SCAT officials, business leaders talk transportation on Longboat

Sarasota County Area Transit is planning to cancel its fixed-route bus service to Longboat Key but wants to stay committed to providing transportation to almost employees and residents who use the service. 

"We’re not proposing to do away with public transportation to the island," said Robert Lewis, interim director of SCAT. "What we're proposing is that Route 18 may not be the most effective way of running that route." 

Business leaders, county officials and town staff met Tuesday to discuss potential alternatives to a planned cancellation of Sarasota County Area Transit Route 18, which runs from downtown Sarasota to Town Center on Longboat Key, an event organized by the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce.

Gail Loefgren, chair of the chamber of commerce, suggested expanding hours of operation so more employees and residents could use the bus later in the evening. She also suggested that education about the bus system could help boost ridership. 

"It's a system of things that are going to work, but whatever we do needs to be educated or else nobody is going to use it," Lewis said. 

Ninety-three employees who work on Longboat Key would lose public-transportation access to the island if SCAT were to cancel its route from Sarasota to the island, according to a survey conducted by the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce.  The Longboat Key Club was the largest of the respondents.

Sarasota County Commissioners decided in February to cut the route as part of a plan to reduce a $5.4 million burden on its general fund. Route 18, which makes 14 round-trips to Longboat Key, costs the county about $140,000 each year. Two other routes were also proposed to be cut, though they originate in Venice.

An average of 62 people ride Route 18 each day, according to SCAT figures.

Route 18 extends between the north end of Longboat Key and downtown Sarasota and makes five stops: at First Street and Lemon Avenue, St. Armands Circle, Mote Marine Laboratory, Harbourside Drive and Bay Isles Parkway.

Manatee County switched its MCAT fixed route bus service to Longboat Key to an on-demand service in 2017 "to create better route efficiencies throughout the system," said spokesman for the county Nick Azzara. 

MCAT serves the portion of Longboat Key from Bay Isles to the north, enabling a possible connection to the SCAT system. The on-demand service requires planning to call a day ahead of a door-to-door ride. Employers can also arrange a ride or reserve a ride at the same daily time frame. Fares are $1.50.