Sarasota County’s Breeze plans single app with digital fares to remove cash barrier
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Summary
Breeze, Sarasota County’s transit department, announced plans for a single app that will combine fixed routes and on‑demand services and add digital fare payment to address cash-only barriers encountered by new riders.
Sarasota County’s Breeze transit service announced plans for an all‑in‑one mobile app that will consolidate fixed routes and on‑demand rides and allow riders to create accounts and pay fares digitally, county marketing lead Miranda Lansdale said.
“ We are very excited to announce plans for an all in 1 app that will not only put our Breeze routes and our Breeze on demand into the same app, but will also introduce the opportunity to pay bus fare, digitally, ” Lansdale said, describing the app’s ability to let users store a credit card to purchase tickets or passes.
The change follows customer research and a 2024 journey‑mapping exercise that found some prospective riders discovered buses were cash‑only only at boarding and missed hourly services after walking to ATMs. Miranda Lansdale said Breeze sees digital payments as a key way to reduce that obstacle and make transit more accessible.
Officials did not provide a public launch date for the app. Lansdale said the app will combine the two existing services—Breeze routes and Breeze on Demand—and introduce account‑based payments but did not offer a rollout timetable or details on which payment vendors or platforms will be used.
For now, riders can find service maps and existing route/app information at scgov.net/breeze; Lansdale said the unified app is intended to supplement those tools and deliver step‑by‑step walking directions, stop information and integrated trip plans.