JTA Cutting Riverside Trolley Service

[fsujax]

haha. ok. guess I missed it, but i was thinking to myself that could be for real.

[fsujax]

From what I understand JTA reps will be out at Rosa Parks Station today from 10-2 to talk about the fare increase. Ya'll should stop by!

[tufsu1]

Usually when you increase fares, it's also because the public is getting a better service as well. It's a give & take.

hardly...

Transit agencies all over have been increasing fares while cutting service....fact is, they have to pay for increased fuel/electric charges and like every other government agency, pensions

[Ernest Street]

Saturday the 29th, I look out on Ernest Street to see "The Trolley" marked as P-3 doing the shortened hour route...I almost fell off the steps from laughing....Maybe someone can remind us what the cost was to outfit a Potato Chip truck to look like an actual Public Mass Transit Device.
(the sad fact is I see two buses an hour going one way or the other {2 because they sort of pass each other within 10 minutes} and there is usually during the day 15 or so riders...at night there are sometimes 2 or 3.)

Cutting the Avondale Route..Hmm

[Ocklawaha]

The primary traffic flow in the Riverside area is north-south. My suggestion to wrap the bus around Roosevelt Square and Fairfax, was based on my own experiences from Ortega. It all boils down to where you work, where you play, and where you buy your services. Building a route, should be like stringing pearls. Imagine you live anyplace in the Riverside/Avondale/Brooklyn area:

Roosevelt Square
Roosevelt Square on Jacksonville's Westside features a Publix Super Market, Belk and Stein Mart. Lots of smaller specialty stores, like GNC, and eateries, including Moe's Southwest Grill, Panera and Longhorn Steakhouse.
 
Fairfax village
Fairfax village area just south of Fishweir Creek features a Fairfax Gallery/Framing, Nursery/Garden Center, Pottery Shop, Attorneys, Vet, Dry Cleaners, etc.

Had they extended it and made a loop of Herschel to Lakeside Drive to Roosevelt to St. Johns and back to Herschel. With this business and residential activity center as the southern anchor and adding 5-Points, Park and King, Medical Center, Avondale village, the route would have offered almost any business or product that one might want to buy... worth thinking about. REAL TROLLEY's ANYONE?

Not a chirp in a carload over at the Myrtle Avenue palace.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

ANY QUESTIONS?

[ricker]

Ock, would your proposed route still link to the Landing DT??

[tufsu1]

the Riverside Trolley, as re-routed, will also still go to the Landing

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

the Riverside Trolley, as re-routed, will also still go to the Landing

Unless they changed it from the September workshop, it goes from the New Courthouse to 5 points.  No Landing.

Added from before:

I was at a couple of the 'public forums' in july and august.  I don't remember the exact loop, but it eliminates the Landing, it eliminates St. Vincent and the Avondale Strip, it eliminates FCCJ Kent campus.  I also believe it eliminates one of the busier stops at Water Street.  But it does go past 4 parking garages and circles around both the front and the back of the new courthouse.  I can't seem to find any renderings on the website or facebook (I'm guessing Lake couldn't either, or he would have posted them)

[fieldafm]

the Riverside Trolley, as re-routed, will also still go to the Landing

Unless they changed it from the September workshop, it goes from the New Courthouse to 5 points.  No Landing.

Correct

[tufsu1]

they did in fact change it...it now zig zags through the western part of downtown, serving both the courthouse and the Landing

http://www.jtafla.com/Schedules/12.05.11/RiversideTrolley.pdf

[thelakelander]

More options for riders and diners
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/downtowntoday.php?dt_date=2012-01-06

new Riverside Trolley route map:

[exnewsman]

There's a lot of potential users in the Bay, Forsythe, Hemming Plaza area. The question is - will the new 20 minute frequency kill all of the usage. When the new Courthouse comes on line then there will be connection between that area and the Hemming Plaza core.

[fsujax]

20 minute headways will not work. This is the death of the Riverside Trolley.

[fieldafm]

20 minute headways will not work. This is the death of the Riverside Trolley.

Totally agree... it was tough enough getting back and forth from lunch under an hour with the old lunch service frequency... 20 minutes is laughably inconvenient for choice riders(you can walk from the Fidelity campus to Hemming Plaza in less time). 

The death of the trolley occured when JTA stopped listening to the neighbors and businesses this line served.