OCEANSIDE

Ridership ramped up as the weeks progressed and word of the service spread, Mangan said. Peak hours were Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Each car had a paid driver and carried up to five passengers. In all, it completed 603 trips.

Ride-share programs are seen by urban planners as a way to reduce traffic, pollution and the need for parking in densely populated neighborhoods. The fall debut was a way to try out the Hoot service before jumping into the busy summer tourist season.

“This is a great concept,” said Economic Development Commission member Heather Manley. “I would be in full support of it.”

Fordx used five new Polaris GEM vehicles, built in Anaheim, for the project. The service area was west of Interstate 5 to the beach, from the harbor south to the Carlsbad border. The rides could be hailed anywhere in the service area using a phone app or by people on the street and were available from 1 to 11 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 8

p.m. on Sundays.

Data collected by the program showed the average trip lasted seven minutes, and about half the trips had more than one passenger, Mangan said.

One of the most popular destinations was the Sunset Market, a Coast Highway street fair held every Thursday evening. Restaurants and bars also were frequent stops.

The vehicles are designed to go no faster than 25 mph, and legally are allowed only to travel on streets with speed limits of 35 mph or less.

Fordx shouldered most of the costs for the pilot program, though the vehicles were parked overnight or when not in use on a city lot near the Civic Center. A second phase of the program is being considered and probably would require a larger share from higher fares or contributions from other participants such as the city or downtown hotels and restaurants, Mangan said.

The program was the only one of its kind in North County, she said. San Diego has a similar ride-sharing program called Circuit, formerly The Free Ride. That service is free to passengers.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com