Resolution No. 2022-16 Conversion Plan to Phase in On-Demand Transportation Services FreeBee LLC - February 1, 2022 CITY OF AVENTURA RESOLUTION NO. 2022-16
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
AVENTURA, FLORIDA, ADOPTING A CONVERSION PLAN TO PHASE
IN ON-DEMAND TRANSPORTATION SERVICES BY EXPANDING THE
SCOPE OF SERVICE TO ENCOMPASS THE ENTIRE CITY;
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL
VEHICLES FROM FREEBEE LLC, THE CURRENT VENDOR, AS PART
OF PHASE ONE OF THE CONVERSION PLAN; PROVIDING FOR
IMPLEMENTATION; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, over the years, the City of Aventura ("City") has provided a circulator
bus system for its residents and has retained consultants to conduct traffic studies to
ensure the City's transit system was operating efficiently, tracking both ridership and local
conditions impacting the bus routes; and
WHEREAS, over the past two years, a new transportation model has emerged,
known as On-Demand Transportation, allowing a rider to travel from point to point within
a pre-determined boundary by using a phone app or direct phone call to request an on-
demand vehicle, which is dispatched to the user's location; and
WHEREAS, in February 2021 , the City received proposals from two on-demand
service providers and entered into a one-year pilot program with FreeBee, LLC
("FreeBee") to provide fully electric buses available to residents in a predetermined zoned
boundary; and
WHEREAS, the pilot program commenced in June 2021 , with ridership and
demand for this service growing steadily; and
WHEREAS, the City Manager is recommending expanding the on-demand service
to the entire City in two phases by continuing to use Freebee's electric buses and to order
electric Tesla vehicles ("SUVs") from the same vendor; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission finds that this Resolution is in the best interest
of the City and its residents.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF AVENTURA, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Recitals Incorporated. That each of the above-stated recitals are
hereby adopted and confirmed.
Section 2. Conversion Plan Approved. That the City Commission hereby
approves the City Manager's Conversion Plan, attached hereto as Exhibit "A" to expand
the scope of on-demand electric transportation service to the entire City in two phases.
Section 3. Purchases Approved. That the City Commission hereby approves
the purchase of four electric Tesla vehicles, as consistent with Phase 1 of the Conversion
City of Aventura Resolution No. 202246
Plan, and two electric buses per consensus of the City Commission at the January 20,
2022 Commission Workshop.
Section 4. City Manager Authorized. That the City Manager is hereby
authorized to take all necessary steps to implement this Resolution.
Section 5. Effective Date. That this Resolution shall become effective upon its
passage.
The foregoing Resolution was offered by Commissioner Shelley, who moved its
adoption. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Landman, and upon being put to
a vote, the vote was as follows:
Commissioner Jonathan Evans Absent
Commissioner Denise Landman Yes
Commissioner Dr. Linda Marks Yes
Commissioner Marc Narotsky Yes
Commissioner Robert Shelley Yes
Vice Mayor Rachel S. Friedland Yes
Mayor Enid Weisman Yes
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 1st day of February, 2022.
' ENID WEISMAN, MAYOR
a
ATTEST:
ELLISA L. HORVA MMC
CITY CLERK
APPROVED AS TO LEGAL SUFFICIENCY:
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CITY ATTORNEY
Page 2 of 2
Exhibit "A"
CITY OF "ENTURA
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
MEMORANDUM
TO: City Commission
FROM: Ronald J. Wasson City Manager er 6_�
DATE: January 14, 2022
SUBJECT: Conversion Plan to On-Demand Transportation Service
(City Manager)
January 20, 2022 City Commission Workshop Agenda Item 5
BACKGROUND
The City of Aventura has over the years provided a circulator bus system for its residents
to allow those who did not drive or wish to use their vehicles to visit shopping areas,
doctors, hospitals, and other locations with limited parking availability. In the early years,
an express bus service was established with limited routes that served three areas of the
City: the north, south, and central. Over the years as ridership increased and demand
increased for more stops to be added to the already established routes, additional buses
were added with the specific design to move residents to anywhere in the City they would
like to go. The Aventura Circulator Bus System became well known in Miami-Dade
County for being a model in local transportation and reducing local vehicle traffic. From
the beginning, all the routes began and ended in the Aventura Mall where riders could
connect with the other circulator buses and arrive at various locations in the City.
In time, the Aventura Mall, with permission from Miami-Dade County Municipal Transit
Division, established a Bus Depot which increased the availability for local ridership to
connect with the Miami-Dade Transit Bus System, giving residents even greater access
to local transportation opportunities. Over the years, outside traffic studies were
conducted by the University of South Florida, Center for Urban Transportation, to ensure
our transit system was operating efficiently and to track ridership and local conditions as
they impacted routes.
Over the past 24 months, however, a new transportation model has emerged. On-
Demand Transportation Service, which allows for a user wishing to go from point A to
point B within a predetermined boundary, to use a phone app or direct phone call to
request an on-demand vehicle, which then is dispatched to the user's location. From there
the user is picked up and ultimately dropped off at the location of their choosing.
In February 2021 the City of Aventura, after receiving proposals from two on-demand
service providers, entered into a one-year pilot project with Freebee LLC, 2312 N. Miami
Avenue, Miami Florida 33127. The agreement was to provide two fully electric vehicles
that would be available to residents in a predetermined zoned boundary, allowing
residents to use the system, develop a ridership base and establish publicity for the new
program. (Total cost $322,953.80 for 12-months of service) The pilot program began to
operate this past June when the new vehicles were delivered and put into service. A six
(6) month review was scheduled to review Freebee operations, ridership, and overall
satisfaction of residents. It was determined at the November Workshop review that
Freebee ridership and the demand for the on-demand transportation service has been
growing steadily and for all intents and purposes was being utilized by the community and
considered successful. The only real negative issue raised was longer wait times at
certain times of the day due to heavy demand, particularly by school children requesting
rides to and from school.
Clearly, as the program has become more popular, intermittent delays and longer wait
times to be picked up have been experienced. After discussing the options with the
Freebee representatives, it was determined to move ahead and plan for expanding the
service to the entire City with the mindset to begin revising/reducing the existing bus
service. Presently the Aventura Circulator Bus Service operates six (6) separate routes
throughout the city, all beginning and terminating at the Aventura Mall Bus Depot. The
preliminary details for moving ahead with this plan of action will be as follows-
On-Demand Service Transportation Action Plan
Phase-1: Initially, the City will begin to transition from the current two (2) vehicle Freebee
On-Demand Service model with existing rules and increase the on-demand vehicles
operating in Aventura to six (6) vehicles (Increase of four (4) vehicles). Once the new
vehicles are delivered to Aventura for operation, the pilot program boundary (Geo-fence)
will be lifted and the entire City will have full access to the on-demand service. The cost
of each new Tesla Vehicle with an operator is $122,239. (Total Cost: $488,956 for four
vehicles) This initial Phase 1 will take approximately 90 to 120 days once the new Tesla
vehicles are deployed. During this period, we will continue to operate the bus system but
launch an aggressive advertising campaign alerting residents of the availability of the new
on-demand transportation service. During this period, we will also be letting residents
also know we will be revising the current bus routes to three (3) express routes which will
continue to service the north, south, and central areas of the City. These buses will
operate on an approximate 30 to 40-minute schedule which will begin and end at the
Aventura Mall. Additionally, the new bus routes will now include some bus stops at the
curbside locations. The circulator buses will generally no longer be entering individual
properties or stopping at individual buildings. (Exceptions for hospital, assisted living
facilities, etc.) The bus stops will be clearly identified with new signage on the street
allowing for faster service. At the end of the 90-Day Phase-1 Period, the new bus routes
will be deployed. By reducing the number of bus routes to three, the City will see an
annual cost saving of approximately $634,000 which will help offset the cost of the new
Freebee on-demand services.
Phase-2: This operational phase will be from 120 to 150 days to evaluate the new bus
routes and the on-demand transportation service as it relates to ridership, demand for
service, wait times, etc. Also, we will be carefully monitoring the ridership of the circulator
buses for the same indicators. It could be reasonably concluded that as the On-Demand
Transportation service becomes more popular, we could anticipate a reduction in
ridership. Over time, staff will review to determine if the bus routes would need to be
revised.
It will be critical to have the following things in place as we begin this phase-
1. Appropriate Signage is in place for the bus stop locations. This is important for
the residents and riders to know where the bus will stop.
2. Information and Advertising: this will be done through literature and pamphlets
to be distributed to each residential building, property manager, Condo
Association, etc. Also, workshops will be scheduled initially with property
managers and building associations. Social Media platforms and our Aventura
Website will also host information sessions regarding the plan and how to access
the new On-Demand Transportation System.
As we are in the Phase-2 review, careful consideration will be to ultimately decide to fully
increase the On-Demand Transportation Vehicles in Aventura from six (6) to ten (10)
electric vehicles which is the recommended number of vehicles to handle all the
transportation needs for residents if the circulator system was significantly reduced.
Please know the goal for the On-Demand Transportation Service is to have the wait time
from the initiation of a ride request to the pick-up to be under 10 minutes. If that number
is achieved, the program will be successful.
If this program is fully implemented, the approximate cost of Phase-1 and Phase-2 would
be as approximately as listed. For budgeting purposes however, I have shown what the
full cost of a new Aventura transportation service would cost over an entire year after fully
implementing Phase-2.
Phase 1:
• $322,953 (Current 2 electric bus vehicles)
• $488,956 (Additional 4 new electric Tesla vehicles)
• $1,269,999 (Operation of current 6 Bus Circulator Routes)
Phase 2:
• $322,953 (Current 2 electric bus vehicles)
• $977,912 (Total 8 electric Tesla Vehicles)
• $634,999 (Operation of 3 Bus Circulator Routes)
Total: $1,935,864 (Net Increase of $665,865)
Note: Efforts to have sponsorships from local businesses will be pursued to help
off-set operational costs.
RECOMMENDATION
At this time, I would recommend having a transportation consultant review our plan,
ascertain our ridership and make any suggested changes for implementation specifically
with regards to reviewing bus stops. The desire to move from a fixed route circulator
system to an integrated On-Demand Transportation Service with a limited fixed route
express service will face some challenges, but if done carefully and with a robust public
awareness campaign, it will be successful. A review of our current system with the focus
of transitioning to a new three bus express route and determining the best and most used
bus stops/destinations would be extremely important to ensure the best operation and
continued use of the bus system.
I would recommend moving forward on initiating Phase 1 of the Action Plan, beginning
with ordering the 4 electric vehicles and beginning the advertising campaign for the On-
Demand Transportation Service. As part of our contract with Freebee, we are allowed to
expand/add additional vehicles as necessary. Due to the lead time of getting the Tesla
vehicles, (60 to 90 days), it would be in our best interest to start that process now. Once
the vehicles are delivered, we could then continue to accumulate more data analysis as
we roll out the program and work through this transition.
Attachments:
Basic 3 Bus Circulator Route Map
3 Months of Ridership Date of Current 6 Bus Routes
RJW/