Money Raising Idea for JTA

[jbroadglide]

I have an idea how JTA could raise thousands of dollars with just a bit of effort. Station a couple JTA executives/security or off duty JSO at the top of the escalators with their eyes on the turnstiles. Then every time someone who thinks they are better than everyone else and doesn't have to pay jumps the turnstiles stand right there and hand them a citation as they come up the escalator. If they are teenagers, and from my observations, most are, get their names and addresses and send their parents the citation. Not sure how much it is, but every penny they generate would help their budget. I am so sick of seeing people ride scott free while I have to pay. Watched three teens today at Hemming Plaza, in broad daylight, in front of a bunch of people, hop over the turnstiles and climb aboard the train. In my day if we wanted to sneak into someplace, the operative word was sneak. No one saw us. They don't care today do they? Sorry for the rant but it just pisses me off.
John

[Sigma]

Some on this board think we should have free universal transportation along with free wi-fi.     What's your beef jbroadglide?  These are young citizens, just trying to get by.

[jbroadglide]

you mean trying to get by the system? I hope you are being somewhat sarcastic sigma.

[Sigma]

extremely sarcastic

It irritates me too.

[jbroadglide]

Okay just wasn't sure. I'm learning about the people here little by little.

[fsujax]

also, when they jump the turn stiles their numbers are not counted towards the passenger count! but who cares, they are riding for free, right?  (haha)

[Captain Zissou]

A lack of accurate passenger numbers is a big problem when evaluating the effectiveness of the skyway.  If we want the track to be extended, we need to make sure folks are paying to increase recorded number of riders.

[Lunican]

Has JTA fixed the turnstiles yet?

[Deuce]

Most large metros have transit police who keep an eye out for that this sort of thing. I'm guessing there are not any here.

[braeburn]

I've seen people also bust through the handicap access door to get in. In fact, last time I was there, the door seemed to be broken. They weren't at all embarassed about letting everyone know "yea, I got in for free" as they LOUDLY kicked the door open.

[Gen7]

They could expand ridership by building a catwalk from the FBC parking garage to the skyway platform so that downtown employees could ride it without having to backtrack across Union Street and through the bus traffic.  An even better option would be to open the FBC parking garage at Union and Julia/Hogan to the public - the cat walk would just be straight across Union Street.  With the courthouse being built there are going to be a lot more employees in that part of downtown.  The attorneys and judges won't ride it, but the humble worker bees would - if the fare was included in the parking price!  Sure beats running 3 to 5 blocks in the pouring rain!

[JaxNole]

What's the fine for riding the Skyway without paying the fare?

[TheProfessor]

The Skyway should be free anyway.  It does not go anywhere. hehe.  In Portland, OR. the the downtown area is free and the entire lightrail system is based on the honor system.  No turnstyles anywhere.  I'm sure that will never happen here.

[stjr]

My money "RAZING" idea is to RAZE the entire $ky-high-way!   

Don't worry about these teens skewing the $ky-high-way traffic counts.  They probably aren't genuine "riders" of the $ky-high-way, just thrill seekers.  If they had to pay, they would just go somewhere else.  Besides, it would take a few hundred thousand "violations" a year to even begin making this ride appear useful.

Maybe JTA is just glad to have these teens fill all the empty seats so the $ky-high-way proponents can brag about how many people were riding the $ky-high-way with them when they last rode it. 

Could it be that a sinister plot is unfolding in which non-working turnstiles are Step 1 in the demolition of this thing?  Let's hope so.

[CS Foltz]

stjr.....I agree! If the stupid $kyway can not pay for its self.....why do we have it?