by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
A thunderstorm late Monday afternoon caused an unexpected problem for Skyway riders.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority Operations Center was stuck by lightening, causing a breakdown in communication between the trains.
“We’re still working through it,” said Maria Williams, manager of marketing development for JTA. “It’s important to understand, however, that the operation center was struck. That was where the malfunction was. Not with any trains.”
Williams was unable to say when service would be restored, but added the JTA was “working to have it working by the end of the day [Tuesday].”
Passengers aboard the Skyway when the operations center was hit, were dropped off at their usual stops before trains were stopped. Williams said bus service would be in place until communications are restored.
“The trains are running fine,” she said. “But as a safety precaution we need to be able to communicate with them if there happened to be any kind of problem.”