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For Lakeland Residents Without a Car, Getting Around Can Be a Daily Struggle
For about 1 in 13 Lakeland households, getting to work, groceries, school, and doctor visits can mean long walks in heat or rain, missed buses, and costly workarounds.
Lakeland passengers say Citrus Connection buses are clean and comfortable, but service is too infrequent. | Citrus Connection
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8-minute read
About 7.8% of Lakeland households — roughly 1 in 13 — have no vehicle, according to U.S. Census estimates. That’s higher than the county-wide average of 5.3% homes.
But that number only portrays part of the story. Census figures leave out people whose cars need repairs they can’t afford and those who are barred from driving because of suspended licenses or other legal problems.
A survey of 2,194 Polk County residents found that transportation-related stress is widespread. More than half — 53% — said people in their community could not reliably reach work, school, groceries, or a doctor’s appointment.
“Without reliable transportation, it makes getting jobs hard. It makes having any kind of social life hard,” said Desstiny Cardenas, who moved to Lakeland from Orlando, where she used public transit to get to her job near Disney Springs.
“And God forbid you don’t have your own washer and dryer and have to find a way to a laundromat and back or having to spend extra money to get groceries delivered,” said Cardenas, who lives off of Reynolds Road. “It is basically impossible.”
Walkability varies by neighborhood
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2019–2023)
WalkScore.com rates Lakeland a “car-dependent city,” with an overall walkability score of 35 out of 100. But that can vary depending on your neighborhood.
Only one Lakeland neighborhood ranks as “highly walkable” — Downtown, with a score of 79. John Cox and Parker Street come second and third with scores in the 60s, making them “somewhat walkable.”
The Lake Hollingsworth area earns a 43, despite its wide, multi-use trail around the lake. Walk scores are about reaching stores, jobs, and services on foot — not recreation.
Where car-free life is hardest
Kathleen scores a 26 for walkability. Most errands require a vehicle, and 25.2% of households, about 1 in 4, do not have one. Webster Park North has a walk score of 23, and 19.1% or nearly 1 in 5 households are without a vehicle.
Carillon Lakes is Lakeland’s least walkable neighborhood, with a score of 3. But that’s less of a hardship because 98.7% of residents have vehicles.
Lakeland Neighborhoods Ranked by Walkability
Lakeland Neighborhoods Ranked by Walkability
WalkScore.com rates how easy it is to meet daily needs on foot.
Very walkable (70–100)Somewhat walkable (50–69)Most errands require a car (25–49)Almost all errands require a car (0–24)
A barrier to work
Dianne Kaplan, co-owner of 1st Priority Staffing in Dixieland, said transportation is often the biggest barrier facing job candidates.
“It’s very difficult for candidates relying on public transportation,” Kaplan said. One worker pieced together two bus routes and then biked the last several miles to work. But she said that kind of determination is rare.
“And a lot of the businesses, especially the ones that are more in the industrial areas, tend to have the earlier starting shifts that the bus lines aren’t running yet,” Kaplan said.
From 2020 to 2024, just 0.8% of Lakeland workers age 16 and older commuted by public transportation, according to the Census. In Polk County overall, the figure was 0.4%.
Jen Cordova, who drives intermittently for Lyft and Uber in Lakeland, said two groups dominate her rides.
“The two biggest demographics I drive are low-income workers getting to and from work and elderly people to and from medical appointments,” Cordova said. “Definitely the most vulnerable populations relying on top-dollar travel options because of a lack of anything else reliable.”
Project Ride to Health by WeCare of Central Florida offers free rides to medical appointments for qualifying individuals through Uber Health. Call 863-999-3699.
Share the Ride is a free carpool-matching app for commuters, sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) . It is designed for recurring work commutes.
Volunteers in Service of the Elderly (VISTE) provides free rides to appointments, grocery stores, food pantries, and other places to seniors who cannot drive. Call 863-284-0828.
Find a Ride Florida is a free, online database created by FDOT and the University of Florida to help seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income residents find local transportation services across Florida.
Tri-County Human Services helps people over 17 who are at risk of homelessness, struggling with mental health, or have been charged with DUI to gain or maintain independent living. Services include transportation. Call 863-209-5837.
United Way of Central Florida’s 2-1-1 resource line and website has navigators who can help identify resources for a variety of needs, including transportation.
Doing more with less
Citrus Connection has spent years trying to stretch limited dollars further, experimenting with neighborhood circulators and fare-free partnerships. But Tom Phillips, Citrus Connection’s executive director, said innovation can only go so far without dedicated funding.
Polk voters rejected transit funding by about 60% in 2010 and again in 2014 when the county’s “My Ride, My Road” 1-cent transportation sales tax failed by roughly 72%-to-28%.
Phillips said those votes define transit in Polk: a system expected to serve one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions but without the budget to build something more robust.
Priced out of the driver’s seat
For many households, owning a car is not economically feasible.
These are often ALICE households — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — working families who earn too much to qualify for federal assistance, but still not enough to comfortably afford the basics.
Larissa Caudill, 44, said she has looked into buying an e-bike or e-trike — not as a luxury, but “so that we could actually get places, because otherwise it’s not going to happen.”
The hidden cost of getting around
“I try to find the best routes of independence for myself,” said Ashley Kamaya Underdue, 25, who lives in South Lakeland and works within walking distance of her job.
She rides Citrus Connection, walks, and coordinates with family when she needs to get somewhere. “I would really love a modernized system,” she said. “The buses are kind of infrequent.”
Caudill also cites frequency as a barrier. “They only run every hour here, so it takes all morning just to go to the park,” she said.
She lives near Southeastern University and recently needed to go to Polk City. Buses weren’t an option. Without a friend to drive, Caudill would have had to buy a car seat for her 2-year-old son with special needs, then pay for a rideshare — an expense she estimated at about $200.
Caudill usually gets around by bike with her son in a trailer. She said the arrangement works — until the Florida heat kicks in. “Going anywhere during the summer months is the hardest part,” she said.
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Cindy's reporting for LkldNow focuses on Lakeland city government. Previously, she was a crime reporter, City Hall reporter and chief political writer for newspapers including the Albuquerque Journal and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She spent a year as a community engagement coordinator for the City of Lakeland before joining LkldNow in 2023. Reach her at cindy@lkldnow.com or 561-212-3429.
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