by David Chapman
Staff Writer
If public transportation projects were judged by ridership numbers alone, bringing back the Beaches Trolley service would be a no-brainer.
Last year’s pilot project was funded largely by a Jacksonville Transit Authority $100,000 grant along with numerous $500 sponsorships from Beaches area businesses.
The 10-week summer service ran each weekend from the last weekend in June through Labor Day. There was no fare and routes ran between the South Beach Regional Shopping Center at A1A and J. Turner Butler Boulevard and the Town Center on Atlantic Boulevard.
Jacksonville Transit Authority estimated 1,400 would ride the service each weekend but the final numbers proved to be much more telling: nearly 33,000 people took advantage of the service. Those numbers reflect only nine weeks of service, as Tropical Storm Fay caused a closure during the last weekend in August.
“Absolutely shattered them,” said City Council member Art Graham, referring to the projected numbers compared with final figures.
But there is no grant for the service this year and it takes more than riders to make the service run.
Additionally, due to its overwhelming success, Graham would like to see the service expanded from 10 weeks to 22 weeks and begin the first weekend in April and go through Labor Day.
An early estimate to run the service next: $200,000.
“Everyone understands it’s a ‘like to have’ not a ‘need to have,’” said Graham, during a recent meeting with Council member Kevin Hyde, “but based on its success, I believe it’s worth trying to bring back.”
Graham represents the Beaches districts and has formed a 12-person task force who will look into potential ways to fund the service. At a recent one-on-one meeting with Graham, Hyde agreed to head the task force.
“The demand is definitely there,” said Hyde during the meeting. “Now it’s just a matter of seeing if it can work.”
The first meeting was Tuesday at the Jacksonville Beach Community Center and things went well according to one task force member.
“It was a terrific meeting and a good start,” said Kurtis Loftus, owner of Jacksonville Beach-based advertising and public relations firm, The Kurtis Group. “The first few minutes of course were introductions but after that we got right into it.”
Loftus has been a big proponent of the service and helped with advertising materials during last year’s run.
During the first meeting, Loftus said that ways to generate revenue for funding and ways to whittle down the $200,000 price tag were discussed.
Restructuring trolley hours – originally 6 p.m. Friday – 2 a.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. Saturday – 2 a.m. Sunday and 11 a.m.– 7 p.m. Sunday – is a potential option, as is eliminating Sundays altogether. Numbers show ridership was weakest Sundays.
Loftus also noted the idea of a fare or season-long pass that could cut into overall costs.
During Graham’s one-on-one with Hyde, he referenced a survey that showed that people were still enthusiastic about riding the trolley even at a 50 cents per trip cost. The key to a potential fare, noted Graham, was finding an amount people would be willing to pay without taking away from ridership. Both Graham and Hyde agreed, and referenced the continued ridership success of the Riverside Trolley service and its 50 cent per ride fare.
“I think everyone realizes that it’s got to go that way,” said Loftus. “With the price what it is, it needs to be part of the way it’s funded.”
Though discussed at the task force meeting, the idea of extending routes or taking wait time to anything beyond the original 10–15 minutes was discouraged, said Loftus.
“One of the big things we’d like to do and Art (Graham) has mentioned is to keep wait time down and keep it convenient,” said Loftus.
Realistically, he believes that the $200,000 price tag needs to be whittled to the $120,000–$130,000 range and will need revenue from its ridership and a few major sponsors and/or advertisers.
Loftus is optimistic about the local business community’s efforts, though, as last year’s window to involve the community was just a couple of weeks long. This time, there’s more time for discussion on local business involvement.
“We just ran out of time last time,” he said. “After time ran out, we still had business owners who wanted to do something.”
Loftus, like Graham and Hyde previously, sees the success of the service and wants to continue to find a way to make it a Beaches annual fixture.
“We’re (task force, Council members) in agreement that this thing is successful and needs to go again,” said Loftus. “But it’s just a matter of seeing if it’s financially feasible.”
A look back: success by the numbers
The Beaches Trolley pilot service that ran from late June–Labor Day “absolutely shattered” initial ridership projections, said Council Member Art Graham. Mike Miller, Jacksonville Transit Authority director of external affairs, also called the service’s run very successful in terms of ridership.
Month-to-date performance
Busiest ridership weekend Aug. 1–3
Note: Each individual day was the busiest of its run.
Statistics provided by Jacksonville Transit Authority
356-2466