Venice-area 'Breeze' on‑demand service expands ridership; county to consider fare change June 3

Sarasota County transit staff updated the boards on the Breeze family of services, reporting substantial ridership growth for on‑demand and fixed-route connections in the Venice area.

"We passed our 1,000,000 rider mark last year," said Jane Grog, transit director, and she reported that the system provided more than 380,000 rides in 2024. Grog described the Breeze On‑Demand zones (Venice‑Inglewood, Northport, and a downtown Sarasota/Lido/Longboat zone) and said the service is shared‑ride, app‑driven and functions like an Uber/Lyft alternative but with trip‑pooling.

Grog said the on‑demand service was created after a 2018 efficiency review that identified low‑productivity fixed routes; savings from those routes were reinvested to launch on‑demand service in June 2021. She said app adoption is high (about 96% of trips booked via app) and average estimated pickup time last year was about 18 minutes, with a target of 30 minutes or less.

In Venice specifically, the Venice‑Inglewood zone logged more than 20,000 trips in a recent month; the Venice Train Depot averages about 125 boardings per day across two bus routes. Grog said staff are working to transition eligible Breeze Plus paratransit riders into prebooked on‑demand trips to lower per‑trip costs and expand capacity.

Grog also said the county will consider an on‑demand fare change at a June 3 public hearing that would move the base fare from $2 to $3 with an additional $1 per mile up to six miles; she said staff are pursuing software and contracting adjustments to support the change and preserve lower fares for certain programs.

Board members praised the service and asked about fleet size and growth areas. Grog said the contractor currently provides roughly 48–50 on‑demand vehicles across zones and that the contractor partners with Avis to scale vehicle supply as needed.