Expanded rideshare service begins in Islamorada

The village’s rideshare service is now offering longer daily hours due to a new agreement unanimously approved recently by the Islamorada Village Council.

The new agreement with the Freebee rideshare provider has expanded services to 357 hours a week, an increase of 147 hours.

The service currently carries passengers at no cost to and from destinations inside the village. Service outside the village to nearby Tavernier Towne, Mariners Hospital and the Good Health Clinic was added three years ago.

However, during June’s meeting, Vice Mayor Sharon Mahoney and Village Manager Rob Cole acknowledged that passengers could be charged a fee possibly in September as Monroe County, which recently approved its own agreement with Freebee for service in the Lower Keys, looks to create a county-wide transportation program, which could possibly reduce or eliminate the village’s costs for providing the service.

“We would need to get it out there sooner than later, so we don’t have people freaking out over, now, you’re going to be charged starting September something,” Mahoney said.

Cole agreed that the village could make the public aware before a charge is instituted.

Vehicles in the village’s Freebee fleet continue to include two Telsa X seven-passenger vehicles and one XL van. As of July 1 the three are now operating simultaneously from 7 a.m. to midnight. Previously the vehicles had staggered hours, with one operating from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., the second from noon to 10 p.m. and the third from 2 p.m. to midnight.

The additional hours have increased the cost from $342,500 annually to $553,330; however, the council also approved accepting a Florida Department of Transportation matching grant of $276,665, which will result in a $65,839 annual reduction in spending on Freebee while providing expanded services.

The proposed annual agreement has an option for renewal for two additional one-year periods.