The Bay Runner's Busiest Year Arrives as Its State Grant Runs Out

The free trolley that runs from Main Street over the Ringling Bridge to Ted Sperling Park passed its whole previous year's ridership with two months still to go. Over the same stretch, the city and county started discussing how to run it for less.

The two facts are connected. The Bay Runner, Breeze Transit Route 78, is in the last year of state grant support. At a September joint meeting, Breeze leadership presented a ridership breakdown that shows which trips are most likely to keep the trolley and which could move to a different service. For anyone on Lido Key who uses it to get to the Circle, the Pavilion or South Lido, the details make a difference.

More riders in ten months than in the previous full year

Sarasota County's presentation for the September 18, 2026 city-county joint meeting put Route 78 ridership side by side for two fiscal years.

The monthly averages are simple division of the county's totals. They show fiscal 2026 running at a pace roughly 43% above fiscal 2025, and that's before counting the last two months of the year.

Earlier milestones show how fast that is. The trolley started service on March 2, 2022, with 12 planned stops, according to SRQ Daily. WWSB reported the 250,000th passenger in September 2023, about 18 months after launch. By Your Observer's count, it had given 554,670 free rides from March 2022 through October 2025. At the current pace, a little more than ten months adds about a quarter of that whole total.

The trolley wasn't designed for beachgoers in the first place. It came out of the plan to ease congestion during the U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue roundabout construction, and the 2021 plan was later extended to Lido Beach. A traffic fix for a construction project turned into a regular beach ride.

The grant has one year left

The ridership growth matters because of who pays. Sarasota County's Breeze system has operated the Bay Runner since the City Commission approved the handoff in November 2025, but the City of Sarasota still pays for it. Your Observer reported that the city covers the cost with economic development funds from the citywide business tax, plus $50,000 from the Downtown Improvement District budget.

The Florida Department of Transportation grant is the third funding source, and the city's projections from that time show it running out:

• Fiscal 2026: $371,057 from FDOT
• Fiscal 2027: $259,740 from FDOT
• Fiscal 2028 and after: $0 from FDOT

The September 2026 county presentation narrowed the fiscal 2027 figures. It projected a cost of $935,835, with the $259,740 state grant and a city share listed at $719,133. Those two shares come to more than the projected cost, and the slide marks both the cost and the city share as provisional. It noted two open questions: the trolley contract extension term is still being negotiated, and the FDOT grant could be used up in 9 to 12 months. So the last state money may not last the full fiscal year.

The bridge trip is the one the numbers support

Breeze Director Jane Grogg gave the joint meeting a breakdown of where riders go, and that breakdown points to how the service might change. As Your Observer reported, she said 10% of Bay Runner riders stay east of the Ringling Causeway and another 10% ride without leaving the barrier islands.

"That means about 80% of all the trips are going across the Ringling Bridge. This statistic is leading our thoughts about potential interconnections and efficiency of the whole system. One of the concepts that we're looking at is using the Bay Runner that is always running back and forth on that central corridor, and are there ways to focus the on-demand service along the barrier islands, and then also investigating what's the best way to serve the few trips that are happening downtown."

On Lido Key, that means the most popular trip, from the islands over the bridge to downtown and back, is the one the concept keeps on the trolley. Trips that stay on the islands are the ones that could move to a different service. That includes a ride from a condo near the Pavilion to St. Armands Circle for dinner, or from the Circle down to Ted Sperling Park.

Nothing has been decided yet. Meeting records say the September 18 session included no formal motions or votes. No later decision on routes or funding had been announced as of late October. For now, on-demand service for the islands is an idea being studied, not a schedule.

The two services side by side

Breeze OnDemand already operates on Lido Key, so it's easy to compare what a short island trip costs on each service today. The county's Downtown Sarasota/Lido Key/Longboat Key OnDemand zone covers both ends of the Bay Runner route.

A few things stand out. The trolley runs an hour later than OnDemand on Friday and Saturday nights, and on Sunday evenings it runs until 10 while OnDemand stops at 9. Curb-to-curb service helps with longer walks to a stop, and the county's presentation reports an average OnDemand pickup time of 26 minutes systemwide. The biggest difference is the fare. A trip from the Pavilion to the Circle is free on the Bay Runner today and costs at least $3 on OnDemand, before any companions.

The route has changed before, too. In November 2023, Your Observer reported that the Sunset Drive and Golden Gate Point stop came back after being suspended during the roundabout work, and a Bird Key Park stop was added. Stops have moved when circumstances called for it.

The causeway is getting a transit lane

The other project to watch is on the bridge itself. The Florida Department of Transportation's $12.3 million S.R. 789 project, which started January 5, 2026, covers the stretch from Bird Key Drive to Sunset Drive. It adds dedicated bicycle and transit lanes on the bridge, along with new traffic signals at Sunset Drive, Golden Gate Drive and Bird Key Drive, and the City of Sarasota's notice expects completion in early 2027. The speed limit on the causeway is 35 mph while the work continues.

That lines up with the funding question. The county is studying a plan that keeps the trolley on the bridge corridor, the state is building a transit lane on that same bridge, and the last FDOT grant dollars run through about the same period. If the transit lane opens as scheduled in early 2027, it would serve the route Grogg described: back and forth across the Ringling Bridge, the trip about 80% of riders take.

For Lido Key, the trolley ride to downtown has the strongest support in the numbers. The short trips around the island are the ones under review, and the next city and county budget talks will show whether those stay free.

Getting around without the car is a big part of island life, and Christa Spalding follows the details closely, from the trolley schedule to the causeway timeline. If you're thinking about where on Lido Key or St. Armands a home fits your routine, Christa Spalding would be glad to help you compare locations and how easy they are to get to and from. Let's Connect.