CAT’s 20th Anniversary!

CAT turned 20 in Febraury 2021! Collier Area Transit (CAT) celebrated 20 years of service in Collier County. A special celebration was held at CAT’s headquarters at 8300 Radio Road. The theme of CAT’s 20th Anniversary celebration was 20 Years of Movement, which included a Transportation Show, displaying various forms of transportation throughout the years. The public was invited to attend.

Collier County’s Deputy County Manager, Mr. Dan Rodriguez, was the Masters of Ceremony, with Commissioner Rick Lo Castro, District 2, giving Opening Remarks, an Invocation by Pastor Grant Thigpen, and “America the Beautiful” and “The National Anthem” sung by students of Gulf Coast Charter Academy South. Speakers also included Mr. Jamie French, Public Services Department Head, Ms. Michelle Arnold, Director of Public Transit and Neighborhood Enhancement and Mr. Omar De Leon, Transit Manager.

Collier Area Transit began service in February 2001, with seven trolley-wrapped buses traveling five fixed routes, six days a week. Today, CAT services 18 fixed-routes, 1 beach route, 1 express bus route and over 580 bus stops throughout Collier County. CAT has provided over 18.4 million cumulative trips to residents and visitors since 2001. CAT also provides door-to-door service for those with disabilities, who are unable to use the fixed-route system, through it’s CAT Connect Paratransit service.

CAT’s Beach Bus is Running for the season

After a year’s hiatus, Collier Area Transit’s (CAT) Beach Bus is back for the season with a new, realigned route that will shuttle passengers from the Conner Park Parking Lot on Bluebill Avenue to Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park and to Vanderbilt Beach, Starting Monday, February 20th through April 29, 2023, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The Beach Bus service will consist of a free trolley traveling on Vanderbilt Drive from Vanderbilt Beach to Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park stopping at Conner Park, to pick up beachgoers. The Beach Bus will no longer be offering Flag-Down service due to a multitude of construction projects along the route that could cause safety issues.
The Beach Bus will operate from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, then again from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM. The FREE service will be offered Fridays through Mondays with a 30-40 minute frequency. Catch a FREE ride every weekend on CAT’s Beach Bus and view in real-time the Beach Bus’s location on the rideCAT app by viewing Route 29 or by viewing the real-time route information located on rideCAT.com.