MANATEE -- They can already be spotted crawling around the cities of Anna Maria Island and Sarasota’s keys. For three nights every week, they are creeping around downtown Sarasota.
And within a year, they’ll likely begin appearing along downtown Bradenton’s 1.5-mile Riverwalk.
They’re called “low-speed vehicles,” and they’re considered an answer to at least three challenges: how to minimize traffic congestion, how to cut down on air pollution, and how to help shoppers and visitors receive the greatest joy out of their surroundings.
“I started The Green Hopper when I realized this area lacks reliable and efficient public transportation,” says Briana O’Brien, owner of The Green Hopper, a four-vehicle fleet that operates in Siesta Key, St. Armands Circle and downtown Sarasota and aims to be in Bradenton by next fall. “I think it’s a positive contribution to the community, and anybody and everybody can benefit from it.”
Hugh Holmes, the southwest Florida representative for South Carolina-based Lightning Bugz, says “the goal is to get people out of their cars.” But traveling in a low-speed vehicle has other benefits.
“You enjoy the vacation, the sky and your surroundings a lot more,” says Holmes, who has 25 vehicles in his fleet. “You get out into the elements.”
A third service, Jonny’s Free Beach Rides, focuses exclusively on Siesta Key with its two-vehicle fleet.
Benjamin Byrd, sustainability manager for Bradenton, said low-speed vehicles may be the “long-term solution” to congested downtown areas -- especially those like Bradenton, which is on the verge of a growth spurt.
“Once the Riverwalk, the Manatee Players and some other renovations going on downtown get going, there will be potential for some parking issues,” Byrd says. “Low-speed vehicles help facilitate travel in the downtown area by getting people access to some outer parking areas that have been neglected.”
The low-speed vehicles come in a few different models, although the GEM from Global Electric is the most popular. They resemble golf carts at first glance, but are actually fully equipped with the basics of a regular vehicle, including full windshields, seatbelts, turn signals and headlights and brake lights. As with any vehicle, a driver must be licensed and insured -- the same Department of Transportation regulations apply to low-speed vehicles.
Their name is derived from the fact that the low-speed vehicles can travel only 25 miles per hour, and only on roads with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less. They generally can travel a range of 14 to 25 miles on golf-cart batteries, which take one to six hours for full charging depending on the charging system used.
Each of southwest Florida’s main low-speed vehicle operations follows drastically different business models. Lightning Bugz focuses mostly on tourists and rents out its vehicles for $100 to $150 a day, or $350 to $475 a week. The Green Hopper, along with Jonny’s Free Beach Rides, provides free rides and earns its money through the sale of ads placed either on the vehicle’s exterior or on television screens installed in the seats.
The two companies also volunteer to help transport attendees at community events, easing traffic and parking congestion. Sometimes they offer their vehicles to police and security forces.
They’re attractive to municipalities, Byrd says, because they are so much less costly than trolley or other public transit systems. The ideal arrangement, Byrd says, would be for a private business to operate the service rather than the city purchasing low-speed vehicles.
The concept has already proven to be accepted and useful in other communities including Tallahassee, Gainesville, Miami, and Auburn, Ga. Sean Flood who founded GOTCHA (Green Operated Transit Carrying Humanity Around) rides along with a friend, has found a receptive clientele on college campuses.
His service now averages about 5,400 rides a month at its three locations, and Flood looks forward to expanding gradually to the country’s other 4,300 college campuses.
Flood says although it’s hard to measure just how much low-speed vehicles help reduce traffic or parking congestion, the service’s greatest benefit is to help today’s young adults be more aware of energy-efficient transportation.
“This generation of college students is really the first generation that believes in sustainability and is starting to see the benefits of living differently,” Flood said. “We’re hoping our clients will start to change how they think about things when they move to larger municipalities and will embrace public transportation.”
