{"id":434770,"date":"2026-10-22T12:18:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T12:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/434770\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T12:18:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T12:18:48","slug":"freebee-fills-transit-gaps-across-south-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/434770\/","title":{"rendered":"Freebee fills transit gaps across South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Freebee<\/p>\n

Freebee co-founders Jason Spiegel, left, and Kristopher Kimball with a Freebee car in Miami in 2022.<\/p>\n

Sydney Walsh<\/p>\n

Miami Herald File<\/p>\n

Over recent years, ambitious and headline-grabbing solutions to transportation problems have been unveiled in South Florida, from vertical jet ports<\/a> to autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n

While most have never been rolled out to the public, one low-tech micro-transit project has been quietly succeeding in filing in some public transportation gaps and getting people around their neighborhoods \u2014 for free.<\/p>\n

Almost a decade and a half after launching in Miami Beach with just six electric vehicles, Freebee now operates in more than 50 communities and delivers more than 2 million rides per year. The company was even named one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States by Inc. 5000<\/a> after posting 172% revenue growth over the past three years.<\/p>\n

It all began when two University of Miami graduates remembered how they struggled getting around town and tried to address this gap in the market with a key innovation: free local rides on demand, covered by advertisers.<\/p>\n

\u201c We were doing it more as kind of a novelty,\u201d Freebee co-founder Jason Spiegel told WLRN.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had big brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Verizon pay us to wrap these vehicles. In return, we were able to provide this really cool, free transportation service to the public there. So, it was born out of a need of, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s really not many transit options. What can we do to kinda help fill that gap?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In the advertising deals with Coca-Cola, for example, the cars would promote a drink and passengers could get a free sample<\/a>. Spiegel said there are still cars that offer these sample refreshments today \u2014 you just have to keep an eye out for them.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: West Palm Beach launches $1 electric car service amid rising traffic congestion<\/a><\/p>\n

The projects started as a \u201cflag-down service,\u201d where you had to wave-down a Freebee cart or call the number to catch a ride. In 2015 \u2014 following the examples made by Uber and Lyft \u2014 they launched their app.<\/p>\n

For the first few years, the entire service was primarily funded by the advertising space Freebee would sell on the cars themselves and it didn\u2019t take long for them to expand from South Beach to Brickell.<\/p>\n

But around 2017, Spiegel said that he and fellow co-founder Kris Kimball found the desire for that affordable and accessible transportation took the company in a different direction.<\/p>\n

\u201c We had the village of Key Biscayne reach out to us and they asked us, \u2018Hey, listen, we love what you guys are doing on, in South Beach and Miami Beach there. Could you provide that service to us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Their partnership with Key Biscayne shifted the company model towards government contracts that would fund Freebee like any other public transportation system. It \u201cpivoted many times along the way to kinda get to where it is today as a true public transit service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some things haven\u2019t changed: Freebee doesn\u2019t take people in between cities \u2014 the designated service areas are limited to neighborhoods \u2014 and any ride could have other passengers.<\/p>\n

But some big changes could be coming in the future. As it works to stay relevant in the market place, just last month Freebee merged with autonomous technology company<\/a> Beep.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s in the name\u2019 \"Luis Luis Somoza drives a Freebee near West McIntyre Street in Key Biscayne, Florida, on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021. Matias J. Ocner Miami Herald File <\/p>\n

Freebee has already expanded across the U.S. Southeast to more than 50 municipalities, campuses and business districts, with a fleet of more than 300. Now combined with Beep, the new company will operate in more than 60 communities, and employ nearly 1,000 people.<\/p>\n

In Florida, Freebee cars, carts and vans can be found from the Florida Keys to Lake and Orange counties.<\/p>\n

Elvira Casal, 78, and her husband Tony, 84, spoke with WLRN during a recent Freebee ride in Coral Gables from the Miracle Mile district to their home. The most compelling factor of Freebee for the couple?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in the name: free,\u201d Casal said.<\/p>\n

Casal said she and her husband have been using Freebee since it first came to the city in 2017. The couple said they don\u2019t go out as much as they used to, but that Freebee helps them get from their home to businesses and restaurants on Miracle Mile.<\/p>\n

\u201c It\u2019s very good. It\u2019s very convenient,\u201d Casal said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a great thing. It\u2019s one of the things that I tell my friends about who don\u2019t live in this area. I tell them, \u201cWe have this [and it\u2019s] really an asset for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spiegel said that an experience like the Casals was exactly the goal when Freebee made its contract with Coral Gables.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we get customers to businesses? How do we promote these businesses? And that was one of their main goals in bringing in the service there,\u201d he said. But that\u2019s not the goal for every city.<\/p>\n

In Coral Gables, Freebee does not necessarily solve the \u201clast mile connection,\u201d the journey between transit routes like buses and trains. In other cities however, Spiegel said that Freebee was designed to do just that.<\/p>\n

In Florida City, for example, \u201cwe wanna connect to jobs, we wanna connect to mass transit, the grocery stores, the hospitals,\u201d he explained. \u201cTotally different type of means, but operating in the very same essence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In cases like Miami-Dade County where transit fares will rise by 50 cents next year, affordability remains the top compelling factor when deciding between transit options.<\/p>\n

Some of the different colored electric vehicles part of the Freebee fleet. (5712×4284, AR: 1.3333333333333333)<\/p>\n

Real need for real people \"Pinecrest's Pinecrest’s Freebee shuttle in 2019. Carl Juste Miami Herald File <\/p>\n

Although the company recently merged with an autonomous tech company, driver Ezequiel Rodriguez still feels that for the specific clientele Freebee tends to serve \u2014 especially in Coral Gables \u2014 there is a real need for real people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the case of Freebee, we need human drivers,\u201d said Rodriguez, who drives in seven different cities in South Florida. \u201cWe have a lot of elderly people. We need to help with the walker, with the groceries. A child, we need help with the booster seat, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll our drivers are very good, nice people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

A concern about what autonomous driving might change for drivers like Rodriguez is a real one, however. The self-driving Waymo cars have been testing and operating in Miami for nearly two years. Other robotaxi services like Zoox, Tesla Robotaxis and Beep\u2019s own shuttles are also testing in the Miami area.<\/p>\n

Spiegel said it won\u2019t be launching self-driving Freebee cars any time soon \u2014 but that future does exist down the pipeline. He said the motivation behind the Beep merger at this time is to be \u201cfuture-proof.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c Ultimately, over time, we\u2019re gonna be able to deliver the same services in a much more efficient, safer and cost-effective manner. So that\u2019s really kind of where we see the future of this partnership going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This report was produced by Miami Herald news partner WLRN Public Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Kris Kris Kimball, left, and Jason Spiegel founded Freebee, a free ride-hailing service for short door-to-door hops, in 2012. Miami Herlad File