolleys have also been wrapped using iconic images from the area making them colorful and distinctive from other circulators. Operations Supervisor for the City of Miami Beach Transportation Department Julian Guevara said that they made the letter “B” on the trolley much more visible to symbolize the active elements of the area. The letter represents the bandshell, the beaches, boating and biking, for example.

“The wraps were designed to include pictures of popular North Beach activities or locations,” Guevara said. “They are overlaid with various patterns used in Miami Modern (MiMo) architecture like the ‘cheese holes,’ which serve as an homage to the style that is prevalent in North Beach.  The cheese holes were specifically placed over the image to make the viewer look closely, think, and pay attention to determine the picture underneath.”

The trolley was created based off of a residential survey conducted by the City of Miami Beach, which resulted in nearly half of the residents claiming they would take a bus circulator.  The survey also concluded that 78% of North Beach residents rely on their automobile as their main source of transportation but that only 23% rated the traffic flow as excellent or good. The study also concluded that 67% of residents thought there was not enough parking in Miami Beach.

“North Beach has been a historically underserved part of our city, but this administration with full support of our mayor and commissioners, is changing the tide,” added Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy L. Morales. “The North Beach Loop is just one of the many exciting revitalization efforts happening in North Beach.”

Funding for the North Beach loop service is made possible by a Florida Department of Transportation grant and the Miami Beach Quality of Life for Transportation Resort Tax. The cost to operate this service is approximately $1.6 million a year. The North Beach loop connects with the following Miami-Dade Transit routes: 120, S, H, L, 117, 115 and 79.

For a route map and other details, click on this link to be directed to the city of Miami Beach Website.