Trolleys to roll into Five Points

[thelakelander]

Restaurant owners hope to see more customers freed of parking worries



By LARRY HANNAN, The Times-Union

Johnny Hamparsoumian gets a good lunch crowd now at Hovan Mediterranean Gourmet restaurant on Park Street. But he hopes the crowds get better Monday when a new trolley service will be dropping passengers off right outside his front door.
     
Starting Monday, the service will be offered from The Jacksonville Landing downtown to Five Points. The trolley will run weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will pick people up at Water and Laura streets and drop them off at Margaret Street and Riverside Avenue, then loop around to Park Street and right next to Hamparsoumian's restaurant.

A trolley will come around every 10 minutes. People can also get on or off at other trolley and bus stops along Riverside Avenue.

The cost will be 50 cents a ride, but through May 16 the trolley will be free as the Jacksonville Transportation Authority tries to build ridership. Riders can also use their existing bus pass.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050208/met_274561171.shtml

[Jason]

Nice!  Hopefully this line will explode.  Sounds like it could be a winner for the downtown lunch crowd looking for something else to eat but don't want to get in the car.

To be truely successful I think they'll need to extend the hours to catch the dinner and clubbing crowds in 5 points and the Landing.

[RiversideGator]

A few thoughts:
1.  These are not freaking trolleys.  They are old timey looking buses.  The intentional misuse of the word "trolley" by JTA really annoys me.
2.  How is it good for downtown merchants and restaurants to ship to Five Points many of their customers (with the cost of transporting the customers being indirectly paid by the same downtown merchants)?  Five Points is already packed at lunch anyway. 
3.  Why not run this darn thing all the time rather than just at lunchtime?

[blizz01]

It's a start...........

[JeffreyS]

Looks like they where getting lots of action about 11:45.  People stacked up outside of BCBS, Everbank and the other south Brooklyn employers.

[Steve]

Looks like they where getting lots of action about 11:45.  People stacked up outside of BCBS, Everbank and the other south Brooklyn employers.

Well, I must say, I was not on the trolley today, but it actually looks like JTA rolled this one out pretty well. Over the weekend, I noticed that all of the signs were at the stops - and it looked like all of the words on these trolley signs were spelled right.  In addition, the signs were visible from both directions - not just the direction of traffic flow.

[thelakelander]

Good for JTA.  I noticed the new bus stop signs this past weekend as well.

[Ocklawaha]

Hamparsoumian said the novelty of riding the trolleys may help bring people to Five Points. His hope is those people will stop at his restaurant for lunch and like it enough to keep returning.

If this statement wasn't so stupid, I'd get up off the floor and call the guy... "The Novelty of Riding a Trolley?" Reminds me of the time I rode a bull, the damned thing nearly killed me until the Wal-Mart manager ran out the front door and un-plugged it!

JTA earns a C- for this "Thing" at least this one doesn't appear to be built on the PCT frame, and might indeed be a real transit bus. Translation, it won't ride like a turnip truck as the others do, but when the "new" wears off, don't expect huge ridership increases because it's a cardboard trolley... The APTA says tourist ridership will NEVER happen, though some locals may be duluded by it.

Ocklawaha

[JeffreyS]

I do not see the tourist thing happening but it ends right at The villas of St. Johns, 1661, The big retirement building at Memorial park at least three other apt. complexes and the most pedestrian freindly section of town.

They also had a rep at every stop with goodies and a tent with a DJ outside of the riverside Starbucks.  You know the potato chip truck is not ideal but the ridership imo shouldn't be a problem.

[tufsu1]

2.  How is it good for downtown merchants and restaurants to ship to Five Points many of their customers (with the cost of transporting the customers being indirectly paid by the same downtown merchants)?  Five Points is already packed at lunch anyway. 

uhh...maybe because the "trolley" runs in both directions....so it brings Riverside Avenue and 5 Points folks to downtown too!

[Jason]

Good point tufsu1.  There are also plenty of buisnesses and office buildings in between with limited options.

Hopefully this thing takes off and the hours are expanded.

[Webini]

I work on Riverside at Fidelity and I for one am so glad this trolly is operational.  Going to lunch from Fidelity to downtown is a PAIN. To be able to hop on the trolley without dealing with 5 Points' traffic or downtown's parking was great!

Tomorrow, lunch downtown without having to leave early to find parking or pay $2 to park at the landing.

Now, if we can only get this going after ours and during the weekends (or am I'm thinking too hard)

[RiversideGator]

2.  How is it good for downtown merchants and restaurants to ship to Five Points many of their customers (with the cost of transporting the customers being indirectly paid by the same downtown merchants)?  Five Points is already packed at lunch anyway. 

uhh...maybe because the "trolley" runs in both directions....so it brings Riverside Avenue and 5 Points folks to downtown too!

So, you think the traffic will go both ways?  It appears to me that the whole point was to facilitate the transfer of downtowners to Riverside for lunch. 

[RiversideGator]

Correction:  If webini is your standard worker, then maybe this will bring people downtown.  I hope it works either way.

[Jason]

Do the stops have route maps included for wayfinding?