St. Pete Beach City Council discusses potential ‘Freebee’ shuttle service expansion

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - More data is needed before St. Pete Beach City Council decides whether to move forward with expanding the ‘Freebee’ service.

The company wants to upgrade from a GEM car to Teslas. They believe it’ll increase ridership, decrease wait times and make the drivers and passengers safer.

Christopher Walker, director of personnel for Freebee, says Teslas can go more miles, have air conditioning in the summer and can keep going when there’s rain. He adds the GEM vehicles only go 25 mph, but it’s 35 mph on the beach, meaning it could pose a risk to drivers and passengers.

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He then spoke about charging the vehicles. He said GEM cars get about 60 to 70 miles on full charge, but Teslas get 250 miles depending on the model.

He explained, "probably charge between shifts. If we get in a pinch where ridership is so high, we can utilize the phase three chargers at WaWa. Those charge 10 times as fast".

City Councilor Karen Marriott likes the plan. She said, "from an operation standpoint I can see this to be an improvement in a whole lot of ways. Not the least of which is for the health and safety of the drivers in the summer."

A neighbor hopes the new fleet will be a mix of GEM cars and Teslas. Greg Christopher added, "I would suggest not 100% Teslas. They do have merit, but maybe a mix of the freebees to keep the look of the beach."

‘Freebee’ will return to City Council with data about mileage and differences between both models. Then, council will decide whether to amend the current agreement. They say it’ll be no cost to the city.

The shuttle service started on the beach in 2019. The company says they have four vehicles on the beach now. They tell us they moved 115,000 passengers.

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