Jason Spiegel, Co-Founder & CEO, Freebee

Invest: sat down with Jason Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Freebee, to discuss why microtransit is gaining momentum, how the company partners with municipalities, and what it takes to scale service while keeping costs in check. ” We’re delivering better transit at a lower cost that’s more financially sustainable than many legacy systems that are quickly becoming outdated,” Spiegel said.

What’s driving Freebee’s recent momentum, and how has your strategy evolved as demand has accelerated?

A lot of it comes down to timing in the market. The trajectory of microtransit, the type of service we’ve been building, has evolved significantly and is now proving to be a critical component of the broader public transportation ecosystem.

What’s really driving this shift is what municipalities and transit agencies are experiencing with legacy fixed-route systems. In many cases, those systems are no longer meeting the needs of the communities they’re intended to serve. Agencies are facing rising operating costs, declining ridership, and significant service gaps. Essentially, they’re running transportation systems that are serving fewer people while becoming more expensive to operate, which simply isn’t sustainable.

Our model addresses those challenges in a measurable way. Across many of our programs, municipalities are seeing cost reductions in the range of 20% to 50% compared to previous service models. Additionally, because the service is more flexible and accessible, ridership often increases and we’re able to attract a broader mix of riders.

Another key advantage of microtransit is coverage. Unlike traditional fixed routes that only serve riders along a specific corridor, microtransit allows us to serve larger service areas and reach more people without creating gaps in the network.

Ultimately, we’re delivering better transit at a lower cost, with a model that is far more financially sustainable than many legacy systems that are becoming increasingly outdated. 

How does Freebee integrate with existing public transit systems in Miami, and what role do you see microtransit playing in the broader mobility ecosystem?

Microtransit plays a critical role in the public transit ecosystem because it solves one of the biggest barriers that prevents people from using mass transit in the first place: convenience.

For many people, traditional public transportation simply isn’t practical. You have to get to a bus stop, a MetroRail station, or a train platform. And if you already need to get in your car just to reach transit, most people will simply drive the rest of the way to their destination.

Microtransit changes that equation. With a service like Freebee, we provide true door-to-door transportation, picking riders up where they are and taking them exactly where they need to go. It’s convenient, reliable, cost-effective, and safe, which fundamentally shifts how people think about getting around.

Instead of asking themselves, “Do I need to drive to a park-and-ride and then connect to transit?” people can simply think, “I can take a Freebee and still get where I need to go easily.”

Sometimes that trip is the final destination, and other times it’s a seamless connection into the broader transit network. Either way, we solve the first-mile and last-mile challenge, which is the key piece of the puzzle. If you don’t solve that first step, people default to driving their cars and that’s a big reason cities like Miami have remained so car-centric for so long.

Freebee offers on-demand transportation, and many rides are zero-fare. How do you balance the economics while ensuring operational sustainability and long-term growth?

We don’t generate revenue on a per-ride basis. Whether a municipality chooses to make the service fare-free or charge a small fee is entirely up to them. Today, we operate programs where riders pay a nominal fare and others that are completely free to use.

Our business model is built on recurring service contracts with municipalities, counties, transit agencies, and similar partners. Because of that structure, we’re not dependent on ridership in the same way a per-ride model would be. Of course, we want people to use the service—ridership is how you demonstrate impact and value—but our financial model isn’t tied solely to fare revenue.

Many communities ultimately choose to keep the service fare-free because fare collection typically covers only a small portion of operating costs. In many transit systems, fares recover 10% to 20% of costs at best, and the administrative burden of collecting and enforcing fares can sometimes outweigh the benefit. When we’re able to deliver service at a lower overall cost than what a city was previously paying, it becomes much easier for communities to justify keeping the service accessible to everyone.

Public transportation has never really been designed to be a profit center. It’s meant to be an economic driver for communities. Numerous studies show that transit investment generates a strong return by improving mobility, supporting local businesses, and expanding access to jobs and services. Our focus is on delivering a service that provides real value to the community while creating long-term operational and financial stability for our partners.

You mentioned delivering value beyond point A to point B. What does that look like, and why does it matter to the communities you serve?

Transportation is the foundation, but our platform is designed to do more than simply move someone from point A to point B. We focus on creating value for every stakeholder in the community.

One important piece of that is supporting local businesses. The platform acts as a localized community guide where riders can discover what’s nearby. Local businesses gain visibility within the app, promote their offerings, share deals, and connect with people who are already moving through the area.

Another piece is strengthening communication for municipalities. Cities can use the platform to share public service announcements, updates, and important information with residents in a way that is timely and relevant.

All of these elements add real value for communities and align with the broader purpose of public transit—supporting economic activity and improving quality of life. When you can demonstrate that the service is expanding access, promoting local businesses, and helping municipalities communicate more effectively, you’re building a much stronger case for long-term investment than if you focus only on the number of rides.

How do you approach building and maintaining partnerships with municipalities and agencies, and what lessons have you learned working across different cities?

Every community has different goals. In some places, the focus is on driving economic activity in a downtown core, reducing parking pressure, and helping people move around without constantly repositioning their cars.

In other communities, the priority may be serving specific populations, such as seniors, where the service has to be designed around different mobility needs and behaviors. We’ve learned that success starts with understanding what the stakeholders funding the service are ultimately trying to accomplish.

If you come in with a rigid, one-size-fits-all solution and say, “this is what we do,” you limit your ability to grow. You end up fitting into a narrow box that only works for a small number of communities.

Our approach has been different. We spend time understanding the goals first, and then we design the technology and the service model around what that community is trying to achieve.

Every community has its own geography, demographics, and priorities. That level of customization is what makes these partnerships work and ultimately what makes the service successful once it launches.

When you’re working with a city or agency, what does success look like for them, and how do you prove value?

They want measurable outcomes. Cities and agencies want to understand whether they’re closing service gaps, expanding coverage, and doing it in a financially sustainable way.

We can demonstrate cost reductions and ridership growth, but success is also about reliability, convenience, and who the service is actually reaching. If a community is focused on serving seniors, success may mean ensuring the service is accessible, dependable, and easy to use. If a community is focused on supporting a downtown economy, success might mean reducing congestion, improving parking efficiency, and making it easier for residents and visitors to move around.

Because we operate in partnership with the public sector, the standard is always proof. You have to clearly show what you’re delivering and why it matters, and communicate those outcomes in a way that’s meaningful for the people making the decisions.

As Freebee continues to expand into new markets and service areas, what are the biggest operational challenges you’ve faced, and how is the company addressing them?

People are at the center of it. You have to have the right people behind the wheel, and the right people managing programs across multiple communities. That’s true for any growth business, but it’s especially important when you’re delivering a real-world service that people rely on every day.

Another key piece is being disciplined about how you grow. Our strategy isn’t to enter a market, spend heavily, and hope a contract eventually follows. We secure the contract first. That way, when we launch in a community, the service is generating revenue from day one and we can build the right operational structure around it.

We’re also deliberate about the pace of growth. This didn’t happen overnight. We spent years proving out the model in Florida. The strategy was simple: own Miami, own South Florida, own the state of Florida, and build the systems required to scale while maintaining service quality. Once that foundation was in place, we could begin replicating it in new markets, which is the phase we’re entering now. That patience has been a big part of sustaining quality as we expand.

Looking ahead, are you planning new service types or integrations, including autonomous vehicles?

Autonomous vehicles are certainly part of the future of transportation, and it’s important to stay at the forefront of technology in this space. So yes, it’s something we’re watching closely and actively planning for.

Right now, you’re seeing more progress on autonomy in the robo-taxi world because of the unit economics. Companies like Waymo and Zoox operate primarily in a direct-to-consumer model, which gives them a better path to absorbing the significant investment required for autonomous vehicles and the supporting technology.

However, autonomy still carries substantial costs today, and people often overlook the operational layer needed to run those systems. You still need remote command centers, teams to clean and maintain vehicles, and infrastructure to charge and manage the fleet. When you factor all of that in, the cost of delivering autonomous service today can be significantly higher than what we’re able to provide with our current model.

Over the next five to ten years, those costs will likely come down and begin to align more closely with what municipalities and transit agencies are willing to pay for microtransit. We’re already in conversations and partnerships with autonomous technology companies so that when the economics make sense, we’re ready to integrate autonomy into our fleets. But within public transportation, especially microtransit, the timeline is still several years out because the unit economics need to catch up.