30 Days of Plight. Stephen Dare goes JTA every day.

[Ocklawaha]

Okay Stephen, I'll tell the tale... JTA does have phantom riders besides Stephendare. The audits go straight to management. So dumping your body at the far end of the Commonwealth Avenue line, isn't going to help the drivers.

The conversation was very animated at the meeting, including such Stephendareisms as "The Drivers should be publically flogged," "lynch mobs", came up a couple of times bringing laughter.

I countered with "If I were appointed KING of JTA tomorrow, I wouldn't fire anyone in this room!" Which drew quizical stares, and nervous laughs. Of course friend Stephen was rolling on the floor by then. BTW, I used it to temper the mood and set a stage for we can't flog our way to perfection. We need a rewards program, fare forgiveness, safe place policys, fare free zones, and JTA happy hours (.25 cent fares). We need to grow into BRT.

A point offered was if the President walked into this room and laid a BILLION dollars on the table and told us to
"Build BRT and they will come..." it wouldn't do a damn thing. REASON? No one in this city has ever been trained to ride the bus, Skyway or a streetcar. NO ONE. If tomorrow a bus left Downtown and Regency every 5 minutes for the opposite terminal, ridership wouldn't change. What do you do when you get downtown? Wait another 40 minutes for your connection...if it runs...if it works...if the driver favors your money. We MUST close the Headway gap, tighten connections, and work toward a professional rolling magic carpet that will serve as the door to Jacksonville for citizens and visitors alike. A rolling embassy-Chamber of Commerce with a purpose, rather then the transit doormat of today.

Ocklawaha

[Midway ®]

Apparently the word on the buses is that Mr. Blaylock is taking it dead seriously.

Two of the bus drivers at the station were talking about major changes, and the phantom rider that keeps posting shit on the internets.

Heaven help me when they finally divine the website and start reading it with our pictures.

Your humble servant may find himself on a sunday 'special' for real.

LOL! How old is that pic? Just don't wear a pumpkin shirt.

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

Okay, so JC is going to the Suns game tomorrow night and we are planning to take JTA TO THE EVENT, and a cab back to the island (Riverside). So be on the lookout for a report on JC. Im scared

[civil42806]

Heres the fundamental problem, no one really wants to go downtown.  I"ve had friends whose wive don't drive, they tried to use the bus system, quite frankly its a joke.  It basically makes everyone go downtown even if your trying to go  from san jose to regency.  You must transfer buses down town.  Then they had to deal with some of the how shall I say "colorful characters" at the transfer stations. Jacksonville has the fundamental problem of being too large, consolidation was a good idea at the time, not so sure any more.  Look at the bridges, everyone has to pass downtown, I emphasis pass downtown.  I've wondered if anyone has calculated how many people actually work in downtown vice the butler /i-95 soutside exit.  I've often thought that if you factor out the captive fed workers, the number of people that work off bulter will greatly out number the downtown employees.

[BridgeTroll]

I hope you arent finished riding Stephen.  I was enjoying your daily reports... You still have 15 days...

[brainstormer]

I live downtown and I love it, although I will admit, things are pretty quiet after 6pm.  We need some billboards along Union, State and 95 that read "You could have been home 10 minutes ago.  Live Downtown."  Background pictures could include a mom greeting her kids by the door, a man on his couch with a beer, a couple playing with their dog, etc.

[Doctor_K]

Brilliant, brainstormer!  Some focused advertising never hurt anything.  One of the many things that could eventully boost residency in the Core:  "Advertise"

Couldn't tell you the last time I saw anything at all promoting for Berkman, San Marco, or the Twins (Strand + Peninsula).

Anyhoo - as for the Topic at hand:  It's very interesting to see the powers-that-be at JTA react so ... resolutely.  It's refreshing, and I hope this is the start of a long trend for transportation in the city.

Thanks for your public service, Mr. Dare. 

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

I live downtown and I love it, although I will admit, things are pretty quiet after 6pm.  We need some billboards along Union, State and 95 that read "You could have been home 10 minutes ago.  Live Downtown."  Background pictures could include a mom greeting her kids by the door, a man on his couch with a beer, a couple playing with their dog, etc.

A bum taking a dump in front of a restaurant.....I kid, I kid. I love Downtown.

[gatorback]

Most people ride one bus at set times making them less clarivoyant then you might expect.  But I agree with L-9, R-5.  I think SS5 and SS9 are bad enough.  Flav-o-flav 7 would be more amusing.

[Lunican]

The Metro Jacksonville article "Solve the JTA Cryptogram" which was publish over a year ago, pretty much sums up what you have found: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/483/

[gatorback]

How about a a few 'Night Owl' aka Drunk Busses that depart Rosa Parks at 11:40, 12:40AM, 1:40 AM to the the Park And Rides at the beach, the south side, Regency, West Side, etc. 

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

Thats an awesome idea, keep the drunks off the streets.

[gatorback]

Thats an awesome idea, keep the drunks off the streets.

this is a basic, responsible function of mass transit across the country.

Imagine that.  A mass transit system in Jacksonville that actually serves a purpose.  What a novel idea.  Lol.

I think people in all sorts of industries, hospitality, service, etc, could all a night bus to get them to and from work after hours with the added benefit mentioned above.

[duvalbill]

Any clues as to what the system was originally designed to do?

Screw with Stephen Dare. 

[gatorback]

Over a year ago on this forum I discussed, or compared JTA to CapMetro...let me find the thread.  I compared the two websites...maybe that thread will gain us some insight. Here it is...just me and Ocklawaha discussing how horrible JTA is compared to CapMetro, Texas's #1 transit system voted!


http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,961.msg5959.html#msg5959