ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — A free shuttle service on St. Pete Beach may soon charge its non-resident riders.

What You Need To Know

  • St. Pete Beach's Freebee Shuttle service may soon be charging non-residents to ride

  • Discussions by city commissioners have been ongoing as to whether or not charge visitors for the free service

  • Local businesses, who thrive on tourist dollars, say charging travelers could impact what they spend on their trip

  • Commissioners have agreed to give the city manager permission to work with Freebee and a minimum of 30 days to come back with a proposal before the commission

The Freebee Shuttle service launched as a free service for residents and tourists of the area — which is estimated to cost the city about $750,000 a year.

Recently there have been some discussions by the city commission on whether or not to charge visitors for the service, starting at $3.

Local businesses owners, who thrive on tourist dollars, say charging travelers could impact what they spend on their trip.

“Depending on the time of the year, half of our customers are visiting our beautiful beach and the other half are people who live here,” owner of Café Soleil, Lauren Chezaud said.

In her 13 years of business, Chezaud has seen some changes on St. Pete Beach, such as a new building to call home for her business and improved transportation for locals and tourists alike.

“We absolutely love the Freebee Service,” said Chezaud. “We never want that to disappear because it’s been so helpful for not only tourists but people who live here.”

For an area still in recovery mode from back-to-back hurricanes, Chezaud says the beach should be doing everything it can to be as welcoming to guests as possible.

“A lot of the people who use that service are spending money on the small businesses here on the beach. So having to pay for that service, I think, is limiting their budget for their vacation time,” she said. “We should make it a priority to keep that service free so they feel welcome to our beach.”

City commissioners are still discussing the proposal.

Commissioners have agreed to give the city manager permission to work with Freebee to enact a non-resident fee and authorize advertising.

The city manager has a minimum of 30 days to come back with a proposal before the commission.