to the FTA and DOT, is supportive of
our project.
“We’re working very closely with
Jane Williams, the acting FTA administrator,
and we’ve also shared this information
with U.S. DOT Secretary
Chao, in terms of what we’re doing
here in Jacksonville.” He continued,
“Th ey’re very familiar with this project
and the idea is, in the FTA’s model,
how does an autonomous vehicle
fi t in from a funding standpoint and
a governance standpoint? We’re all
learning together.”
Ford said, “It gets back to one of my
platforms as it relates to this new shared
mobility paradigm that we’re facing …
I want to run my system as effi ciently
as possible and with a 40-foot bus, one
size doesn’t fi t all.
“If I’m able to partner with Uber or
Lyft or a local taxi company to carry
those trips that are very ineffi cient for
me to provide, it’s unfortunate that is
not included in my annual ridership.”
He added, “And in fact, my ridership
may grow because of one of these services
in some areas.”
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
An example of improving effi ciency resulting
in a loss of ridership numbers
is JTA’s Beaches Community Shuttle,
a fl exible-route shuttle in the Neptune
Beach and Atlantic Beach area that
connected to the fi xed-route service.
Th e service was sparingly used and
a private company, Beachside Buggies,
started up, operating golf carts providing
door-to-door service. It was a
hop-on, hop-off -type of service and
was doing very well.
“We looked at their model and their
operation and we basically approached
them and made a decision to terminate
our beaches trolley and subsidize the
Beachside Buggies,” explained Ford.
At a fraction of the cost, they were
able to subsidize year-round operation
of Beachside Buggies, as opposed to the
seasonal off ering of the Beaches Community
Shuttle. JTA also purchased a
couple of ADA-accessible golf carts for
the operation.
“But the thing is, Beachside Buggies
ridership does not count to the JTA,”
said Ford.
Mobile Payment
The STAR card is JTA’s contactless smart card, which would be the backbone
for a multi-use card for transit, parking, TNCs, and more, in the future.
The JTA is also moving toward mobile ticketing and awarded a contract to
Passport. “We will have 100 percent mobile ticketing by the end of March
across all platforms,” said Ford. “With mobile ticketing, devices, such as a
smartphone, as well as our smart card ... we’ll have the flexibility to really
collect far beyond just fares, but also use it as a purchasing medium for
other activities, like if you want to buy a sandwich …”
For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/10066382
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