JTA might end Skyway fares permanently

[Jason]

^ You're teaing us again.....

[jcjohnpaint]

I took the skyway last night from San Marco.  The car was filled and everyone on the train was saying that they would ride it much more if it went into the surrounding communities.  Although it was pretty crappy trying to catch the train back to San Marco at 10 and finding out it was closed. 

[exnewsman]

I took the skyway last night from San Marco.  The car was filled and everyone on the train was saying that they would ride it much more if it went into the surrounding communities.  Although it was pretty crappy trying to catch the train back to San Marco at 10 and finding out it was closed. 

If ridership continues to be strong and downtown continues to rebound - then conversations like expanding the Skyway to other neighborhood then start to make sense again. Question is - will the community as a whole support any expansion?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I took the skyway last night from San Marco.  The car was filled and everyone on the train was saying that they would ride it much more if it went into the surrounding communities.  Although it was pretty crappy trying to catch the train back to San Marco at 10 and finding out it was closed. 

If ridership continues to be strong and downtown continues to rebound - then conversations like expanding the Skyway to other neighborhood then start to make sense again. Question is - will the community as a whole support any expansion?

Funny you should say that.  A lot of us still don't understand the reason for the lack of a leg to the Stadium district.  As you say, IF, ridership continues to be solid, I don't know of a reason why there should be a push to extend the SW down Bay Street using Brown's favorite term, Public/Private.  With Shad Khan looking to 'invest' in Jacksonville, Everbank's tie-in with the city, the Bragan's with the Suns, plus I'm sure there has to be some more Federal money to get....  It seems to be the next step to me based on the amount of private financing that could generated.

[fsujax]

Any extension would require capital investment from the City as well. At the rate Mayor Brown is going we will not be investing anything. We will continue to cut. He doesn't even support the extension of the gas tax.

[jcjohnpaint]

Personally everyone I talk to seems to be more informed of the situation and in support of the skyway or streetcar going into surrounding areas.  A lot of people even ask why extensions have not been done originally.  Personally if I did not frequent MJ I would not know as well. 

[dougskiles]

Any extension would require capital investment from the City as well. At the rate Mayor Brown is going we will not be investing anything. We will continue to cut. He doesn't even support the extension of the gas tax.

This is why we must have a strong person to take the Executive Director's job.  One who can point to personal successes and tell the mayor/council what JTA needs to best serve the city.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

After rereading the article - shouldn't the ridership numbers be daily averages and not monthly totals?

In 2011, 2,061 people went through the turnstiles in February and 2,679 in March.

This year, when the Skyway was free, those numbers increased to 3,132 in February and 3,208 in March.