In West Palm Beach, the Downtown Ride Changed Twice This Fall

An electric shuttle now leaves S Olive Avenue at Acacia Road, a short walk from the Norton Museum of Art. It runs up through Rosemary Avenue and Quadrille Boulevard, then follows Dixie Highway north to Northwood Road and Spruce Avenue. Each ride costs $1, the fare is tap-only, and a vehicle comes every 10 minutes. The route is called West Palm Move. Its fixed line started on September 8, 2026, and the city launched it to replace RideWPB, the pilot service that ended May 31.

One more change followed. The West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority ended its Circuit On-Demand service on Tuesday, September 30. So two separate short-trip services from earlier this year have now become one city network with one north-south line at its center. For anyone who used to open an app and wait, the best way to use the new system is to learn that line.

How the ride downtown changed hands

Here is the order it happened in, using dates from the city and the DDA:

• May 31, 2026: RideWPB, the city's pilot, ended.
• September 8: The West Palm Move fixed route began running.
• September 15: West Palm Move On-Demand rides launched.
• September 28: The southbound stop at 24th Street and Dixie Highway closed indefinitely for local construction.
• September 30: The DDA's Circuit On-Demand made its final run.

The city says West Palm Move is a new service and separate from the earlier trolley operations. In its launch announcement, the city said the fleet is fully electric and that the service is paid for through developer contributions, mobility fees, the Community Redevelopment Agency and parking fees. The city also explained the goal in plain terms. In the City of West Palm Beach's launch release, Parking & Mobility Administrator Jessica Keller said:

"West Palm Move gives people a simple, reliable option for getting around West Palm Beach without having to get in their car for every trip."

The spine runs up Dixie Highway

On most days, the fixed route is the cheapest and most predictable way to get around. The published stop list on West Palm Move's site shows a clear shape. The southern end is a short stretch of S Olive Avenue. The middle cuts through downtown on Rosemary and Quadrille. The longest part is a straight run up Dixie Highway. Going north from Sunday through Friday, the stops are:

1. S Olive Ave at Acacia Rd, then S Olive at Vallowe Ct
2. S Rosemary Ave at Okeechobee Blvd, then S Rosemary at Fern St
3. Quadrille Blvd at Datura St, at the Courthouse and at 4th St
4. Dixie Hwy at 8th St, 10th St, Palm Beach Lakes Blvd, 13th St, N Lakeside Ct, 19th St and 21st St
5. Northwood Rd at Dixie Hwy, Northwood Rd at Spruce Ave and 24th St at Spruce Ave

Coming back south, the route uses some different streets downtown. It has stops at Quadrille and Clematis Street and at Quadrille and Evernia Street. Then it heads down Rosemary to Okeechobee Boulevard and Dixie Highway, and ends at S Olive near Pembroke Place and Acacia Road. The operator lists these as its popular destinations along the way: Northwood Village, downtown and Clematis, CityPlace, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Good Samaritan Medical Center and the Norton Museum of Art.

Several of this year's openings sit close to that line. The Daily Focaccia opened October 5 at 410 Evernia Street, Suite 118, on the Dixie Highway side of the building. That is near the southbound Quadrille and Evernia stop. On Rosemary, The RealReal announced an August 13 opening at 700 S. Rosemary Ave., Suite 136. The frozen yogurt shop BuddhaBerry is now listed as open at 417 S. Rosemary Ave. Both are on the stretch between the Okeechobee and Fern stops.

Saturday runs a different line

The stop list gets a separate heading for Saturday, and the change is in downtown. Going north on Saturdays, the stops at S Sapodilla Avenue and Okeechobee Boulevard and at Sapodilla and Fern Street take the place of the weekday Rosemary stops. Going south, the Saturday stops are Sapodilla at Fern and Sapodilla at Dreyfoos. Saturday service also starts at 8 a.m., two hours later than on weekdays, and runs until 9 p.m.

Saturday is also the busiest morning downtown. The West Palm Beach GreenMarket returned for its 32nd season on October 3 on the Great Lawn at 100 N. Clematis Street. The DDA's Getting Around page lists the street closures that come with the market and the West Palm Beach Antique & Flea every Saturday. The 100 block of North and South Clematis, the 200 to 400 blocks of Clematis and Lantana Avenue between Banyan Boulevard and North Clematis close from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Flagler Drive, Narcissus Avenue, Olive Avenue and Dixie Highway between Banyan Boulevard and Datura Street close from 7:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.

So if you are planning a Saturday market trip by shuttle, use the Saturday stop list, not the weekday one you may have learned on a Tuesday. Expect the Rosemary stops to be replaced by the Sapodilla stops.

The north end has a detour for now

Riders heading home to Northwood need to know about a service alert, last updated October 14. Since September 28, the southbound stop at 24th Street and Dixie Highway has been closed indefinitely because of local construction. The city points riders to Northwood Road and Spruce Avenue, a 4-minute walk away, or to a temporary southbound stop at 23rd Street and Dixie Highway, a 6-minute walk from the closed stop. That temporary stop stays until the construction is finished.

The walk is worth it, because the north end is where the route reaches Northwood Village. The village directory lists This Is It Café at 444 24th St and Café Centro at 2409 N. Dixie Highway. Both are within a few blocks of the 24th Street and Spruce Avenue stop and the Dixie Highway stops at the top of the line. The fixed route runs until 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and until 8 p.m. on Sunday, which leaves time for dinner at the north end before the last ride back toward the Norton.

On-Demand covers the trips the spine misses

On-Demand is the part that replaces the old app-and-wait trips, and it costs more than the bus.

The two services work together on one fare. Riding both costs a flat $2, and the transfer is free. If you start with On-Demand, show the fixed-route driver your ride receipt in the West Palm Move app. If you start on the fixed route, show the driver the On-Demand ride you have already booked. In practice, an On-Demand ride from a side street to a Dixie Highway stop, followed by the shuttle up or down the line, costs the same $2 as an On-Demand ride alone. Wheelchair-accessible On-Demand vehicles can be requested by phone.

A slow first week, and the parking question

Ridership started small. The Palm Beach Post reported that city records showed West Palm Move averaging about 50 passengers a day during the first three days of its September opening week. City leaders called it an encouraging start. That number covers the fixed route's first days only, before On-Demand began.

Some neighbors raised a concern early. WPTV reported that some nearby residents worried riders would park on neighborhood streets to catch the shuttle. The city told the station it had no data showing that was happening and pointed to a parking study already underway. The city's own map also notes that the network design is subject to change. Saturday stops, the temporary stop at 23rd Street and the route itself can all shift as construction and the parking study move forward. For any given week, check the service alerts on the city's West Palm Move page before you go.

Living a short walk from the Dixie Highway spine means something different now than it did in the spring, when a ride downtown came from a pilot service and a separate DDA app. If you are thinking about how close a home sits to one of these stops, or which blocks of Northwood or the Rosemary corridor have the easiest walk to the line, Kassandra & Thalia can go through the map with you, street by street. Schedule a free consultation.