ST. PETE BEACH — City commissioners have signaled they will stop subsidizing microtransit service such as Freebee next year, directing staff instead to negotiate a Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority contract built mainly around on-demand rides for people with disabilities.
Whether the PSTA board would accept that kind of a la carte menu is another question.
Mandy Edmunds, city resident services director, said staff was seeking direction on the city’s microtransit program and on the scope of PSTA service in the city, which includes the Suncoast Beach Trolley, the SunRunner and PSTA Access.
The city issued a request for proposals and received responses from five microtransit vendors, including the one currently under contract with the city, Edmunds said. Bids ranged from about $225,000 to more than $1 million, though the proposals still must be vetted.
Commissioners were told their options were to keep the current service — with the commission setting a spending ceiling and staff negotiating with PSTA — or to drop microtransit altogether.
PSTA has proposed a $242,000 contract covering service to residents, including PSTA Access, Edmunds said. “That’s a change from 2026, where the prior cost funded the Suncoast Beach Trolley, PSTA Access and the Route 90 bus. PSTA is proposing to eliminate Route 90 in 2027.”
Commissioners have long pressed for ridership numbers. PSTA officials said bus ridership is up 20% over last year. In the past 10 months, 80,728 passengers boarded at 75th Avenue and Boca Ciega Drive, 57,477 at the TradeWinds and 70,231 at County Beach Park. About 15% of total trolley ridership boards in St. Pete Beach, at the southern end of the line.
Extending trolley service to County Beach Park from the 75th Avenue terminus would cost an additional $200,000, bringing the contract to $442,000, PSTA told staff. Pushing it farther south to the Don CeSar would likely add another $200,000, for a total of $642,000.
For $4,000 a month, the city could provide 200 residents with a Flamingo pass, good on the SunRunner and the trolley.
Commissioner Karen Marriott, who represents the city on the PSTA board, said private operators already do the job for less. “There are private services available that can move people around in St. Pete Beach that are much cheaper, per person and per ride, than what we’re paying for microtransit at a $500,000 per year level,” she said.
“Now that we are charging nonresidents to ride on the Freebee, with any group of three or more nonresidents it’s cheaper for them to take an Uber than it is for them to take the Freebee,” she said. “But for me the root of the question for microtransit is should the city be paying to subsidize rides that are very readily available in the private market all day long, seven days a week — or do we not? And if we do at what dollar level.”
“I’m not comfortable with the city providing, or subsidizing, or paying into picking a favorite from private enterprise who can provide the same service,” she told fellow commissioners. “There’s other services in the city that provide similar services ... There’s a lot of options for people getting around.”
Marriott recommended ending the microtransit program. “Let’s take that $500,000 and do something else with it,” she said. The most important piece of the PSTA package, she said, is Access. She urged the city to keep working on the contract and to put a placeholder figure in the budget “while we continue to figure out what we’re doing.”
Commissioner Al Causey suggested asking PSTA what it could deliver for $100,000 rather than the proposed $242,000 — this after commissioners were told it would cost an additional $200,000 just to extend service from the Don CeSar into Pass-a-Grille.
Mayor Scott Tate said bus service for 90,000 riders on the island works out to less than $3 a ride, while Freebee is costing the city about $17 a ride.
Vice Mayor Lisa Robinson sided with Marriott, saying microtransit is not an option for her. She said she would be interested in researching Access service, including from other vendors.
Commissioner Jon Maldonado said he opposes subsidizing Freebee or mass transit but is interested in Access.
Tate called the PSTA UPass and Access interesting alternatives, “and everybody has access to commercially available Ubers, Lyfts and things like that.”
Maldonado asked whether the city had approached hoteliers about sharing the cost.
City Manager Fran Robustelli said she gathered feedback at a monthly hoteliers meeting and “the general tenure of the feedback was they were not interested, because they’d like to keep their guests on site, and that incentivizes their guests leaving these larger resort areas.”
Marriott noted the TradeWinds Resort has its own PSTA contract for its employees and guests.
Staff will now negotiate with PSTA over next year’s service, with an emphasis on rides for people with disabilities. Commissioners will vote on any contract at budget time.