JTA: New System. New Routes. New Way.

[IrvAdams]

I tested the PC-based system, the text-based information system and the call-in system. Do they have an app for the smartphone? I have Android, and I saw lots and lots of 'nextbus' apps from all over the world, but was wondering if there's one specific to JTA?

[ChipCharge]

I just tried the generic NextBus app for Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextbus.mobile

It works perfectly. It decided that the nearest stop for the AR6 from where my phone is (Riverside) is Rosa Parks, as it is.

The buses will be free Dec 1-6 to celebrate the new routing/timing:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/metrobus-partners-with-jacksonville-transportation-authority/23623254

[exnewsman]

I just tried the generic NextBus app for Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextbus.mobile

It works perfectly. It decided that the nearest stop for the AR6 from where my phone is (Riverside) is Rosa Parks, as it is.

The buses will be free Dec 1-6 to celebrate the new routing/timing:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/metrobus-partners-with-jacksonville-transportation-authority/23623254

The buses will be free Dec. 1-5 (not 6)

[ChipCharge]

I just tried the generic NextBus app for Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextbus.mobile

It works perfectly. It decided that the nearest stop for the AR6 from where my phone is (Riverside) is Rosa Parks, as it is.

The buses will be free Dec 1-6 to celebrate the new routing/timing:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/metrobus-partners-with-jacksonville-transportation-authority/23623254

The buses will be free Dec. 1-5 (not 6)

I got the date wrong, and the link wrong (!!). Those errors cancel out, right?

http://www.jtafla.com/News/showPage.aspx?news=383

[Ocklawaha]

$26,525,000 dollars for one station and some relays, could easily build 3-5 miles of bare minimum (Kenosha Model) heritage streetcar. We could connect the stadium with 5-Points but there is absolutely no desire on the part of JTA to actually implement fixed rail transit.



The system over-haul will solve some problems and fix many headway problems, on the down side in 1976 we had articulated buses running frequent morning and evening commuter service from outlaying area park and rides. That big clover-leaf in Mandarin at San Jose and I-295 was one of them. Since that time we have gone through several improvements, each emerging with a markedly smaller system. In the 1970's our big articulated's toured much of Florida showing Orlando and other cities how a 'REAL' big city system functions. Since that time the express 'freeway flyers' have been slashed to a single run daily, one inbound and one outbound; through services such as the old 70 Naval Air now require wandering connections; our regular route buses have shrunk from 40' and 45' footers to 35' foot and glorified school buses; the articulated buses are running in Orlando and Miami; today we are slashing route miles again in the smoke screen of 'New and Improved.' This will equate to hundreds if not thousands of riders suddenly without service, while others gain a huge improvement.

[johnny_simpatico]

After finally getting my hands on a new system map, I can say without qualification that the new route structure is largely a disaster.  The traditional transportation planning process is a four-step process: 1) trip generation, 2) trip distribution, 3) modal split, 4) network assignment.  If you want a successful transit system, you need to look at the root of it all and serve major trip generators.  Where are they in Jacksonville? Downtown? OK. Regency Square Mall? Six routes! Where else?  The airport is served by one route, which now crawls up Main Street and through River City Marketplace.  UNF? One route ... and it take 70 minutes to get there from downtown. Atlantic Beach (from downtown)? No longer available. Riders must transfer at Regency. In most transit systems, major transfer points are actually places that generate plenty of traffic. For some reason, JTA has chosen to make the dying Regency Mall a major hub. Of course, the real retail nucleus of Jacksonville has moved to the St. Johns Town Center. How many JTA routes serve that thriving activity zone? One -- same as before.  JTA had an opportunity to reinvent itself.  They and their consultants dropped the ball.

[tufsu1]

JTA and its consultant on this effort balanced improving service without increasing cost.  Overall, I think they have done a pretty good job.  Time will tell.

[Ocklawaha]

You may be right TUFSU1, but I'd bet a dollar that all of the new routes and what they are calling BRT does't add a single rider outside of normal growth due to our growing population.

No TOD, no excitement, no surge of choice riders, in general, no one gives a damn. The JTA and it's consultants forget the adage: "Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood" Daniel Burnham

[tufsu1]

Ock, as you know, making big plans and implementing big plans are not the same

Fact is the political climate in Florida isn't receptive to major transit investments right now.  I see the route optimization as laying the foundation for bigger and better things.  After all, regular bus service is the backbone of almost every transit system in the US.

Also note that transit systems like HART and PSTA (both in Tampa Bay area) and Star Metro (Tallahassee) have been breaking ridership records month after month for several years.  JTA can now hopefully look forward to the same.

[IrvAdams]

I think that I'm going to give it a try. I live in the Fort Caroline area and work in Southpoint. Also, I like to go Downtown for various events, and maybe the Beaches on occasion (more so in the warmer months of course).

I think I'm going to use my trusty smart phone and hop a few rides in these various directions to see where (and when) they can take me.

Visit the JTA. Any takers?

[I-10east]

JTA signs $8.1 million contract with Clean Energy

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2014/12/19/jta-signs-8-1-million-contract-with-clean-energy.html