This item is being presented to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee as a status update.

On May 17, 2017, the City Commission discussed on-demand transportation service to low-demand areas. As a result of the discussion, the City Commission directed the Administration to pursue the service at no cost to the City.

In response to City Commission direction, Request for Letters of Interest (RFLOI) for On-Demand Transit Service was issued in February 2018, and responses were received from three firms on March 2, 2018. The goal of the solicitation was to explore a potential partnership with a vendor that would, at no cost to the City, provide “first mile/last mile” on-demand transportation service to areas underserved by Miami-Dade County bus service and not served by City’s trolley service. The Transportation and Procurement Departments reviewed the responses received and determined that none of the firms could provide the service at no charge to passengers or without a City subsidy as required by the RFLOI; thus, all three firms were deemed non-responsive.

In early 2019, the City’s Transportation Department was able to identify funding for a four month on-demand transit service pilot program during the current fiscal year. Following a competitive solicitation, the pilot program operated by Freebee was launched on Friday, May 31, 2019 and it is set to operate until Monday, September 30, 2019, serving portions of Middle Beach. The pilot program service provides first mile/last mile service connecting to the existing Miami Beach Trolley and Miami-Dade County Bus service within the geo-fenced service area and door-to-door service for trips originating and ending within the geo-fenced service area. The service operates as an eco-friendly vanpool, dynamically adjusting vehicle routing to appropriately meet ridership demand and service needs within the service area. The service operates from 6:30am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and from 8:30am to 10pm on Sundays. Attachment A depicts the current service area.

Potential implementation of permanent on-demand transit service was subject to the effectiveness of the pilot program and approval of a Fiscal Year 2019/2020 budget enhancement. At this time, funding has not been secured for implementation of permanent service.

The FY 2019/20 budget enhancement request for permanent implementation of on-demand transit service is $298,000 per year which would allow for operation of two vehicles, 14 hours a day from Monday to Saturday and 12 hours per day on Sundays, while not allowing any advertising on the vehicles. Should advertising be allowed on the exterior of the vehicles to off-set some of the operating costs, the enhancement amount would be approximately $207,000 per year for operation of two (2) vehicles.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 CITY COMMISSION MEETING

At its September 11, 2019 meeting, the City Commission discussed continuation of Mid-Beach Freebee On-Demand Transit Service and passed a motion directing the Administration to 1) extend the pilot program through October 31, 2019; 2) add two more vehicles to the service (for a total of three vehicles in service); and 3) allow advertising on the vehicles in service to offset some of the operating cost to the City. The City Commission requested to review and approve the advertising content prior to installation and referred the item to the September 20, 2019 Finance and Citywide Projects Committee meeting. The one-month extension of the pilot program will allow for more data to be gathered and a more thorough assessment of the pilot program since there was an increase in demand once the school year commenced. 

Pilot Program Metrics

Below is the summary of performance metrics for the ongoing pilot program from its commencement on May 31 through September 8 of this year.

·         Total completed rides: 2,984

·         Total transported passengers: 4,891

·         Average daily ridership: 49

·         Maximum daily ridership: 84

·         Average cost per passenger: $8.30/passenger

·         Average wait time: 14.47 minutes

·         Average vehicle occupancy: 1.6 passengers/trip

·         Vehicle utilizations (measured as percentage of time vehicle spent serving trip over the total service hours): 67%

·         Number of cancellations: 1,451

·         Male passengers: 1,901

·         Female Passengers: 2,990

·         96% satisfaction based on feedback from actual riders

·         Based on on-board passenger survey:

o   If on-demand transit service was not provided, 44% of the passengers would conduct this trip by personal vehicle

o   57% of the passengers used it for leisure/recreation (including school-related trips), 26% for commuting to work, 6% for religious, and 5% for healthcare

·         GHG emissions reduction during the pilot period (5/31/19 – 9/8/2019) of 0.91 MT CO₂e, equivalent to:

o   the GHG emissions avoided by switching 35 incandescent lamps to LEDs

o   the carbon absorbed by 1.1 acres of U.S. forests in one year

o   the CO₂ emissions produced from charging 116,036 smartphones

Based on staff analysis of the first 100 days of operation, the pilot on-demand transit service ridership has grown from 243 passengers during the first week to 375 passengers during the last week of August included in this analysis (54% increase).

While average service cost per passenger is significantly lower for trolley service at approximately $2.20, on-demand service provides a more cost-effective way of providing public transit service to low-demand residential areas such as Middle Beach which consists mostly of single-family homes and has little to no fixed transit service.  For example, expanding the city’s trolley service to this area would be cost-prohibitive as it would result in a much higher operating cost to the City and cost per passenger (as compared to the current on-demand service).

It is important to note that the current average cost per passenger of $8.30 is comparable with Town of Miami Lakes ($9.20/passenger) and Village of Pinecrest ($8.80/passenger) where Freebee provides similar service, and, per Freebee staff, service area and number of vehicles are comparable to our pilot program.

Given the constraints of only one vehicle in operation at any time serving a rather large service area, a challenge has been balancing the high ridership demand (number of ride requests) and customer expectations in terms of wait times, hence the high number of cancelled trips.

Additional metrics including passenger age groups, detailed breakdown of ridership per day, number of requests and number of rides provided, heat maps of pick-up and drop-off locations as well as survey results for the same evaluation period are included in Attachment B.

Advertising on Vehicles

Pursuant to City Commission direction at the September 11, 2019 meeting, during the remainder of the pilot program, to offset some of the operating cost to the City, Freebee will have a right to solicit and sell advertising to be installed on vehicles. Prior to installation of any ads, Freebee is required to submit the advertisement content to the City for review and approval.

Any advertising revenue generated from the sale of advertising on the vehicles will be shared equally between the City and Freebee, with each entitled to 50% of advertising revenue that is generated and received by Freebee.

Continuation of Service

The current pilot program is set to operate until October 31, 2019. Continuation of the program beyond October 31 is subject to the City Commission approval, funding appropriation and would require a new competitive solicitation process for securing similar service, unless the City Commission approves a waiver of competitive bidding which would ensure no gap in service.

The on-demand transit pilot program has been very well accepted by the Mid-Beach community with 96% satisfaction based on passenger surveys.  More importantly, the service has provided Mid-Beach residents an eco-friendly mobility option that does not produce tailpipe emissions, and it has helped connect residents in this underserved/low-demand area of the City to existing trolley and bus services. 

The current pilot program was initiated during the summer, thus, the ridership figures do not account for the anticipated increase in demand during our high impact period. Staff is confident that during the remainder of the extended pilot program and with three Freebee vehicles in service, demand, vehicle utilization, and daily ridership will continue to grow as a result of higher demand while number of trip cancellations will decrease due to higher supply. Higher ridership will help reduce the current average cost per passenger of $8.30.

Staff is currently working on amending the agreement with Freebee that will allow for extension of pilot program to October 31, placing three vehicles in service, and enabling for advertisement on vehicles, pursuant to direction of the City Commission on September 11, 2019.

An interim report and update on the pilot program will be provided at the October 16, 2019 City Commission meeting.