The Village of Palmetto Bay officially launched its new Freebee Express Park & Ride program on Sept. 19 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Palmetto Bay Park.
Palmetto Bay earlier had inaugurated traditional Freebee on-demand gasless vehicles for rides throughout the village, and now the Freebee Express shuttles will provide free Monday-Friday transportation for morning commuters from the park to the Dadeland South Metrorail Station, with returning service in the evenings.
“We are pleased to launch the village’s second Park and Ride in District 3 utilizing Freebee’s 12-passenger electric vans,” said Mayor Karyn Cunningham. “It is the perfect complement to our existing IBus Park and Ride at St. Richard’s in District 2. What makes this so incredibly unique is our ability to run the Freebee vans along with our IBus along the South Dade Transitway because of a partnership with the county and our commissioner. We will continue to work to find more alternative transit solutions for our residents to move them from their cars to public transportation.”
Besides Mayor Cunningham, the event was attended by Vice Mayor John DuBois, Councilmember Marsha Matson and county and state officials, including Maria Levrant who was representing Miami-Dade District 8 Commissioner and TPO board member Daniella Levine Cava, TPO sirector Aileen Boucle, CITT executive director Javier Betancourt, DTPW director Alice Bravo, and the FDOT’s Nilia Cartaya and Carlos Sarmiento. Jason Spiegel, co-founder of Freebee, also attended.
Palmetto Bay is the only municipality given clearance to utilize the South Dade Transitway for its shuttle programs. The existing Park & Ride at Holy Rosary-St. Richard’s Church also utilizes the transitway.
For information call 305-259-1234.
