Riverside Avondale Night Trolley Launch This Weekend

[Metro Jacksonville]

Riverside Avondale Night Trolley Launch This Weekend



The Jacksonville Transportation Authority, in cooperation with Riverside Avondale Preservation, launches the Riverside Avondale Night Trolley beginning on January 3rd and 4th, 2014.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-jan-riverside-avondale-night-trolley-launch-this-weekend

[BridgeTroll]

The Night Trolley will run Friday and Saturday nights, from 6:00 pm – 2:00 am, on the first weekend of every month during a trial period running January through June.

Thats it??  First weekend of every month?  I will mark my calender... 

[fieldafm]

The key word is 'trial period'

If ridership is high, the service can be expanded.  If people are apathetic and don't ride, then the service goes away.

It only took three years to get this far after so many have complained that a service like this wasn't available for so long... so its time to put up or shut up

[IrvAdams]

From the hyperlink article:

In order to make the service convenient for choice riders, users can access a route map and track trolley locations in real time via a mobile device by visiting trolley.jaxmob.com.  This is the first time in Jacksonville that riders will have access to real time bus locations, eliminating the stress of worrying about missed busses.

This is cool, can't wait until entire bus system is mobile-device aware. Nice progress for the city. In general, Jacksonville web presence is way above average.

[BridgeTroll]

The key word is 'trial period'

If ridership is high, the service can be expanded.  If people are apathetic and don't ride, then the service goes away.

It only took three years to get this far after so many have complained that a service like this wasn't available for so long... so its time to put up or shut up

I get the "trial period"... but it seems to me if they really wanted a fair trial... it would be every weekend during that timeframe.

[Dog Walker]

The key word is 'trial period'

If ridership is high, the service can be expanded.  If people are apathetic and don't ride, then the service goes away.

It only took three years to get this far after so many have complained that a service like this wasn't available for so long... so its time to put up or shut up

and its a crime that it had to take three years for the transit service to respond to a trial run program requested by a community.

What it really took was a change of leadership.  We now have someone running the agency who doesn't just think that transit is moving poor people around.

[mtraininjax]

What it really took was a change of leadership.  We now have someone running the agency who doesn't just think that transit is moving poor people around.

+1

The new leader has a board of directors he has to respond to as well, and there is a cost to run the buses and those personnel could be used elsewhere in their system, so as others have said, Time to Step Up and get with the program, or it could go away.

[ProjectMaximus]

Technically, there is a one JTA bus line currently using a GPS location setup for cellphones. I think it's from downtown heading east towards the beaches, maybe along atlantic blvd. This is also in its trial phase and if all goes well will roll out to the rest of the system...eventually.

The key word is 'trial period'

If ridership is high, the service can be expanded.  If people are apathetic and don't ride, then the service goes away.

It only took three years to get this far after so many have complained that a service like this wasn't available for so long... so its time to put up or shut up

I get the "trial period"... but it seems to me if they really wanted a fair trial... it would be every weekend during that timeframe.

I see it as an advantage. Being just one weekend a month I think everyone will be amped up to maximize utilization, either to make a point to JTA or to just experience it for the novelty of it all. The difficulty will be in maintaining a decent ridership if the service IS provided every weekend. 

I'm making a point to be there for both reasons I listed above, but if it becomes a weekly service I'd still probably only use it once or twice a month since I don't live in the area.

[BridgeTroll]

Technically, there is a one JTA bus line currently using a GPS location setup for cellphones. I think it's from downtown heading east towards the beaches, maybe along atlantic blvd. This is also in its trial phase and if all goes well will roll out to the rest of the system...eventually.

The key word is 'trial period'

If ridership is high, the service can be expanded.  If people are apathetic and don't ride, then the service goes away.

It only took three years to get this far after so many have complained that a service like this wasn't available for so long... so its time to put up or shut up

I get the "trial period"... but it seems to me if they really wanted a fair trial... it would be every weekend during that timeframe.

I see it as an advantage. Being just one weekend a month I think everyone will be amped up to maximize utilization, either to make a point to JTA or to just experience it for the novelty of it all. The difficulty will be in maintaining a decent ridership if the service IS provided every weekend. 

I'm making a point to be there for both reasons I listed above, but if it becomes a weekly service I'd still probably only use it once or twice a month since I don't live in the area.

Again... isnt that the point of a trial?  If the ride is just a novelty... it is hidden by the once a month experience.  If the objective is to guage the feasibility of a permanent service you would run it every weekend.  Unless of course we dont really care if it is "feasible"...

[ProjectMaximus]

gotcha, i think we're on the same page then, you're just questioning whether JTA is sincere with its "trial" and why we must take such baby steps to begin with.

[marksjax]

Congratulations to Mike, Steven and everyone else involved. I say it's about time JTA got out of their comfort zone and tried something different.
Even though they are still being their stick in mud selves by only offering a once a month deal. What is that all about?
I speak on this subject as a former proposer of such a trolley about 5 or 6 years ago.
We had a meeting with JTA and DVI (pretty sure Steven was there also) to discuss what JTA could do to help the fledgling nightlife on Bay Street and when it was suggested they run a Fri/Sat night trolley from Five Points to San Marco to DT their spokesman, Mike Miller looked at me as though I was from Mars.
Anyway, hope it works out.
It is just too frustrating dealing with these city/state monoliths.

[fieldafm]

Hopefully we can make this successful and expand to serve you downtown, Mark.  That meeting was when Pamela Elms was still at DVI and I remember it well.


It will be a bit chilly tonight, but the trolleys will be warm inside... hope to see many of you out tonight for a successful kickoff!

[mtraininjax]

Would be nice to have then run earlier, so I can go to my favorite watering holes for some passes now!

[ProjectMaximus]

Are these really the only places to purchase a pass? I thought I saw Walgreens at Park and King listed at one point, but no more.

Grassroots Natural Market
Green Man Gourmet
Let Them Eat Cake
Open Road Bicycles
European Street
Brewery District
Intuition Ale Works

[able]

For the record: Walgreen's and Grassroots didn't have them and were unaware they were listed as sellers. However, I was able to secure two day passes at the European Street on Park St.