Riverwalk Water Trolley

Can’t say enough about this community service that links people from south of New River to Las Olas. We take the water trolley 3 – 4 times per week to get from our house to the restaurants on Las Olas. This makes it easy and convenient to dine at the Riverfront and Las Olas. we would naturally go other places more frequently if forced to drive and park. And, they are VERY dog friendly. our dog sees the water trolley and actually gets excited. Great service that pays for itself by increasing local patronage in Las Olas

The water trolley can be fantastic, when it comes. The problem is that it’s very inconsistent. Last week I rode the water trolley from home to the Broward Performing Arts Center, back and forth, and it was prompt and contributed to a wonderful day. This weekend, my husband and I waited for 45 minutes and no trolley arrived. Don’t bother calling the number on the sign. No one picks up. Download the app for the real time location of the trolley? Nope. Doesn’t work. What a great amenity for Fort Lauderdale residents AND tourists! If only it could be relied upon…

Terrible, terrible, terrible. A girlfriend and I decided to trust this service after getting a late bite downtown. We paid our tab and were at the station at 9:45 pm. At 10:35 pm we were still waiting before deciding to hail a cab. This was after dealing with strangers at a late hour walking about, calling their number that is just a recording and an app that isn’t functioning. The extra few dollars for an Über is totally worth to not deal with this «free» service.

It’s free, it’s helpful & it’s fun. You can bring your bikes and puppies across the river with speed and a little bit of class. The captain is skilled and tells pretty good stories when you get him going. If you’re downtown and you aren’t using this, you’re missing out. I can hop from the courthouse to huzeinga park for coffee from expresso, a taco from nacho bizness and get right back to work in under a half an hour. it’s the best thing the city of fort lauderdale has done in a long time.

«Free Water Trolley is a must do when in downtown Fort Lauderdale»
I’m a longtime Fort Lauderdale resident that lives near the New River (Fort Lauderdale’s main inland waterway). I have always loved the Water Taxis, which are a paid service that runs from the downtown Riverfront east to the Intracoastal Waterway, north along the Intracoastal or south to Hollywood. Water Taxis charges a day rate for unlimited on and off access but doesn’t permit dogs on their vessels because they might get seasick. As a local, I can’t afford to pay the full day rate whenever I want, especially for the short hops that I want to use the Water Taxi for. And I love to take my dogs with me on adventures, too. That is why it was so wonderful when the city and the Riverwalk Trust contracted with Water Taxi to provide a free Water Trolley in October 2014. The paid Water Taxis are yellow; the free Water Trolley is blue and white. The Water Trolley is a much more limited route, It goes only as far east as the Laura Ward Riverwalk Plaza in the 600 block of East Las Olas Blvd and as far west as Esplanade Park next to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Basically, it travels along the length of the Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk, It has a stop at Smoker Park, in front of the Downtowner Saloon and at Tarpon Bend on the south side of the New River. In addition to Riverwalk Plaza and Esplanade Park, the Water Trolley stops at the Riverfront and at Huizenga Park on the north side. It just does a circular route, going east and wet and hopping from the south side to the north side whenever someone is there to be picked up or dropped off. I now use it to take my little wheeled shopping cart to the local grocery store and on the weekends I board with my two dogs and we ride together along the entire route for about two circuits before we are satisfied and get off. It’s definitely giving me my river fix, and it is so convenient, The Water Trolley runs seven days a week. It starts service from Esplanade Park at 11AM until 2PM where it stops service for two hours, then resumes service at 4PM until 11PM. The Water Trolley stops are well marked along the river’s edge. They are not like buses where you know exactly when they will arrive at the stop you are at, but they usually pass by in each direction about every 20 – 25 minutes. The Water Taxis do not have ramps; they have an open access area in the front of the vessel with bumpers that they push up against the dock while people get on and get off; passengers who have wheelchairs are going to need someone to help them fold up the chair and carry it on – the crew doesn’t do that. I have watched people with wheelchairs and walkers try to board and even with help from family members, it is not easy for them. But able bodied people can use this service easily. I have lots of pictures for you to view. A note for dog owners: If you do decide to bring your dog aboard, your dog must be leashed, it must be well-​behaved. If your dog is nervous, gets seasick, doesn’t like being in close quarters with other people, particularly lots of kids, you shouldn’t bring your dog on board — you are just putting yourself at risk for a negative incident with your dog (and why make your dog miserable unnecessarily?) I wish we could require the same of the children boarding. If they were leashed and well-​behaved, that would be great!