Boca Raton celebrates the start of a long-awaited, on-demand shuttle service

Gabriella Gaidot drove in a gleaming-new shuttle, the passengers’ hair waving in the wind, as she whisked through downtown Boca Raton on Monday morning.

The shuttle rounded Mizner Park’s curves, incapable of clocking in speeds as high as the sports cars that often line the park at night. But for an electric vehicle compared to a golf cart, 15 mph isn’t too shabby — and it can go as high as 25 mph.

Perhaps it was the lack of windows, controlled by a crank. Or perhaps it was the EV’s small size. But as the GEM buggy (short for “Global Electric Motorcars”) cruised by some of Boca Raton’s most popular restaurants and shops, it made passengers feel as though they were on a joyride.

“I like to call it the beach buggy,” Gaidot said. She is a supervisor for Circuit, the company behind BocaConnect, a brand new on-demand transit service offering rides to people to and from the city’s downtown area for little or no cost.

The city is pinning its hopes on this shuttle service to help transform it into a more interconnected transit corridor, fresh on the heels of other recent offerings such as the Brightline station and plans for more residences, retail spots and restaurants.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, city officials gathered to celebrate the service’s launch. Community Redevelopment Agency Chair Fran Nachlas said the service will “provide the much-needed link to connecting and moving people more easily within the downtown and to and from major places of interest,” such as Boca Raton Museum of Art, Royal Palm Place or the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum.

People gathered to try out rides in the shuttle, which doesn’t have air conditioning. Rather, “the only AC we have is we got to keep moving,” Gaidot said.

The shuttle can fit up to six people, including the driver, comfortably. Full seat belts, rather than just lap belts, are provided.

The rides, which people can now request though the Circuit app, will operate 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Wait times are expected to be 10 minutes or less, which will be achieved by charging for rides that either start or end outside of the city’s downtown and combining rides, similar to ride-sharing.

“Pooling is a tool that we have at our disposal. So we will pool as many rides as we can,” said Jason Bagley, Circuit’s partner and vice president of strategic growth. “In most of our South Florida markets, about 40% of our rides are pools. So there’s a lot of efficiency in that, that we can get people going in the same direction to share the ride.”

BocaConnect’s service area includes the city’s downtown, south of Glades Road, east of Interstate 95, north of the Hillsboro Canal and just slightly west of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Rides to and from the city’s downtown area will be free, but if a ride starts or ends outside of the city’s downtown, then the ride costs $2 per rider with an additional $1 per rider capped at $5 per a one-way ride.

The first two rides can be completely free for riders who use the code: bocaconnect2free on the app.

The shuttle will be used for downtown-only rides, while the other three electric vehicles — two Kia sedans and one Ford electric van — will be used to drop off or pick up people outside of the downtown area.

Circuit already operates transit services in 11 other South Florida cities and has expanded to seven other states.

But Bagley said Circuit had been eyeing Boca Raton for a while.

“The downtown is well defined. There’s a lot of people that want to get in and out of the downtown,” he said, along with “parking challenges, congestion issues and just tremendous focus and growth in the area. That just makes it a really good fit.”

BocaConnect will operate for one year as a pilot program.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker said the city will be receiving live data on the service, which will help with finding ways to improve and expand.

“It’s a really momentous occasion in our movement toward innovation, being bold and having multi-modal options for our residents,” she said.