SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Sarasota County leaders are looking to ride-share services, like Lyft and Uber, to supplement their public bus system.
Katalina Schnub rides Sarasota County buses nearly everyday to get to work. The problem for her is that it takes nearly 90-minutes to get to work.
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“It takes a very long time,” said Schnub.
County leaders are re-examining the current bus routes to make them more efficient. They also are considering teaming up with Uber and Lyft to fill in the gaps.
"If we looked at a route and we knew that the route was really not having much ridership in the night, but we knew there were individuals that needed to get from point A to point B, the commission wants to look at alternatives,” said county leader Robert Lewis.
He said the county would subsidize certain ride-share fares because it would be cheaper than running a nearly empty bus on some routes.
"Public transit doesn’t usually break even, the receipt from the fare box doesn’t usually cover all of the expenses are system is funded by the general fund, property taxes,” said Lewis.
The county commission still needs to review the plan, which will happen in July.
