At the monthly Lee County Tourist Development Council meeting this week, Lee Tran Director Robert Codie said tram ridership on Fort Myers Beach has been phenomenal and he added, “with Margaritaville coming, it’s only going to increase.” Here are the numbers….
For the 2022 fiscal year (November 2021 to date), 377,872 passengers road the Fort Myers Beach free tram. In 2020 the total was 173,072 and in 2021 total ridership was 125,272.
Beginning Sunday, April 24 the beach tram service will end. It picks back up again in November.
The tram service is provided by Lee County and is funded by Tourist Development Council funds. The TDC is expected to vote to approve the $253,000 needed to operate the tram at its May meeting.
The popular service runs daily from Bowditch Point to Matanzas Pass Preserve near the Fort Myers Beach Library at 2755 Estero Blvd. Service goes from 8am-11:30pm daily.
At a previous town council meeting when asked about running the service year round a county representative said the town would most likely have to pick up the cost to make that happen.