St. Pete Beach is ending its on-demand ride service

St. Pete Beach is preparing to end a city-funded ride service that provides on-demand trips around the beach community, as commissioners look for places to cut spending.

The city’s microtransit program, currently operated by Freebee, allows riders to request door-to-door trips within St. Pete Beach rather than rely on fixed bus routes and stops. The service provides about 4,000 trips a month, but commissioners concluded Tuesday that the city can no longer justify the cost.

City staff came to the Aug. 25 commission meeting seeking direction on whether to continue the program and set a spending limit or discontinue it. Commissioners settled on ending the service, although they did not take a formal vote. Staff said discontinuing the program would end the procurement process underway for a new contract.

The city recently sought bids from companies interested in operating the service. Five responded, with proposals ranging from about $225,000 to more than $1 million. Freebee, the city’s current provider, submitted a proposal around the middle of that range.

The existing program has about 1,200 registered users, although city officials said they do not know how many regularly use it or how many trips are taken by residents rather than visitors. Freebee reports about 4,000 trips per month. After accounting for what riders pay, city staff put the city’s cost at about $17 per trip.

The service began on a much smaller scale. Commissioner Karen Marriott said St. Pete Beach previously paid the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority to run bus service farther south into Pass-a-Grille. After residents objected to buses traveling through the neighborhood, the city reduced that service and used some of the savings for an on-demand transportation option.

Microtransit initially covered a limited stretch of the southern beach before expanding north and eventually into residential neighborhoods. Marriott said the city now has to decide whether continuing to subsidize those rides is worth the expense.

“For me my recommendation would be to discontinue the microtransit program,” Marriott said. “Let’s take that $500,000 and do something else with it.”

Commissioner Chris Maldonado said the decision comes as St. Pete Beach continues dealing with financial pressure from hurricane recovery and problems with its stormwater and sewer systems. He acknowledged the service has supporters but said those competing needs have changed what the city can afford.

“I see my Freebee friends here. I know them in the community, but … we just can’t financially, fiscally, be responsible and say that we supported it at this point,” Maldonado said.

With four residents waiting to speak on the issue, commissioners opened the floor to hear their views. The comments showed some of the divide surrounding a service that riders can summon directly to their homes but that taxpayers subsidize at a substantially higher cost per trip than the city’s PSTA service.

Bonnie Arnold, who said she has lived in St. Pete Beach for 50 years, told commissioners that Freebee provides something she does not believe the city’s other transit options can replace.

“Freebee is a beautiful thing,” Arnold said. “It keeps people basically safe. They can call and be done door to door. PSTA does not do that.”

Arnold said she would be willing to see riders pay more to help preserve the service rather than have the city shoulder its current cost.

Cameron Mazoochi, who lives near the Don CeSar, came down on the other side. He questioned why St. Pete Beach should subsidize Freebee when local companies already provide rides without the same city funding. He pointed specifically to Free Beach Ride, a local transportation company he said he has used himself.

“We should have from day one, let’s look right here in our own community first,” Mazoochi said. “We have companies here.”

Resident Dana Richardson also supported ending the program. She described Freebee as a good service but said that was no longer enough to justify the expense.

“Is it a great product? Sure,” Richardson said. “But it’s very costly and right now we just don’t have the money to spend. Maybe another day in the future, but not now.”

Ending microtransit would not leave St. Pete Beach without public transportation. PSTA operates the SunRunner and Suncoast Beach Trolley in the area, along with PSTA Access, its paratransit service for eligible riders with disabilities.

The city currently pays PSTA about $220,000 annually for service that includes the trolley and PSTA Access. PSTA is seeking about $242,000 for the coming fiscal year. Based on current ridership, officials estimated the city’s subsidy works out to less than $3 per trip, compared with roughly $17 for microtransit.

Commissioners were not ready to accept PSTA’s proposed amount without looking for savings there, too. Marriott suggested asking what level of service the agency could provide for $100,000 while preserving PSTA Access. Commissioners repeatedly distinguished between subsidizing general on-demand rides and maintaining transportation for residents with disabilities who have fewer alternatives.

PSTA has also offered the city another option. For about $4,000 in the first year, St. Pete Beach could receive up to 200 Flamingo fare cards allowing verified residents to ride regular PSTA routes, including the SunRunner and trolley. Commissioners questioned how 200 passes would be distributed when roughly 1,200 people are registered with Freebee, including whether eligibility should be based on need.

The city explored whether someone other than taxpayers might help keep microtransit running. Staff reached out to larger hotels about contributing if St. Pete Beach stopped paying for the program. Staff said the hotels were not interested, in part because they prefer to keep guests on their properties. TradeWinds does separately provide PSTA passes to its employees and guests.

Money for transportation could become available later through two major redevelopment projects. Marriott said previously approved plans for the TradeWinds and Sirata resorts call for a combined $225,000 in annual transportation contributions for five years if the projects move forward. That money could eventually support another microtransit program or expanded bus service.

For now, the city’s budget problems have pushed commissioners toward ending the service. Marriott said that does not mean a future commission could not bring some version of it back.

“If we decide not to move forward with microtransit right now,” Marriott said, “that doesn’t mean that we’re never going to circle back to it.”