Let’s Get Back to the Basics at JTA

[marcuscnelson]

Small comparison I came across and thought I'd note, JTA's System Map as of:

July 2025

May 2026

November 2026

Aside from the color changes, I do notice that they seem to have gone to some lengths to maintain route coverage where possible, with tweaks to certain routes to make up for some of the removed ones. Better than nothing given the magnitude of the fiscal cliff, but obviously frequency is suffering badly as a result.

Also found some earlier maps, from 2014 and then 2011 for further comparison.

That being said, any thoughts on where it might be possible to look for the funding needed to restore (or improve) frequencies? Say, in the range of ~$50-70 million per year to allow for a real, sustained investment in transit operations?

[thelakelander]

I'm not sure about where to find new funding. I'd first want to understand how the system survived for years offering more frequent services, while maintaining reserves for a rainy day. If they can stop spending on whatever put them in a $40 million hole over a 2-3 year period, there should be existing revenue available to restore services. This would likely mean giving up NAVI for starters.

[marcuscnelson]

^ We do already have the previous Council Auditor report that spells out some of how this happened financially:

JACKSONVILLE TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

The financial report of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is projecting an overall deficit of $31.8 million at year-end. The unfavorable variance is made up of a projected $17.4 million shortfall in revenues and projection that budgetary capacity for expenditures will be. exceeded by $14.4 million.

The main cause of the projected revenue shortfall of $17.4 million is due to projected shortfalls in Net of Debt Sales and Constitutional Gas Tax of $10.5 million mainly due to a downward trend in the sales tax, in interest earnings of $3.3 million due to less cash available, in Net Local Option Gas Tax of $3.3 million based on actual collections, and Passenger Fare of $1.8 million due to the passenger fare reductions during the year. These were partially offset with projected favorable variance in State Transportation Disadvantaged Funds of $1.5 million.

The main cause of the expenditures being projected to exceed budget by $14.4 million is due to a projected negative variance of $8.4 million within the Services category of CTC due to the contract for the service provider not being budgeted for the full year and the overall fringe benefits category of $7.4 million due to benefit related expenses not being budgeted accurately. Note that it is expected that expense authority will be exceeded by $11.4 million since $3 million of expense projection is to fund contingencies; however, this does still mean that they are projected to spend $14.4 million more than they had budgeted for as part of the budget.

Based on JTA's projections, they will need a budgetary amendment due to exceeding expense authority.

I would not be all too surprised if the budget here was being squeezed by both spending on U2C/Test & Learn/NAVI on one end, and then the traditional transit fiscal cliff issues of inflation/gas prices/labor cost increases/overall economic slowdown on the other end. Even if you take autonomous vehicles out back, that doesn't fix those other underlying issues. $10.5 million because of sales tax collection declining does concern me a great deal, not to mention the budgeting screw-ups on CTC and benefit costs.

Now I am still a little confused about where exactly the budget line items of the U2C over the years have even come from. Like if NAVI was $10.76 million to operate in 2025-26, where actually was that included in the 2025-26 budget? What about Test & Learn, where was the money for all the vehicles and hardware they purchased or leased and everything at Armsdale actually reflected in JTA's spending?

[NorrisFByrd]

That auditor report bit really sticks with me. I used to catch the bus downtown for work a few years back and even then you could tell when a route got thin, you just waited longer and planned your whole morning around it. Cutting frequency like this feels like the quiet way service disappears, even if the map still looks covered. I get the U2C stuff is flashy but if the regular buses people actually rely on keep getting squeezed, that is what folks notice day to day. Hope they at least lay out the line items plainly before any more cuts.

[ReedDusdennis]

One example of how the Nov. 2 changes affect a trip is the former Route 23 ride between Regency Square and Avenues Walk. The current Route 23 timetable lists Regency Square Transit Hub and FSCJ South Campus. The new Route 34 Southside timetable lists FSCJ South Campus and Avenues Walk Park-and-Ride. FSCJ South Campus is the common transfer point, so check both timetables if you used to ride through on the 23.

JTA Route 23 timetable: https://jtafla.com/media/agxohxeb/bus-26028-route-23-november-2026.pdf
JTA Route 34 timetable: https://www.jtafla.com/media/zsel2gjb/bus-26033-route-34-november-2026.pdf

AI assistance was used to verify and draft this reply.

[thelakelander]

^ We do already have the previous Council Auditor report that spells out some of how this happened financially:

The reserves....if JTA still had them, should have been available. Where did those go?