Is U2C serious? Help me make it make sense....

[jcjohnpaint]

It will make a great brewery someday.

[thelakelander]

A big boondoggle. A pilot with an average of 3 to 4 riders a day and an annual O&M figure that's higher than when everyone called the Skyway (that got 5,000 riders a day) a boondoggle. I don't want to hear anything about a Duval DOGE as long as leaders are allowing tax money to be wasted on this thing.

[Charles Hunter]

Has anyone 'reported' the U2C to Salem's committee at DuvalDOGE@coj.net?

[jaxoNOLE]

For $8 million, you could provide almost 2,200 $10 Uber rides each and every day of the year. Given the short route, I imagine just about any ride down the corridor could be had for $10 or less.

I bet for $66 million in startup costs, Uber might even license a sandbox version of their app to JTA.

[CityLife]

As much as we all know the U2C will fail, I'm astounded. Absolutely astounded at the fact that only 200 people that rode the Brooklyn pilot program over a two month period. Typically people will at least try something once for the novelty of it. Not only did nobody try it, but clearly the VERY FEW that did, did not like it enough to use it regularly. 

Does anyone know what ever happened with JTA's pilot program at FSCJ using Beep Shuttles? Here is a photo of them when they rolled them out last year. It was supposed to be a 7 month pilot. 

[thelakelander]

Not hearing about that pilot tells us everything we need to know. Snake oil salesmen would have it all over the local news if there were daily crowds of people trying to ride it.

[Jax_Developer]

Just want to know what the Duval Taxpayer has already spent to date. That would be really insightful & would likely kill the project on the spot if someone could find that real figure. This is the exact type of waste that both sides can agree needs to be cut.

[marcuscnelson]

The cost of the Test & Learn program by itself, before even getting into the U2C program proper, seems like it would be substantial.

They've maintained a staff of ~half a dozen or more, including a Vice President, for at least six years now, plus the cost of all the shuttles and parts, plus the cost of refitting the Armsdale facility, plus the partnerships with various entities from Guident to Beep to FSCJ to Perrone, hosting glitzy annual "Autonomous Vehicle Day" events, the executive trips to Germany and elsewhere… potentially millions that could have been invested in improving the Skyway, or running more and better bus service.

What a mess.

[jax_hwy_engineer]

It will make a great brewery someday.

I'm betting this is the most accurate prediction, and the one I'm most hopeful for. I'll gladly pour one out for the U2C to celebrate it's death

[marcuscnelson]

To get back on topic, are they seriously still going to call the "operational" version of this program the Ultimate Urban Circulator? Like that's the actual name? People are supposed to book U2C rides? They think they're going to be famous for that?

This question was answered at Thursday's ribbon cutting for the Autonomous Innovation Center.

The U2C program's service will be NAVI, short for Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation.

Guests at the April 17 ribbon cutting got an up-close look at the AV, which features an outline of the Jacksonville skyline, representing how this new service will connect the urban core with surrounding neighborhoods to play a vital role in downtown revitalization.

“The JTA’s AV program will be the first-of-its-kind, fully autonomous public transportation system network in the United States,” said JTA CEO Nat Ford. “The opening of the AIC is one of the final milestones before introducing NAVI to our transportation system. This state-of-the-art facility lays a strong foundation for the operation of the AV fleet and supports the vision of a better-connected, vibrant Downtown Jacksonville.”

There's also a video of one of the vans testing the route.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ "First in the nation" to what end?  Success or a monumental failure that will give pause to any other possible takers?

Still trying to figure out how they can tout "fully autonomous" and no one in a decision making or approving capacity doesn't question that given no one else has reached that level.  Don't they understand what that term means? = NO HUMAN intervention!  NOT here!

[thelakelander]

“The JTA’s AV program will be the first-of-its-kind, fully autonomous public transportation system network in the United States,” said JTA CEO Nat Ford.

There's a lot of nothing said in a comment like this. Yeah, it may be the first time that hundreds of millions have been spent by a publicly funded transit agency on a driverless Ford van transit system being driven (or attended) by a person behind the steering wheel. When and if the day ever comes that a real public transit system is fully autonomous....who cares who the first is? The more important answer will be if the system effectively and efficiently serves the public? From a cost and common sense perspective, we already know this is a colossal waste. No amount of lipstick on this one will remove the pig of a face staring right back at us.

[Captain Zissou]

Still trying to figure out how they can tout "fully autonomous" and no one in a decision making or approving capacity doesn't question that given no one else has reached that level.

It's obvious at this point that everyone has hopped on board because hinting that this is not a success would get the whole organization dismantled. If anyone inside JTA were to come out against this or speak ill in any way, the whole thing would crumble.  They're all toeing the company line in hopes of somehow failing forward to something that they can later say justified the expense. 

The extreme failure of the riverside test program alone should have been enough to halt everything, but nobody said a word.  Bay street will be the same thing. Maybe the larger downtown loop will get close to serving a purpose, or they'll sell the infrastructure to a private company to use the city as a pilot program.... Maybe they're just waiting for some larger macro event so that they can throw up their hands and say outside factors forced a stoppage of the program that otherwise would have been a resounding success... Who knows, but until that time it looks like all ants/lemmings are marching in lockstep.

[jax_hwy_engineer]

I just wanna know how I can get that "driver" (AV babysitter?) job... seems like a pretty sweet deal. Just watch and make sure the AV doesn't crash itself!

[Todd_Parker]

Was James Cameron consulted when they chose the name "NAVI"?