Broward County Transit evacuates residents to safety as Hurricane Irma barreled toward South Florida

Broward County Transit evacuates residents to safety as Hurricane Irma barreled toward South Florida

     BROWARD COUNTY,  FL – Broward County Transit (BCT) buses rolled out quickly, on Thursday morning, Sept. 7, 2017, to designations across Broward County picking up residents evacuating from Hurricane Irma to the safety of shelters opened throughout the county.

Entire families, the young and the elderly, carrying what they could, boarded BCT buses, relieved that they were being transported to the safety of the shelters.

Bus evacuation pick-up routes included people living along the beaches, in mobile home parks, and the homeless. Broward County Transit’s paratransit service, TOPS, also assisted with transporting our most fragile customers, those living in assisted living facilities and hospitals, to shelters set up to meet their specific needs.

“Our goal was to get people to safety and leave no one behind who contacted us needing transportation to a shelter. As part of our plan, we designated pick-up locations and conducted sweeps picking up people who waved to our bus operators to stop. BCT’s evacuation plan was well executed and I couldn’t be prouder of our bus operators and other staff members who worked tirelessly to ensure that Broward County residents got to safety, “said Broward County Transportation Director Chris Walton.

BCT  also  shuttled  130 National Guardsmen, from Wisconsin, to various  locations across the county to assist with clean-up efforts and distributing supplies after Hurricane Irma left  a trail of destruction of downed power lines, trees and debris, which cut off many neighborhoods.

As roadways were cleared and deemed safe for travel, BCT quickly resumed bus service with limited hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., due to power outages and numerous traffic signals not working in many neighborhoods.

“As the county begins to get back to normal and conditions improve, BCT will continue to increase its bus services, until fully operational, to meet the needs of our customers,” said Broward County Transportation Director Chris Walton.

Broward County Transit services are now fully operational. BCT is the second-largest transit system in Florida and also services locations in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties.