8 Florida Towns Where Retirees Can Live Well Without a Car

Think Florida is a state you need a car to get around?

Most of it, yes.

But a handful of Florida towns run free trolleys, sit on a 47-mile trail, or park a commuter rail station three blocks from the coffee shop, and retirees there gave up the keys on purpose.

These are the Florida towns where a retiree can live well without a car.

1. Dunedin

Dunedin is the Florida town that built its whole downtown around a trail instead of a highway.

The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail runs 47 miles from Tarpon Springs down to St. Petersburg, and it goes straight through the middle of Dunedin’s main street.

Right past the breweries.

Retirees here run errands on a three-wheeler and a golf cart, and the town is small enough that a walk to the farmers market is a walk rather than a trip.

The Jolley Trolley picks up the slack when you want Clearwater Beach and don’t feel like pedaling.

2. Winter Park

Winter Park is the rare Florida town where a retiree can get on a train, and that changes everything.

The SunRail station sits at Morse Boulevard, right beside Central Park and a short walk from Park Avenue, the shops, and Rollins College.

Amtrak stops there too.

So a Winter Park retiree can ride into downtown Orlando for a doctor’s appointment and be home before the parking garage would have filled up.

The brick streets and the wide sidewalks do the rest, and nobody in Winter Park is walking on a shoulder.

3. St. Petersburg

Downtown St. Petersburg is the closest thing Florida has to a city where a car is optional.

The Looper trolley circles the whole downtown every 15 to 20 minutes, seven days a week, and it’s always free.

Museums, ballgames, the pier.

Retirees who move into a downtown St. Pete condo end up walking to the Saturday Morning Market and taking the trolley to everything else, and the second car goes first.

Groceries, doctors, and the waterfront are all inside the loop.

4. Sarasota

Sarasota hands retirees a free ride to the beach, which isn’t a sentence anybody expects about Florida.

The Bay Runner is a free trolley that runs from downtown out to St. Armands Circle and Lido Beach, from 8 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week, holidays included.

Twelve stops. Every twenty minutes.

A Sarasota retiree can have dinner on Main Street, ride out to the beach for the sunset, and be back downtown by nine without ever touching a steering wheel.

The stops sit two or three blocks apart, which is the whole point.

5. Coral Gables

Coral Gables runs its own trolley, and the city doesn't charge a nickel to ride it.

The free trolley runs Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on two routes, and it connects to the Douglas Road Metrorail station.

Metrorail is the key.

A Coral Gables retiree can ride the trolley to the train, take the train into Miami, and never think about I-95 again, which is worth more than most retirees realize until they've tried it.

The banyan-shaded streets and the Miracle Mile shops are all on foot from there.

6. Delray Beach

Delray Beach gives retirees a ride on demand, and it costs nothing.

The city runs a free, on-demand shuttle through downtown in little electric cars, covering the area from I-95 east to A1A.

You can flag one down.

Or you tap an app or call a phone number, and a driver comes to you, which suits a retiree who doesn't want to stand at a bus stop in August.

Atlantic Avenue does the rest, and Tri-Rail runs north and south for the days you leave town.

7. West Palm Beach

West Palm Beach put a free electric trolley on the street and connected it to the trains, which is exactly what a car-free retiree needs.

The downtown route runs 15 stops from the Tri-Rail station on Tamarind east to Olive Avenue, every 15 minutes, seven days a week.

Free. All of it.

Clematis Street, the waterfront, and the Kravis Center all sit on that route, and a retiree can get to the Brightline station without a car for a day trip to Miami or Orlando.

It's the rare Florida downtown where the transit came first and the parking garage came second.

8. Key West

Key West is four miles long, and the island itself does most of the work.

Retirees here get around on bicycles, scooters, and their feet, and a car in Old Town is mostly a parking problem you pay to keep.

Check the fare, though.

The Duval Loop bus used to be free and now costs $1 per ride, with a $4 all-day pass, and the city has added an on-demand service called Key West Rides on top of it.

Every article you'll find online still says the bus is free, which tells you how fast this stuff changes.

How Walkability Gets Scored

The federal government keeps a score for this, and almost no retiree has heard of it.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes a National Walkability Index that rates every block group in the country on how easy it is to get around on foot.

It looks at intersection density, how close the transit stops are, and whether the neighborhood mixes homes with the places you'd want to walk to.