by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“We’re in the business of moving people. We need to know where people need to go and when they need to get there,” said Jacksonville Transportation Authority CEO Michael Blaylock Monday morning at the JTA’s National Transportation Week celebration at the FCCJ/Rosa Parks bus terminal.
The Downtown hub was also the site of one of the first “Transit Talk” surveys that will be conducted by JTA to identify the market’s needs and how mass transit can better serve those who currently use mass transit as well as those who do not.
“We recognize everything is not based on Downtown,” said Blaylock. “We want to redesign the system to take people where they need to go without having to go Downtown or having to transfer to another bus.”
He also said a survey of bus riders was conducted about a year ago and that information will be combined with data collected over the next several weeks at JTA transit hubs, churches and community meetings and through a Web-based poll in order to measure the mass transit opinions of people who don’t currently use the system.
In addition to changing and adding routes, JTA is considering ferries crossing the river, commuter rail service and ways to provide community shuttle buses to create what he called “neighborhood mass transit.” The latest survey is designed to help JTA plan for the future.
“We want to offer choices in terms of transportation needs and we want to get as much public input as we can. Things are changing so fast in Jacksonville, we see this as a way to verify the transportation needs of the market.”
Blaylock was joined by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and State Sen. Tony Hill to recognize five fifth-graders who are the winners of the National Transportation Week “One Nation on the Move” poster contest sponsored by JTA.
Dierdreonna Lomas, Logan Smith and Logan Walker from Richard L. Brown Elementary, J’nay Brinson from George Washington Carver Elementary and Alysia Johnson from St. Pius V Catholic School unveiled their winning posters that are now on display in JTA buses.
One of the latest additions to the JTA fleet, a brand-new $340,000 coach manufactured by Gillig Bus Co. in Heyward, Calif. was also on display at the event.
It is one of eight new buses that will soon be seen on the streets, especially on the route corridors being considered for the Bus Rapid Transit System that is currently under development by JTA. A total of 32 of the new buses will eventually be delivered to replace older inventory in the 174-bus fleet.
In addition to having a more modern look than what’s on the road now, the new buses use low-sulfur diesel fuel and don’t vent much – if any – smoke and fumes during operation or acceleration.
“People will definitely notice a difference,” said Mike Miller, JTA director of external affairs.