Attracting Choice Riders By Engaging Neighbors

[Metro Jacksonville]

Attracting Choice Riders By Engaging Neighbors



Over two years ago, Metrojacksonville.com introduced a 4 month pilot program linking the restaurants and bars of Riverside, San Marco and Downtown neighborhoods together via a convenient transit option that utilized privately rented trolley buses.  The experiment was a smashing success as hundreds of riders packed into these trolley busses while restaurants and bars hummed with the sound of welcomed commerce.  Despite this successful tactical urbanism experiment, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority counter intuitively chose instead to increase headways and initiate route changes to the Riverside Trolley which ultimately resulted in a large drop in ridership.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-sep-attracting-choice-riders-by-engaging-neighbors

[fieldafm]

These are pictures from when we did this two years ago.  I encourage you all to take advantage of this service tomorrow night. 

At some point, success becomes too obvious to ignore....


















In the article, you see some screen shots of the mobile site.  On trolley night, there will be a roaming trolley icon present on the screen that will indicate where the trolleys are in real time... meaning you will know approximately how far away a trolley is from each stop.  JTA has the ability to open this up for mobile application developers via Google maps... but refuses to do so.  So, local software developer Dylan Phillips has taken it upon himself to create his own version just for this pilot program.

[SunKing]

Look forward to seeing the ridership.  sounds like an opportunity.  Are there any restrictions preventing a private company from doing so?

[Shwaz]

Wow! The app is a huge bonus!! Is there a list of the businesses that are supporting the event?

Super bummed I'm going to miss the event while down at GOTR but I'd still like to support. Would buying tickets make sense even if i'm not able to actually ride? Or are they judging success by actual ridership?

[CG7]

We are going to patronize as many businesses as possible by doing an appetizer stop, entrée stop, dessert stop, and any other reason I can think of to eat stop.

[fieldafm]

Look forward to seeing the ridership.  sounds like an opportunity.  Are there any restrictions preventing a private company from doing so?

The ability to not lose money.  Renting 3 trolley busses isn't cheap.

[fieldafm]

Wow! The app is a huge bonus!! Is there a list of the businesses that are supporting the event?

Super bummed I'm going to miss the event while down at GOTR but I'd still like to support. Would buying tickets make sense even if i'm not able to actually ride? Or are they judging success by actual ridership?

Buy a ticket!  Success is defined as having enough money to do this again.  JTA is by no means providing busses and drivers for free.


As far as businesses that are supporting this endeavour (in semi-alphabetical order):

Avondale Artworks, Black Sheep, Birdie's, Biscottis, Brick, Bold City, Bold Bean, Derby on Park, Dahlia's Pour House, European Street, Garage, Grassroots, Harpoon Louies, Intuition, Kickbacks, Loft, Mellow Mushroom, Mojo #4, Mossfire, O'brothers, Pele's, Rogue and West Inn.

[Noone]

Pub Crawl!! Make some Noise!

[Shwaz]

Wow! The app is a huge bonus!! Is there a list of the businesses that are supporting the event?

Super bummed I'm going to miss the event while down at GOTR but I'd still like to support. Would buying tickets make sense even if i'm not able to actually ride? Or are they judging success by actual ridership?

Buy a ticket!  Success is defined as having enough money to do this again.  JTA is by no means providing busses and drivers for free.


As far as businesses that are supporting this endeavour (in semi-alphabetical order):

Avondale Artworks, Black Sheep, Birdie's, Biscottis, Brick, Bold City, Bold Bean, Derby on Park, Dahlia's Pour House, European Street, Garage, Grassroots, Harpoon Louies, Intuition, Kickbacks, Loft, Mellow Mushroom, Mojo #4, Mossfire, O'brothers, Pele's, Rogue and West Inn.

Will do! If I was going I'd probably adopt CG7's plan. Spread the business around!

[Bridges]

Awesome idea!  Great work! This is how shit gets done.  Obviously can't depend on any of the service providers. 

I bought 2 tickets, but not sure we can make it.  Still want to support the program though.

[Allan D]

Thanks Mike for a great article and the info on how other cities answered the calls of their choice riders.

A few things I do want to note -

We do have to rent these bus trolleys through a third party since JTA can't directly compete with private carriers, which did add significantly to the cost.  That said, because of the sponsors and eventbrite ticket sales, we are very close to covering our costs.  Any overage from eventbrite sales will make it easier and more likely that we can do this again - as a pilot.

Not sure how you guys handled it on the pub crawls, but we are told that monies cannot be exchanged on board the bus as it conflicts with the above.  People are strongly encouraged to buy their tickets on eventbrite before boarding or visit one of the many sponsors (listed below by stop) in the next day and see if they have sponsor tokens left (free ride tokens were given to sponsors based on size and sponsorship level).

Tokens or eventbrite sales proof (paper or phone) will be traded for an arm band that will allow you to ride the trolleys all night stopping as many times as you'd like.

Finally, as reported by MetroJax from the consolidation task force meeting yesterday, during their pitch, JTA did say they do have a mechanism to provide similar services, but - "We can only step in when no private business is filling the gap *in reference to the Jag shuttle Bus*"   

I can only speak for one sponsor, Black Sheep, in telling JTA - We are not here to fill a gap.  This is a pilot program to gauge and show support for this service.  I enjoy serving our customers food and drink and look forward to leaving transportation and logistics to others.

Special Thanks to our Sponsors:

Stop 1 - Park & Margaret
Black Sheep Restaurant
Birdies
Derby on Park
Grassroots Natural Market
Mossfire Grill
O'Brothers Irish Pub

Stop 6 - Shoppes of Avondale
Avondale Artworks
Biscottis
Brick
J Ashley Boutique
Mellow Mushroom - Coming Soon!
Mojo #4

Stop 8 - Herschel & St. Johns
Harpoon Louies

Stop 10 - Park & Dancy
Restaurant Orsay

Stops 13 & 14 - Park & King
Dahlia's Pour House
European Street
Garage
Kickbacks
Pele's Woodfire
Rogue Bar

Stop 15 - King & Gilmore
Bold City
Intuition

Stop 16 - Stockton & College
Bold Bean Coffee Roasters

In kind sponsors –
EU Magazine
Wingard Creative
Riverside Avondale Preservation

[urbaknight]

I guess "choice riders" are people with money, not the average jta rider. I know that there are costs to get these buses, but why charge $5, and why are they only going to the rich part of Avondale? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that parts of Jax are trying to achieve the vibrancy that we all want, But why is it just catered to people that are blessed with an abundance of money. I'm on SSI so I can't afford to be a part of this vibrancy!

[fieldafm]

I guess "choice riders" are people with money, not the average jta rider. I know that there are costs to get these buses, but why charge $5, and why are they only going to the rich part of Avondale? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that parts of Jax are trying to achieve the vibrancy that we all want, But why is it just catered to people that are blessed with an abundance of money. I'm on SSI so I can't afford to be a part of this vibrancy!

Choice riders refer to someone that could drive, but chooses an alternative form of mobility instead (transit, bike, walk).  Transit dependant riders don't have a late night transit option in Riverside/Avondale at all, so it seems like you are grasping for something to complain about instead of making a valid argument.

JTA is not funding this project, so the cost to ride is a direct result of trying to cover costs to operate.  This is being done by private individuals with their own money in order to show a transit agency that this type of service is viable.  It's not the first time private individuals have tried this out themselves.  See here: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-aug-pub-crawl-riverside-and-downtown-event-huge

If JTA did roll out such a service, I would imagine the fare would be in line with what they currently charge for the Beaches Trolley.

[urbaknight]

I guess "choice riders" are people with money, not the average jta rider. I know that there are costs to get these buses, but why charge $5, and why are they only going to the rich part of Avondale? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that parts of Jax are trying to achieve the vibrancy that we all want, But why is it just catered to people that are blessed with an abundance of money. I'm on SSI so I can't afford to be a part of this vibrancy!

Choice riders refer to someone that could drive, but chooses an alternative form of mobility instead (transit, bike, walk).  Transit dependant riders don't have a late night transit option in Riverside/Avondale at all, so it seems like you are grasping for something to complain about instead of making a valid argument.

JTA is not funding this project, so the cost to ride is a direct result of trying to cover costs to operate.  This is being done by private individuals with their own money in order to show a transit agency that this type of service is viable.  It's not the first time private individuals have tried this out themselves.  See here: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-aug-pub-crawl-riverside-and-downtown-event-huge

If JTA did roll out such a service, I would imagine the fare would be in line with what they currently charge for the Beaches Trolley.

I am a transit dependent rider, and I've been complaining about our nonexistent latenight transit option for years. I guess JTA, like the baptists and the GOB in general believes that there 's no one out past midnight except the Devil. They have no interset or intention to fic that problem. 

I think we need to bring people that are from NYC to run JTA and send these Dixiecrats packing!

[Josh]

I guess "choice riders" are people with money, not the average jta rider. I know that there are costs to get these buses, but why charge $5, and why are they only going to the rich part of Avondale? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that parts of Jax are trying to achieve the vibrancy that we all want, But why is it just catered to people that are blessed with an abundance of money. I'm on SSI so I can't afford to be a part of this vibrancy!

The problem I see with this is that without dedicated parking areas, this trolley service will only be benefiting those within walking distance of any of the stops. While plenty of the patronage for these places is from residents in the Riverside-Avondale area, I'm a little skeptical with how much they'll embrace walking to a pickup spot since so many prefer to drive short distances even to begin with. If someone from the RA area (or outside the neighborhood) just uses this as an opportunity to park at one cluster of restaurants/bars only to use the trolley to visit others before returning to their car at the end of the night, then nothing has been accomplished other than providing a bar hopping service.