Manhattan Beach replaced its fixed bus routes with an on-demand electric shuttle service that takes riders anywhere in the city for a flat $5. The new service, called Wave Rider, launched June 4 in partnership with Circuit Transit and is running as a six-month pilot timed to overlap with the FIFA World Cup at nearby SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

There are no set stops and no schedules. Riders open the Circuit app, enter a destination, and a driver comes to them, point to point. Rides stay within Manhattan Beach city limits, with one exception: riders can connect to the Metro K Line at Douglas Station in El Segundo.

"It's from your home to where you want to go and back again," said Erik Zandvliet, Manhattan Beach city traffic engineer. "There are shorter wait times, it's app-based — similar to Uber and Lyft — and it's less expensive."

The fleet includes five electric vehicles: two compact neighborhood EVs covering denser commercial areas west of Sepulveda Boulevard, two standard electric sedans for broader citywide coverage, and one wheelchair-accessible van. Some rides are shared with other passengers heading in a similar direction; others are direct.

Hours run 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Adults 55 and older pay a reduced $2.50 fare.

The Manhattan Beach City Council approved the pilot on April 7 in partnership with Circuit Transit. The program is funded entirely through the city's Proposition A Local Return account, a restricted transit fund, not the general fund. The Daily Breeze reported that city officials touted the launch as timed ahead of the World Cup, which runs June 11 through July 19, anticipating the shuttles would serve local crowds visiting the beach cities during the tournament.

The pilot targets trips that are too long to walk but too short to justify driving: errands, beach visits, local dining. The goal, according to city records, is to test whether flexible, app-based transit can reduce short car trips in a community where driving remains the dominant mode of transportation.

Circuit Transit will provide the city with real-time ridership data throughout the trial, tracking peak demand times, popular pickup and drop-off points, and rider demographics. That data will feed a staff report to the City Council at the end of the six-month period, around December 2026, when council members will vote on whether to extend, modify, or end the program.