by Bailey White
Staff Writer
An hour is hardly enough time to eat lunch, and it certainly isn’t enough time to drive around looking for a parking spot. While San Marco Square offers several dining options to hungry patrons, the limited parking facilities deter many Northbank workers from choosing the area as their lunch destination.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority, however, is close to finalizing details on its plan to begin servicing the area with three new trolleys in the hope that people will find the service convenient enough to leave their cars at work and take the trolleys into San Marco, reviving lunch hour business.
Sounds great, but will the plan actually work?
Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the San Marco Merchants Association gave business owners a chance to question JTA officials about the progress the trolley service will bring to the area.
Daryl Smith, of JTA’s Service Planning Department, “the mastermind of the San Marco trolley project,” presented the latest trolley plans, including results from a survey JTA conducted which gathered answers from businesses in proximity to the proposed service route and San Marco lunch patrons.
Results showed that over half the people surveyed were at least somewhat interested in the trolley and would be likely to use the trolley at least two times a week.
Most merchants, especially those offering food service, are delighted with the trolley plan, but some who own or run shops in the square are concerned that while the trolley system may help lunch time restaurant business, it will do little to increase patronage in their stores.
Susan Joslyn, who has worked at White’s Book Store for 10 years, said she would like to see the trolley service focus on the business San Marco stores get from downtown hotels.
“I would love to see a hotel shuttle, or a late afternoon route,” she said. “Our busiest days are Saturdays and a lot of our business is from the hotels.”
Joslyn said she and other San Marco store owners have actually driven out-of-town customers back to their hotels when they have not had transportation. While the current plan does not include late afternoon or weekend service, Joslyn sees the trolleys as a positive step.
Paul Mellion of The Write Touch, a store that has been in business in San Marco for over 20 years, spoke in favor of the trolley.
“This plan is getting us started,” said Mellion. “It won’t answer everything at once, but we will be able to go further from this than we would from nothing.”
Larson and Smith agree.
“It is important for people to see the trolley system as part of a larger system. We do provide other forms of reliable transportation to the area,” said Larson, adding JTA will be launching a good-sized marketing campaign which will include area hotels.
Sid Matthews, a police officer who patrols the San Marco area and has become a fixture of the square, said he is excited about the trolley service for a different reason.
“My excitement is in the traffic issues this will alleviate. Anything we can do to eliminate that issue is great,” he said.
Smith presented one proposed trolley route — a loop that would circle the area by two principal corridors of Hendricks Avenue and San Marco Boulevard.
The proposed route is only tentative because JTA is considering whether a loop is the best option.
“The advantage of the loop is that it is easy to understand,” said Smith.
However, a problem facing San Marco traffic is the frequent railroad crossings that often have cars stopped for longer than 10 minutes.
Another proposed route does not loop, and includes a recovery time of five minutes at each end of the line.
“This would allow us to provide service to at least a portion of the area while trains are crossing and would help get us back on schedule faster,” said Smith.
Smith asked merchants to mark areas of the map where they would like to see stops.
As of now, the new trolley lines are schedule to run by mid- or late February.
“It is all contingent on the delivery of the trolleys,” said Larson. “The manufacturers are supposed to get the three new trolleys to us by the first of February.”
The trolleys are scheduled to run Monday-Friday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. with stops every 10 minutes.
Other topics discussed at the meeting included:
• Doug Layton from the Better Jacksonville Committee presented the latest developments for the Hendricks Avenue Road improvements. Plans include decorative sidewalks and crosswalks, underground utilities and traffic signals on modern looking mast arms.
• Merchants discussed the extended hours of shops during holiday season. Starting this week, many stores will be open until 8 p.m on Thursday and Friday nights.
• Tony Allegretti, director of marketing for TheatreJax, announced the success of the recent production of Twelfth Night. “The past three weekends were sold out performances,” he said.