by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Following the first comprehensive survey of mass-transit users in almost 20 years, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority is proposing changes to several routes in an effort to improve service and meet the needs of current and potential users.
The survey was conducted over several weeks last year and measured the opinions and preferences of more than 40 percent of JTA’s existing customers, according to the final report submitted by Abrams-Cherwony & Associates — a Philadelphia-based transportation consulting firm. Data from the JTA’s recent series of “Transit Talk” meetings was also considered when developing the proposed changes, which will go into effect the first week of September.
According to JTA Service Planning Manager Fred Haley, an average of 36,000 people use city buses each day. Many of them use mass transit options to avoid having to drive in congested traffic or to save money on fuel and/or to eliminate parking costs, particularly those riders who travel back-and-forth to work Downtown.
Haley said based on the survey, “People are saying it’s more convenient for them to ride the bus than drive their cars. We have to make the routes and times fit their needs.”
Haley previously was a mass-transit planner in Corpus Christi, Tex., and said he was surprised by how many people in Jacksonville who have a car available ride buses and described the percentage as “much higher than the national average.”
He said JTA’s goal in making the changes is to make bus service more convenient in order to make mass transit an attractive option to a larger group of consumers and also to eliminate routes with low ridership in order to reduce operating costs.
The P2 Cassat-Edge-wood/Townsend route will be split into two routes and renamed as WS-12 Cassat-Edgewood and AR-3 Townsend-Regency. The new AR-3 route will be extended to Regency Square Mall and the Regency branch public library and Sunday service, which has previously not been available, will also be added.
The J-1 University Park/Mandarin route will also be split into two routes and renamed SS-9 Mandarin and AR-5 Arlington-Regency. The AR-5 will be extended along Ft. Caroline Road and Merrill Road to Wal-Mart and Regency Square in both directions. Service hours will be extended and Sunday service will be added.
The current AR-20 Arlington Connector will be eliminated and replaced with the new AR-3 and AR-5 routes.
R-1 South Beach/FCCJ Station will be renamed the BH-1 South Beach and will no longer make stops at Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s Kent Campus on Roosevelt Boulevard.
Also, the BH-50 South Beach/FCCJ Station route will begin a new express service from JTA Gateway Station on the Northside to the Downtown FCCJ/Rosa Parks Transit Station and to J. Turner Butler Boulevard and A1A. It may eventually extend further to the Sawgrass complex in Ponte Vedra Beach. Four to six trips a day, seven days a week are planned.
There will also be changes to the Airport/Oceanway Ride Request Service, the NS-33 AirJTA shuttle from Downtown to Jacksonville International Airport as well as the R-5 Murray Hill/Regency and S-1 Avenues-Regency routes.
The biggest change commuters will experience — especially those whose routes begin in Arlington and end on the Westside or vice-versa — is that by splitting the routes, the FCCJ Station will become the route terminus. There will not be a short stop at FCCJ Station before the bus continues on its route through Downtown to the rest of the current route. A transfer to another bus will be required to continue or, if they work Downtown, riders can transfer to a trolley or use the Skyway to get as close to where they work as possible.
Haley said the changes will allow JTA to offer “more routes with less travel time and fewer routes that will require connections Downtown. We’re decentralizing the service.”
JTA has scheduled public meetings to give the public the opportunity to see the proposed new routes and provide comments and input. Haley said the first meeting was held Tuesday at FCCJ’s Downtown campus with less than 20 people in attendance.
Two meetings remain on the schedule: today at the Regency Square public library and Tuesday at the University Park public library on University Boulevard near Ft. Caroline Road. Both meetings are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.