One option of many that have been floated is the possibility of having a private operator under contract run and operate a future regional commuter rail service.
Allow a regional authority like a NEFRTA to acquire the funds needed for the capex improvements; switching, stations, physical plant, trains sets, engines, etc and then have them bid the contract out on operations & maintenance to firms like Keolis (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keolis )who are renowned for their efficient operations and customer service.
It's certainly an option to consider and it would take commuter rail operations completely out of the hands of JTA.
Keolis recently won a commuter rail contract for VRE and is about to win the MARC contract as well.
I think its a worthy option for NE Florida.
FYI: I don't work for Keolis, I am using them as an example.
As long as it is anything...and I mean ANYTHING...other than JTA, then it is a positive step forward, IMO.
That would be the normal way it is handled all over the nation. Usually a Transportation Authority pays an operator "ABC RAILROAD" etc. to run the trains. Often the Authority gets another layer of government with the formation of a Jacksonville Railroad Authority, a new semi-independent agency with board members from COJ, JTA and other various City and State Departments/Authorities.
Don't sweat this too much, I've already heard JTA rumor mill is looking at some independent operator programs, so we're probably headed down that same road.
OCKLAWAHA
Gentlemen...........I concur with the group's direction! JTA is useless as a bus agency......there is no sane valid reason they would be capable of running a rail operation and I don't trust them any further than I can throw them down one of their own roads! I look at the $kyway and say......WTH! Nope, JTA is about as effecient and cost effective as using newspaper for a rain hat...........short life span then nothing!