Sarasota officials highlight growth and data-driven expansion of Breeze on‑demand service

Breeze Transit officials updated the joint City of Sarasota and Sarasota County boards on the agency’s on‑demand service, reporting that the program has exceeded 1,000,000 rides since its 2021 launch and served 34,000 unique riders.

The presentation by Jane Grodd emphasized that Breeze’s on‑demand service was designed to replace low‑productivity fixed routes and to use savings from discontinued routes to pay for contracted on‑demand trips. "We've exceeded 1,000,000 rides on this service alone, 386,000 last year," Grodd said, and noted the current standard fare is $2 with a $1.50 discounted fare for transportation‑disadvantaged (TD) riders.

Why it matters: commissioners pressed staff for cost and performance detail because the county and city are weighing how fixed routes, Breeze Plus (paratransit), on‑demand and the Bay…