Brentwood Electric Rideshare Faces Shutdown as State Grants Expire March 30

BrentwoodGo, the $2.50 electric rideshare that has completed nearly 50,000 trips connecting Brentwood commuters to the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge and Suffolk County Community College, faces a shutdown Sunday when its state funding expires with no replacement secured.

The service, operated by Circuit under the BrentwoodGo brand, launched in September 2024 with backing from a $7 million award Circuit received through NYSERDA's New York Clean Transportation Prize program, funded by LIPA. Running Monday through Friday via the Ride Circuit app, its fleet of six electric vans and one wheelchair-accessible vehicle filled a gap that fixed-route transit has never adequately covered: the last mile between the Brentwood and Deer Park LIRR stations and the sprawling employer campus in Hauppauge. With the March 30 deadline one day away, Circuit and community partners are calling on state and county officials to intervene before service stops entirely.

NYSERDA and Circuit both acknowledged from the program's launch that the award was not designed to permanently fund operations. The stated expectation was that a proven model would attract employer partnerships, municipal subsidies, or expanded fare revenue before the grant ran out. That transition has not materialized, leaving a service that averaged thousands of rides per month facing an abrupt end.

The stakes are concrete at both anchor destinations. Suffolk County Community College, reached by BrentwoodGo from the Brentwood corridor, is primarily a commuter campus where students without cars face serious barriers to getting to class. Melanie Carsch, SCCC's assistant director of sustainability, said at the service's launch that BrentwoodGo saves students time and money while relieving parking pressure. At the Innovation Park, HIA-LI president and CEO Terri Alessi-Miceli called the service a milestone for a park whose dispersed layout, spanning hundreds of businesses across Hauppauge, makes it effectively inaccessible from the LIRR without a car or a ride.

For workers depending on BrentwoodGo, losing the $2.50 fare means paying multiples of that for a standard ride-hail trip from Brentwood station into the park or going without. For lower-income workers, that cost difference can determine whether a shift is worth taking.

The options stakeholders are pursuing include emergency bridge appropriations from NYSERDA or LIPA, direct funding from Suffolk County or the Town of Islip, and accelerated corporate sponsorship deals with Innovation Park employers. Circuit CEO Alexander Esposito described his team at launch as "thrilled to improve access" in Brentwood; preserving that access now falls to elected officials and agency heads who have until Sunday to act.