County Commission majority gave go-ahead for that during June budget workshop
Starting Saturday, Nov. 2, the Siesta Key trolley — formally known as the 77 Siesta Islander in the county’s Breeze Transit system — will begin its expanded route off the Key, county staff has announced.
Additionally, a county newsletter says, Route 33 will return; that can be used to link to the trolley’s stops.
And, in the meantime, given the breadth of hurricane damage on south Siesta, county staff is trying to make certain that potential passengers know the trolley is not running south of Stickney Point Road.
The island experienced significant storm surge when Hurricane Helene made its passage close to the Southwest Florida coast in late September. Then, on Oct. 9, Hurricane Milton struck Siesta before making a jink toward the city of Sarasota.
Further, county staff is working to alert residents that the Siesta Key OnDemand transit zone already was closed because of the effects of the storms. It will be ending permanently on Nov. 2.
As Jane Grogg, director of Breeze Transit pointed out to the County Commission during its budget workshops this year, the public interest in the OnDemand service on Siesta lagged well behind that for the other OnDemand zones that the county established a couple of years ago.
In May, Grogg proposed the extension of the Siesta trolley’s route to downtown Sarasota. During research involving the expense per passenger for the OnDemand service on the Key, she noted, her staff found that a county bus route used to have vehicles operating between Turtle Beach, on the south end of the Siesta, and downtown Sarasota. It had “pretty solid ridership,” she told the commissioners: approximately 10,000 people a month.
However, after that route was modified to go no farther than Southgate Mall, Grogg continued, “The ridership significantly dropped …” The reason, she said, was the loss of that downtown connection.
Transit staff also consulted with staff of Visit Sarasota County, the county’s tourism office, Grogg noted. A 2022 study that Visit Sarasota had commissioned found that about approximately 400,000 visitors who were staying on Siesta indicated a desire to visit downtown Sarasota, while 850,000 people in downtown Sarasota wanted to go to the Key. Those figures meant “a significant potential demand pool,” Grogg said.
Thus, she recommended expanding the Siesta trolley’s route to downtown Sarasota.
She showed the board members a slide with a conceptual route that would run the length of Siesta Key, with stops in the Orange and Osprey avenue neighborhoods in Sarasota, a Southside Village/Hillview Avenue stop, a stop at the former Southgate Mall and then a stop in downtown Sarasota.
Staff estimated that the trip between downtown and Siesta Key Village would be approximately 30 minutes, Grogg added.
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger was the first of the board members to express support for the proposal, telling Grogg, “I think it’s a terrific idea …”
During another budget discussion — in June, when the board members were considering Fiscal Year 2025 requests of all departments under their purview — the commissioners ended up voting 3-2 to give Grogg the go-ahead to pursue the expansion of the trolley’s route. Commissioners Neil Rainford and Joe Neunder cast the “No” votes, out of concern about the ultimate expense. However, Grogg expressed optimism that grant funds could help support the extra expense entailed in the longer route.
In response to a News Leader inquiry this week, Transit staff wrote the following in an Oct. 31 email: FDOT “[the Florida Department of Transportation] agreed to provide a grant for 50% ($410,231) of the estimated increase in cost ($820,462) for the extension of the 77 Siesta Islander. The official Public Transit Grant Agreement (PTGA) will be presented to the County Commission on November 19 for their approval. It will then be sent to FDOT for their signature.”