Tourist transit plan
The Galveston HOT Route
Visitors do not need a parking space, they need a ride. Open-air carts on one downtown lap. The carts sweep the port and Cruise Terminal 16, then cover the Strand, Mechanic, Market, Postoffice and Church. Hold up a wristband at the curb and the next cart pulls over. A Seawall route to Stewart Beach comes in phase two.
HOT is the hotel occupancy tax, the money visitors already pay on a room. Texas Tax Code Section 351.110 lets a city spend it on “a transportation system to move tourists from hotels in and near the municipality to” the commercial center, a convention center, other hotels and tourist attractions. The HOT Route is not a creative reading of that list. It is the list. The law adds one condition: the system has to be “primarily used by tourists.” Free rides for hotel guests make that easy to show.
It is also not a bus. The ride is open air, there are no fixed stops to walk to, and you get on and off at the curb wherever you happen to be. That is the part visitors photograph, and it is the part that puts them on foot in front of our businesses instead of circling a block for a space.
© 2026 Raymond Arce · Concept first published September 3, 2025 · Updated October 14, 2026
The route
One lap. Every door.
Watch a cart run the downtown lap we are proposing. It sweeps the port, comes down 20th, and covers the Strand, Mechanic, Market, Postoffice and Church. Every hotel, bar, restaurant, coffee shop, gallery and clothier within a block of the route has a number on the map.
The map follows the cart. Swipe to look around, or tap Whole map.
Tap or click a number to jump to that business in the list below.
The lap, turn by turn
Where carts run both ways, the map shows two lines: Wharf Rd from 20th to Cruise Terminal 16, Market from 25th to 19th, and 19th from Market to Postoffice. Carts go up to the port on 21st and come back down on 20th. Mechanic is closed to westbound traffic between 26th and 27th, so the carts turn up 26th and run west on the Strand to 28th.
All the businesses on the map
Tap or click a business to see it on the map.
Proposed October 14, 2026, in Plan Version 2.0. Being on this map does not mean a business supports the plan. Businesses come from active Texas Comptroller sales tax and hotel tax permits, updated October 10, 2026, and are shown if they sit on the route or one block off (hotels, two blocks). Grid drawn square and not to scale; north is up. The final route is subject to City review and, on Wharf Rd, Port of Galveston permission.
Phase one, at a glance
- The fleet
- Four eight seat carts, seven riders and a driver. Three on the road and one wheelchair-accessible cart in reserve
- The route
- One downtown lap, from the port and Cruise Terminal 16 down to Church Street
- The fare
- Free for guests of participating hotels. $10 for the day for everyone else
- The money
- Hotel tax, approved by City Council. One rate of $60 an hour per cart, with the carts included. That comes to about $337,000 a year. The operator owns the carts, so the Park Board buys none
- The schedule
- Three days a week, 12 hours a day, all year
- Who runs it
- A local operator, chosen by competitive proposals and paid only for the hours the carts run
A QR code on every wristband opens a live map of the carts. The reserve cart is wheelchair accessible and covers breakdowns. Luggage lockers are on hold for a later version of the plan. Phase two adds the Seawall route from Pier 21 down 21st to the Galvez and Stewart Beach. The fleet grows on evidence: riders being turned away at the curb are what earn the next cart.
The whole plan · 39 seconds
Luggage lockers · 15 seconds
Two short videos
The whole plan, quickly.
If you have less than a minute, watch the first one. It walks the two routes, the carts, the wristband and the luggage depots, in the order we present them.
The second shows how the luggage lockers work: drop the bags, pay at the locker, then ride the route. Both videos show the earlier Plan Version 1.3, with two routes and luggage lockers. Plan Version 2.0 runs one downtown lap and holds the lockers for later. The plan written out on this page is the current one.
The presentation
The proposal to the Park Board.
Nineteen slides, Plan Version 2.0, October 14, 2026. It opens with the research: what the law allows, who holds the money, and how the Park Board hires. Then it asks the Galveston Park Board of Trustees to vote to ask City Council to add tourist transportation to its hotel tax duties, fund a pilot, and seek proposals from local operators. What we ask each hotel and downtown business for is a letter or a signature saying they would like this to exist. No money, no staff, no contract.
Cart photographs courtesy of Carriage Haus Rentals, Galveston, used with permission. Visitor figures from Tourism Economics, Economic Impact of Visitors to Galveston Island, 2025, published May 2026. Maps drawn from Galveston Central Appraisal District street data. The route follows the City's golf cart rules (Code 34-203) and one-way streets (Code 34-64); the final route is subject to City review and, on Wharf Rd, Port of Galveston permission. Comparable city contracts pay about $37 to $55 per vehicle hour with the city buying the vehicles; the $60 rate includes the carts and the facility. Funding path: Texas Tax Code 351.110; the FY2027 hotel tax contract between the City and the Park Board; Local Government Code 252.021 and 306.038.
Before you answer, be clear on who pays
This does not come out of your property tax.
HOT is the hotel occupancy tax, the money visitors already pay on a hotel room. Texas Tax Code Section 351.110 lets a city spend it on a system that moves tourists from hotels to downtown, other hotels and attractions. That is the money this runs on. No new tax, no general fund, no bond.
What we are talking about
- Four open-air carts, seven riders and a driver, with three on the road and one in reserve
- One downtown lap, three days a week, not city transit
- Free for hotel guests; a $10 all-day wristband for everyone else
- Paid out of hotel tax that visitors already pay
This is not a scientific poll and I will not present it as one. It is a comment card. I read them.
In their words
What neighbors are saying.
From the comment cards on this page. A comment goes up here only when the person who wrote it says it can.
The next one could be yours.
Leave a comment in the card above and check the box that says I can share it.
If you have a front door on this route
One letter is the whole ask.
Three sentences on your letterhead: you support the HOT Route, you would welcome its riders at your door, and you believe it helps your business and the island. It pledges no money, signs no contract, and it is about the HOT Route, not about any candidate.
I will draft it if that is easier. Put it on your paper, change anything you like, and sign it or do not.