Jane Crogg, Sarasota County’s transit director, briefed the joint meeting on Breeze Transit services serving Longboat Key, Lido and St. Armands and outlined a plan to consolidate demand‑response services to improve efficiency.

Crogg said the county’s on‑demand service offers curb‑to‑curb shared rides with sub‑20‑minute ETAs and that 65% of on‑demand trips are shared. "Sixty‑five percent of these trips are shared," she said, describing the batching and dynamic pickup model that improves efficiency. Crogg added that within the Longboat/Lido zone, 92% of on‑demand trips cross the Ringling Bridge, reflecting heavy travel between the islands and downtown Sarasota.

Crogg explained BreezePlus, the ADA/eligible service, as a higher‑touch program requiring certification and higher per‑trip costs. She said about 144,000 BreezePlus trips occurred in fiscal year 2025 and that the county had piloted moving some transportation‑disadvantaged trips into on‑demand service to lower costs: Crogg reported per‑trip cost reductions from roughly $54 on BreezePlus to $27 on on‑demand in an October 2024 comparison.

The transit director described evacuation and storm‑recovery work from last season: Breeze provided almost 2,000 evacuation trips and operated a local circulator after Hurricane Helene to move residents to points of distribution.

To reduce redundancies and administrative overhead, Crogg said the county will pursue a single provider and software platform for demand‑response services and that the Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to consider the software and provider contracts in December, with an operational transition in April. She said riders and eligible users should see minimal change to the user experience and that the consolidated platform would offer a single app, a unified call center and real‑time vehicle locators.

Commissioners asked about ties to emergency registries and airport/trolley connections. Crogg confirmed existing coordination: the county uses Everbridge to contact pre‑registered residents for evacuation and is discussing integration and coordination with the Bay Runner trolley operated by the City of Sarasota.

The transcript records the presentation and Q&A; no procurement decision was approved during this meeting.