Barry Zamoff, a homeowner in Venice since 1990, has not owned or driven a car for decades.
His wife never has.
A full-time Sarasota County resident for the past seven years, Zamoff has always relied on the county’s public transportation system – formerly known as SCAT and now called Breeze – to get to everywhere from the grocery store to doctor appointments.
After more than 30 years of paying for a monthly bus pass, Zamoff briefly enjoyed the “over 80 ride free” policy when he became an octogenarian more than four years ago.
In the summer of 2021, Sarasota County eliminated three of the four South County fixed bus routes Zamoff was accustomed to taking, promising its new “On Demand” system would not only fill the gap but provide patrons with a marked improvement in service.
“On Demand” is a ride-hailing system – similar to Uber or Lyft but subsidized in part by the county –whereby customers use an app or place a call to designate a pickup and drop off spot and receive curb-to-curb transportation.
Though the “On Demand” debut had its “ups and downs,” Zamoff, who at the time could still ride for free, chalked them up to the “growing pains of a new service.”
When, two years ago, changes to several aspects of the service were proposed – including elimination of the “over 80” free ride – Zamoff made known his concerns to county commissioners by phone and email.
He would like to have attended the meeting during which commissioners voted on the proposals in person, but it was held at the county commission chambers in Sarasota, which would have required a more than 4-hour roundtrip, with no guarantee of arrival in time for public comment.
Instead, Zamoff watched from home as the county commissioners unanimously passed the changes without so much as a word of discussion.
Over the past year, as the number of “On Demand” users has increased – fueled, Zamoff believes, by former non-public transportation users who have caught on to the cheaper alternative to Uber or Lyft – its reliability has declined precipitously.
“I’ve seen a dramatic fall-off in the quality of service, especially over the past six months,” he said.
“Wait times for rides has gotten appreciably longer and on more than a few occasions, no one has shown up. You can get a ride in 18 minutes on a Wednesday morning or wait an hour and a half Thursday morning. Which makes it very difficult to get to any kind of appointment.”
Zamoff added that the strain on a system that was “supposed to be a viable alternative for people who got their fixed routes taken away is rearing its head more and more.”
Nevertheless, this Tuesday the county commission will vote to double fares for the service, raising the base fare per trip from $2 to $4 beginning in January 2025, with escalations to $5 in 2026 and $6 in 2027. (Those who go through the process of being qualified as “transportation disadvantaged” based on age, disability, or low income, currently pay $1.50 per ride; those rates will double as well.)
The new fares would represent a 100% increase at a time when election results have clearly demonstrated the strain of inflation on people’s pocketbooks, and they will impact some of the most economically vulnerable residents in the county. Breeze data indicate 72% of “On Demand” riders have no available vehicle and two-thirds have a household income below $55,000 a year.
The county says the additional funding is needed to meet the program’s increased demand, adding they also considered – and apparently rejected – alternative approaches to “stabilize the service,” including shrinking service zones, reducing hours of service or finding new funding partners.
Meanwhile, as Sarasota County prepares to charge more, the commission in neighboring Manatee County voted in March to extend an 18-month pilot program which eliminated fares entirely for riders on both its fixed routes and “HANDY” service for the disabled.
As someone trained in research methodology, what bothers Zamoff most is that there has not been a comprehensive, unbiased evaluation of the “On Demand” system performed, rather than just a gathering of statistical data.
While Breeze does track such information as number of rides provided, total revenue and demographics of riders, nothing has been done to gauge contractor competence or customer satisfaction (other than a one-question survey “On Demand” callers are asked to take that allows them only to respond as “satisfied” or “not satisfied,” without further comment).
“How does a commission approve any fare increases, let alone increases of the magnitude proposed, without a statistically sound and thorough evaluation having been conducted?” Zamoff asked.
“You’re hard-pressed to think of any service where the customer is asked for a 100% increase without an improvement in service.”
As he did two years ago, Zamoff has contacted commissioners with suggestions for making the “On Demand” experience more user-friendly – especially for those who, like him, have no other options for transportation – without significantly impacting, and possibly enhancing, revenues.
Among them:
- Reinstating a monthly pass, sold at convenient retail outlets, that would give a cost break to “frequent flyers” who use the service for at least 40 one-way trips a month.
- Dividing areas of service into “zones” and calibrating fares based on the distance of travel. (Right now, the fares are equal regardless of distance.)
- Reinstating the “humane, common sense” policy of allowing senior citizens over 80 to ride for free. (When Zamoff inquired two years ago about what percentage of riders were older than 80, he was told it was a miniscule .04% – which translates to $40 in fares for every $10,000 “On Demand” brings in.)
- And finally, launching a comprehensive evaluation of the entire system before any changes, especially fare hikes, are proposed.
I can count on one hand the times I’ve ridden public transportation here since moving to Sarasota 15 years ago; I’d venture to guess that’s true for most residents.
Despite the addition of shuttles to the beach and airport and a Veo scooter program – all geared toward tourists – Sarasota remains a steadfastly car-centric culture. (I won’t even bother to address the absurd suggestion that less parking will be needed for a new performing arts center on the Bayfront due to “changes in transportation habits.”)
So it’s rather ironic that these fare hikes are likely to result in even fewer people choosing to use public transportation. That may improve the service for those who do, but it certainly doesn’t get us any closer to reducing our vehicle load.
If the county was truly serious about reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality and making our streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, it would be looking at enhancing accessibility to public transport, not discouraging it.
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Considering the commissioners’ 5-0 rubber-stamp votes on previous “On Demand” decisions, Zamoff is not particularly hopeful this time around.
Nevertheless, when the commissioners meet Tuesday in their South County chambers, not far from Zamoff’s home, he plans to be in attendance.
In order to get there by the time the meeting begins at 9 a.m, he plans to start calling for an “On Demand” ride about 7.
Contact Carrie Seidman at[email protected] or 505-238-0392.
This post was originally published on here
