3 min read October 2023 — In an interview with Invest:, Jason Bagley, partner and vice president for strategic growth at electric shuttle operator Circuit, talked about the company’s expansion in South Florida. He also discussed Circuit’s goal to connect more people to mass transportation using electric vehicles and the advantages of its transportation services over vehicle ownership.
What are some of the most important projects and initiatives that Circuit implemented in the past year?
For a quick background, Circuit is an on demand, shared electric shuttle service. We provide short trips within geofenced coverage areas. We hire local W2 Driver Ambassadors and exclusively use EVs. We work with municipalities, transit agencies, BIDs, DDA’s, Private Developers and advertisers to fund the service.
Things started ramping up for us in late 2021 with Brightline relaunching, programs with the WPB DDA and the City of Ft Lauderdale, and other projects in NY, CA, DC. Then we closed an investment round last year and began hiring some really talented people and investing more in technology. This has led to even more rapid growth and while it’s exciting to see the company grow it’s also exciting to see cities and partners pay attention to the transportation, equity, access and environmental issues our solution is helping solve. It has been exciting to see the business grow but also exciting to see the attention the space is getting and the impact our services are making.
What role does Hollywood play in Circuit’s South Florida strategy and what opportunities have you identified in the region?
The success of the Hollywood program has gotten the attention of other cities. Hollywood was a first mover and that program has shown that using on-demand electric vehicles for short trips isn’t just a novelty, it’s an efficient and incredibly cost effective way to move people around downtown.
While every city has unique mobility challenges, one common theme for Circuit is to connect people to larger mass transit and offer an alternative to owning a car (or at least reducing cars needed per household) and replace short trips with shared electric vehicles. About 35% of all rides in the United States are 2 miles or less! That space has traditionally been overlooked in the transportation industry and that is what we look to service.
We hire local driver ambassadors who get to know the riders and can promote and serve the community. We also use the robust data that we collect and share with our partners to make informed decisions to optimize the service.
What areas within Hollywood account for the lion’s share of demand for Circuit’s services?
We have served the east side of town, the Barrier Island and Downtown since April 2019. It is a dense and popular area with plenty of built in demand from the large residential developments, hotels, local business and large-scale conferences and events. Our ridership ranges between 9,000 and 14,000 every month. Along with the $2 fare, we also have ads for local and national brands on those vehicles, which all reduce the net cost of the program to the city.
We just launched on the west side of town last month, so the word is still getting out to the community and demand is increasing week over week.
We are focusing on outreach. Along with city staff, our team has conducted several community events to showcase the service and help educate how to use it.
How does Circuit add to the existing EV-charging infrastructure of the markets where it operates?
We are fully turnkey, so when we start working with a city, hotel, or service partner we typically supply the charging stations and coordinate the install to ensure we have enough capacity to charge that specific fleet. We are now working with many of our partners to have flexible charging stations that could be used for our overnight charging while the service is closed, and opened up to the public during the day.
What financial benefits does using Circuit’s services offer customers over owning their own vehicles?
We offer a free service in most of our markets, which is a huge financial benefit to our riders. In the markets where we charge a fare, it is only $2, which still remains far more affordable than other options. If you factor the costs of owning, insuring, fueling, maintaining and parking a vehicle, our services offer a substantial direct and measurable benefit. More than 30% of our rides are pooled in most of our South Florida markets. This is important because “ride sharing” is different from “ride hailing” in that one actually reduces traffic and congestion.
What initiatives or projects does Circuit have in place to give back to the community?
One of the things I love about the business is that impact is innate in everything we do. Transportation is one of the best investments a city can make — it helps to create jobs, improve economic activity, encourage development, and improve access to other jobs. In our case we’re also using electric vehicles and encouraging shared rides. So, unlike some companies that need to create separate departments for impact or sustainability, impact is part of Circuit’s DNA. We’ve seen this to be especially true in some of the work we’ve done in lower income and/or disadvantaged communities.
For example, along with our regular services we’re also incredibly active in the communities we operate in. For example in South Florida we’ve volunteered our services such as assisting with helping move displaced residents from the recent historic flooding events in Fort Lauderdale, partnering with Feeding South Florida delivering groceries, and getting involved in local parades, events, etc.
In West Dallas, we work with DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) Toyota to support an underserved and disadvantaged community that lacks good connections to mass transit so people can get to work on larger public transit lines. This program has worked as an on-demand connector to other transit as well as to grocery stores and local businesses so that people can easily access basic needs.
That built in flexibility of the service goes a long way.
What is your outlook for Circuit and its operations and ridership in South Florida for the next two to three years?
We’ve built a really great team. We’ve continued to improve our service offerings with new technology solutions, different vehicles for different use cases and fortunately there’s more interest in these types of services than ever before. Add in the support of our partners and we’ve witnessed amazing growth over the last 18 months.
For more information, visit:
