Water Taxi – Downtown Sarasota Transportation Solutions

February 26, 2017 by

The Sarasota City Commission recently voted to conditionally approve a permit for a water taxi and ferry service between Sarasota and Bradenton Beach. Sherman Baldwin, general manager of Paradise Boat Tours, presented the water taxi and ferry plan and applied for a permit under Paradise’s parent company, TevaTan LLC, in early January. On Tuesday, the commission voted to approve the permit application with the following stipulations:

  • The water ferry’s Sarasota embarkation points will be determined within a period of six months from Tuesday; and
  • Baldwin will meet with Sarasota Bayfront 20:20, a long-term planning organization, to assure the Sarasota embarkation points have enough associated parking nearby.

Baldwin’s permit application was two-fold; to allow for a scheduled water ferry service as well as an “Uber-like” water taxi, on call via a mobile app that Baldwin said his company spent “thousands” developing.

Starting the water ferry service with the Bradenton Beach-Sarasota route made the most logistical sense, Baldwin said. “If we have one successful leg, it will make it really easy to justify the risk.”  “There’s a navigational plus to it, too; it’s kind of a straight shot. From the Bridge Street Pier, you can see downtown Sarasota.”

Come fall, Baldwin wants to start more water transport service that would ferry passengers between the downtown Bradenton Riverwalk, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key. Baldwin is also involved in “informal conversations” to help orchestrate a water taxi service in association with the Bradenton Area Convention Center hotel, which is set to break ground on Sept. 18.

Planned Operation
The ferry will run from the Bridge Street Pier to one of three embarkation points in Sarasota. Baldwin provided three suggested points to the Sarasota City Commission, which has the ultimate say in which of the three will be chosen. The possible destinations include the T-dock at O’Leary’s Tiki Bar & Grill, the Marina Jack boat basin, or the Centennial Park boat basin. He favors the Centennial Park option, but for it to work, a sublease must be negotiated under the current lease between the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 84 and the city of Sarasota.

The water taxi service will operate daily at a round-trip ticket cost of $12.50, with passes available for locals who frequently travel between Sarasota and Bradenton Beach. The boat will have air conditioning and heating systems, two restrooms and a small coffee cafe. The seating will be covered, but Baldwin said there will be an outside area for passengers who want to enjoy the sea breeze.

“We don’t have plans right out of the gate to serve alcohol,” Baldwin said, but passengers are allowed to bring their own beverages and food on board.

Paradise Boat Tours
Paradise Boat Tours will celebrate its fifth year in business in June. Baldwin estimates they serve 20,000 passengers per year on 90-minute narrated dolphin-spotting and sightseeing tours.

In an email to the Sarasota City Commission, Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon said TevaTan is “fully authorized to use the Bridge Street Pier, Bradenton Beach as an embarkation point for his Ferry Service.” The Manatee County Tourist Development Council also submitted a letter to the Sarasota City Commission supporting the water taxi.

John Horne, CEO of AMOB on the Pier restaurant, located on Bridge Street, said he’s “proud of what Sherman’s doing.”  “The county has already come up with a free trolley on the island so if we can get people there by water we will have less vehicles on the island and it cuts the traffic down,” Horne said. “I think it’s great to be able to connect Manatee and Sarasota and what better way to do it then across Sarasota Bay.”

Bradenton Herald, February 21, 2017

 

 

Filed Under: Downtown Sarasota Lifestyles, Sarasota Lifestyle Tagged With: , , ,

Innovative Transportation Solution in Downtown Sarasota

February 22, 2017 by

sarasota transportationThe Commission voted to approve a contract with The Gotcha Group, a Charleston, S.C.-based transportation company. The two-year contract will pay up to $338,747.50 to subsidize the private operation, with the goal of making the service self-sustaining by the time the contract is up.

The Gotcha Group will operate a fleet of seven six-seat electric vehicles in the downtown area. A free on-demand service, the boundaries are 14th Street, School Avenue, Mound Street and the bayfront.

  • Users will be able to request rides via a mobile app, phone number or by hailing a vehicle on the road. The city and The Gotcha Group are targeting an average wait time of 5-10 minutes. The service will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

Officials said the transit option is in keeping with the city’s goal of relieving traffic problems by encouraging the use of alternative modes of transportation.

City Chief Planner Steve Stancel said the total subsidy amount could be lower if the free ride service generates more revenue than staff’s initial projections. He expressed confidence the free service would eventually be able to pay for itself. “Their revenue is based on advertisements,” Stancel said. “It can take a couple of years to build those advertisements.”

Although the operator mostly serves college towns, The Gotcha Group Vice President Griffin Blackwelder believes the transit option will be a success in Sarasota. “We’re excited to be here, and we can’t wait to get started,” Blackwelder said.

City Commissioner Susan Chapman asked city staff if they shared Blackwelder’s belief that Sarasota residents would use the service. Stancel, Parking Manager Mark Lyons and Downtown Improvement District Operations Manager John Moran all said they believed the program is set up to succeed.

The company will begin its service within the next two months. In the meantime, city is still working on developing a name for its newest transportation option. Stancel said one option has already been batted around — “S Car Go” — but not everyone involved is enamored with that idea.

More Potential Traffic Solutions in Process

Water Taxi

As the city began investigating the viability of installing a water taxi service linking the mainland to St. Armands and Longboat Key, a private company applied to operate its own ferry between Sarasota and Anna Maria Island.

At the Feb. 21 City Commission meeting, the board is set to consider a proposal from Paradise Boat Tours to operate the ferry service. The transportation option would also allow users to request rides via an on-demand water taxi in Sarasota.

The company currently offers tours, but general manager Sherman Baldwin said the new hourly ferry service would be designed to serve residents who want to avoid driving. “Our service will be focusing on commuters, day-trippers, locals getting around Southwest Florida without the use of a vehicle,” Baldwin said. “We think that’s really important — the tourists will be a bonus.”

Baldwin said Paradise Boat Tours would be prepared to begin operating the ferry and water taxi service within a few weeks of the city’s approval.

Traffic Studies

The Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization has committed funding to a study designed to address the traffic traveling to and from the barrier islands. That study likely won’t be finalized until next year, but officials are hopeful the work will identify short- and long-term solutions.

“This only happens for 11 weeks of the year,” MPO Transportation Planner Colleen McGue said. “The study is looking at the tourist season like it’s a special event — almost like it’s the Super Bowl.”

Visit Sarasota County is conducting its own study to find out what transportation options tourists would like to use. Visit Sarasota President Virginia Haley said visitors generally don’t have the same concerns about traffic as locals, but tourists are still interested in getting around without a car.

Roundabouts

One of the city’s long-term plans for easing congestion is installing a series of roundabouts along U.S. 41.

On Monday, the City Commission approved five agreements with the Florida Department of Transportation pertaining to the first two roundabouts, which will be installed at 10th Street and 14th Street. Construction is expected to begin this fall.

Sarasota Observer, February 8, 2017

Filed Under: Downtown Sarasota Real Estate Tagged With: ,

Sarasota Working on Transportation Downtown and on Siesta Key

December 16, 2016 by

srq-trolley-sarasota transportationCity and county leaders are on the verge of hailing new, creative efforts to reduce traffic congestion in downtown Sarasota and on Siesta Key.

In Sarasota, city leaders are nearing the end of negotiations on a deal to provide seed funding for a new electric-vehicle shuttle service around downtown.

On Siesta Key, Sarasota County Area Transit leaders are accepting bids for a company to provide a new open-air trolley service along the key from the village to Turtle Beach, with numerous stops in between.

If both plans go off without a hitch, free or cheap rides around Main Street and across most of Siesta Key could be available as early as February – ideally encouraging more visitors and local drivers to opt out of their own cars and onto the shuttle or trolley, leaders said last week.

Both ideas are years in the making and both aim to reduce traffic and open more parking spaces by giving visitors more easier, cheaper options than driving themselves to every location across the key and downtown.

“We’re getting so close now that we’re really excited this could be a really good opportunity for everybody,” SCAT spokeswoman Kendra Kiederling said.

City planners and Downtown Improvement District operations manager John Moran are finalizing negotiations this month with electric shuttle vendor Gotcha Ride. The free service would include six to nine, six-seat electric shuttles that could be hailed on a mobile app to ferry residents, visitors and workers around downtown without moving their cars.

To “kick start” the project, the city is preparing to spend $548,000 over the next two years to fund initial operations and set up the shuttles with chargers and parking in the Palm Avenue parking garage, Moran said. After two years, if the pilot program succeeds, Gotcha Ride would fund the operation by selling advertising on the cars – with design modeled after NASCAR race car sponsorships.

Gotcha Ride largely serves college campuses and operates throughout the southeast, including at Florida State University and the University of Florida, according to its website. The group is the second option after Downtowner, a similar company which established its first shuttle service in Delray Beach and is moving into Tampa later this year, decided Sarasota “wasn’t a good fit” for its service, Moran said.

“I hope, fingers crossed, we’re going to have a successful negotiation with this group” Gotcha Ride, Moran said. “They happen to have just ordered 12 vehicles, so they would be ready to go fairly quickly after City Commission approval of the contract.”

Moran hopes to present the contract and pilot program to the City Commission right after the New Year’s, which could bring shuttles to the city as soon as February.

That would be about the earliest that SCAT’s new trolley system could begin operation, too, Kiederling said. The county opened bids for that service late last month and will accept applications essentially through the end of the year.

The trolley concept – in the style of a classic city trolley, not an electric shuttle – has long been sought by the Siesta Key Association and Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce as a means to convert drivers to riders to reduce congestion.

The plan would involve consolidating one of the bus routes on the key now, stretching south along Beach and Midnight Pass roads from the village area to Turtle Beach and back, Kiederling said. The trolley would be active for about six months each year during the tourist season, she added.

“If this comes to fruition, we could get something maybe in February and March,” Kiederling said. “This next spring wouldn’t be the whole season, but we just want to get it out there and try it anyway.”

Herald Tribune December 11, 2016

 

Filed Under: Downtown Sarasota Real Estate, Sarasota Lifestyle Tagged With: , ,

Getting Around – Proposed Sarasota Transportation Alternatives

August 24, 2016 by

Sarasota Traffic Plan Includes Adding 16 Roundabouts

getting aroundOptions for getting around Sarasota could soon evolve from car or bus rides to trips on commuter rails, water taxis and new bike and pedestrian paths.

City planners and engineers presented ideas for alternative transportation at a City Commission workshop Monday afternoon as residents have grown increasingly frustrated with increasing traffic congestion.

In addition to transportation alternatives, city officials also proposed lots of roundabouts as a way to reduce accidents and smooth traffic flow.

City officials want to add 16 roundabouts to Sarasota roads by 2023, including nine in the downtown core. Six would dot U.S. 41 north of Fruitville Road, while one would be on Siesta Drive just east of U.S. 41.

Engineers cited National Cooperative Highway Research Program statistics showing that roundabouts result in a 35 percent reduction of all intersection crashes and a 76 percent reduction in serious injury and fatal crashes.

They also said the traffic circles are safer for pedestrians and reduce rush-hour delays.

The first of the new traffic circles would be built along U.S. 41 at the intersection of 10th Street near the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and at 14th Street near Whitaker Gateway Park by 2017. It could cost more than $42 million to complete all 16.

But the roundabouts are only a piece of the proposed transportation picture. Additional options include:

  • A pilot water taxi service would have stops at Centennial Park, Mote Marine, Siesta Key’s north bridge and Marina Jack. Eventually, if Manatee County agrees, the ferries could take people from Siesta Key’s North Bridge to Holmes Beach, Palmetto and downtown Bradenton.
  • A commuter rail could revive a long dormant north-south railroad track between U.S. 41 and U.S. 301, making stops at the airport and at a future downtown transportation hub near Lime Avenue and Fruitville Road.
  • Fixed-rail street cars — which could cost between $1.3 and $1.9 million — would circulate downtown on one of four routes.
  • Rapid bus transit lines would run along Bee Ridge Road, Fruitville Road, south U.S. 41, north U.S. 41 and along University Parkway and U.S. 301.
  • Trolley routes to the beaches and downtown would also be expanded.

While many of these ideas sound far-off, city officials have been working on a zoning overhaul since 2013.

City Engineer Alex DavisShaw, the city’s engineer, said it could be 2031 before all of the initiatives are completed, if the city approves them.

“Looking at the big picture, the downtown circular and roundabouts on U.S. 41 will be huge game-changers,” DavisShaw said. “Not just the multi-modal forms of transportation, but it will change the way traffic feels in Sarasota.”

But Commissioner Susan Chapman questioned the effectiveness of the measures when compared to the cost.

“I think that’s the whole issue — you have to really plan and actually find out who is going to stop driving to take transit,” Chapman said.

Chapman said she has visited other tourist destinations where visitors often use transportation alternatives. But she added she was unimpressed by how few people used the Lido Key circular trolley on the Fourth of July weekend. The free service shuttled boat race revelers from downtown to Lido Key.

“From what I heard, it was free and people still didn’t use it,” she said.

Herald Tribune July 16, 2016

Filed Under: Downtown Sarasota Condos, Sarasota Lifestyle Tagged With: , ,