ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Freebee ended its microtransit service in St. Pete Beach on Wednesday after the city let the half-million contract expire to redirect the funds to infrastructure projects.

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The decision means 22 Freebee employees lost their jobs, while riders lose a transportation option they relied on for seven years to get around the city.

“It’s kind of shocking. It’s disappointing,” said resident Alex Carlberg. “I don’t know anything about the politics involved or why it happened, but, yeah… I’m frustrated.”

Carlberg said he used Freebee to commute to work at least once a week. Freebee driver Kelly Sparra said she was disappointed the service has ended.

“I have a heavy heart. Very sad,” she said. “I know a lot of people really do depend on us.”

According to the city, the most recent Freebee contract cost $536,000, while only 15 percent of residents used the service. Each resident ride cost the city between $14 and $17.

St. Pete Beach Commissioner Jon Maldonado said the city could no longer subsidize the transportation mode and needed to redirect the money to pay for pressing infrastructure needs.

“It was no longer sustainable, given the fiscal challenges that we’ve had recently with infrastructure,” he said. “The capital improvements that we have to get done. It just became one of those items that we really struggled with. We had a lot of community input.”

Maldonado said for him “it’s personal” because he has ridden Freebee and knows some of the employees affected by the decision.

“I sympathize with them. I wish them well,” Maldonado said. “To me it’s not only the loss of an amenity for the community, it’s the loss of jobs.”

St. Pete Beach Fire Chief and Assistant City Manager Adam Poirrier said the city renewed its Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority contract for three months. That contract funds the Suncoast Trolley and paratransit service.

Poirrier said the city is working with PSTA on other transportation options that could be brought back to the commission for approval.

“Maybe even expanding the Suncoast Trolley a little bit further down Golf Boulevard,” he said. “We’re also looking at a potential of buying some resident passes that they can use on PSTA and they can ride anywhere they want in the county.”

Sparra said she had been a Freebee driver for five months and enjoyed the work.

“I’m going to miss it. And I’m going to miss everybody,” she said. “It’s a great company. It’s a really good company. And it’s sad to see it go that they couldn’t find the funding for it.”

Freebee could possibly return in the future if the city is in a better financial position, according to city commissioners.