Daytona considering free rides in Midtown via systems that use electric vehicles | News

The City of Daytona Beach forking out money to pay for free rides for citizens wanting to go downtown or attend an event such as the Juneteenth Festival?

It sounds like a fantasy, but it could happen in the not-to-distant future. The city is in talks with two services – Freebee and Slidr – to provide a free transportation system in its community redevelopment districts, including Midtown.

Both Freebee and Slidr operate on an app-based platform for shuttle services via electric vehicles. They provide free, on-demand, 100% electric transportation as part of the public transit network of many municipalities, colleges and universities, and private entities. Also, consumers have the option to use their cell phones to call for service.

Freebee, based in Miami, currently operates a fleet of more than 150 electric vehicles in almost 30 municipalities and college campuses within the state of Florida, as well as in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

On the other hand, the footprint of Naples-based Slidr is not as widespread but is growing.

Besides Daytona Beach, the company reportedly is in talks with city officials in Gainesville and Tallahassee. Likewise, a Google search found it on four college campuses – University of North Alabama, Au- burn University, Saint Leo University and Ave Maria University.

Meanwhile, Daytona Beach city staff initially were looking into providing door-to-door transportation to services within the city’s five Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) districts, but found that in many cases, such as Midtown, the providers were not located in the CRA area.

“We can’t go outside the CRA boundaries,” said Michele Toliver, a redevelopment project manager for the city, because the federal government requires that funds be spent within those specific districts.

So, she said, the city is looking at putting together a pilot program utilizing a transportation service that would provide no-cost rides to events in the CRAs.

She also said officials are not sure when they will kick off the program. In the mean-time, city staff has been looking at some of the existing contracts being used by other cities to see if Daytona Beach might be able to piggyback on it.

The Midtown area, specifically Daisy Stocking Park, is one of the sites that the city hopes to draw more visitors following a $2 million upgrade to the venue.

The city’s Midtown Concert series was moved back to the park this year.

“We want to attract people to our city,” Toliver said, noting people come from outside the Midtown community for the concert series.

Reduce transportation woes

Davita Bonner, a member of the Midtown Redevelopment Board, said the board is hopeful it can make life much easier for those who have had transportation challenges.

During a focus group last fall at Bethune-Cookman University, Ken Thomas, director of the city’s redevelopment and community development office, said the city was looking into programs that would provide transportation for residents living in the core areas.

At that time, he said, the city was looking at programs in the South Florida communities of Delray Beach and Hallandale Beach. 

Terrence Moore, city manager of Delray Beach, said they were very satisfied with the Freebee service. The original idea was for Freebee to provide Uber-like service to anyone in that city’s impoverished inner neighborhoods.

Moore said that the service had been so successful that they expanded it to add service in other parts of the city so that tourists could use it to get to the beach, motels or entertainment venues.

In 2019, Freebee replaced Delray’s traditional trolley system, which often carried  more than 1,000 riders per day. Now, six Freebee cars serve between 250 and 400 people per day, according to an article in the Palm Beach Post.

Moore doesn’t foresee any time in the future when they would drop the service. He calls it “a significant investment,” but one they think is worth every penny.

The service may be free for those using it, but Moore said that the city currently pays $800,000 a year to make it available. It should be noted that the city receives revenue from businesses that advertise on the side of Freebee cars.

Faith Phinn, deputy executive director of the Hallandale Beach CRA, said the city’s pilot program, which began in fall 2023, was created to partner businesses with the community. 

Fort Pierce residents and visitors now also enjoy Freebee service  thanks to a partnership between the city and the company. The city launched a one-year pilot program that is funded by the FPRA to connect neighborhoods, amenities and destinations.

City officials in Daytona Beach, meanwhile, have yet to put a price tag on what free transportation could cost but Thomas said a $800,000 yearly price tag is out of the question.

“That is too much to spend on transportation for a year,” he said.

He also noted that if residents living in the CRAs want to use the service to go outside its boundaries, they would most likely have to pay a nominal fee that would have to be determined.

This article was written as part of a special grant program developed by the Solutions Journalism Network.