JTA okays bus terminal plan

Staffer Steve Arrington reported JTA will spend $691,200 in federal funding, which will be matched by 20 percent of local funding, which is included in JTA’s current budget.

CEO Mike Blaylock was directed to “execute a design agreement with AECOM” to complete the intercity bus terminal which Greyhound will use.

In a road construction project, the JTA board okayed a $1.8 million plan to write an agreement with the Florida DOT to fund partial design improvements for the interchange at I-95 and J. Turner Butler Boulevard (S.R. 202).

The board also approved a resolution from the Mass Transit Committee chaired by Kenneth Holton to apply for $15.4 million in federal grants with USDOT. If they get it, they would match the sum with $446,000 in local share and $3.3 million in state revenue toll credits. The total sum would be $19.2 million for 28 projects, including bus design computer software, fare collection equipment and information kiosks.

Chair Ava Parker said the JTA is rethinking its position on advertising on bus shelters.

“We would be remiss if we didn’t recognize that there were some concerns, opposition, to the legislation” which allowed advertising to be placed at bus shelters.

“JTA respect those concerns…” she said, and added they would work with Jacksonville City Council members “In their efforts to develop committed, adequate revenue sources for the transit shelter maintenance, which can serve in lieu of economic support from shelter advertising.”

Carlos Tobar reported “Fixed route ridership for August stood at 854,363 passenger trips. That was about 5 percent high that the year before.

He said, “Over the past year, system redesign has created efficiencies in the system, which has led to service reductions of approximately 51,000 hours and one million mils.”

Ridership was 9.4 million, about the same as last year.

He also reported there were 61 bus breakdowns in August that resulted in road calls.

Skyway on-time performance stood at 98.7 percent for August, but the passenger count dropped by 7.6 percent when compared to August 2008. The service counted 35,192 passengers for the month.

Tobar reported to Riverplace station reopened yesterday. Its roof had been damaged by a fire some months ago.

The entire Skyway “Automatic Train Supervision” system is now controlled by a Microsoft Windows XP operating system. It replaced an aging IBM OS2 configuration. In September Thales completed a second trial run of the software and the “Skyway is now… in the warranty period,” said Tobar.

Commuter rail remains in the planning stages. The next steps will require guidance from the JTA board, make a presentation to the First Coast Transportation Planning Organization, and write an executive summary as well as seek the board’s approval to “advance the study effort to the alternative analysis process for three candidate corridors.”

Scott Clem, JTA’s director of strategic planning and research, said consultants Gannett Fleming and the JTA staff have “developed a set of evaluation criteria that will be used to rank corridors.”

He noted a memorandum of understanding was executed between JTA and CSX regarding data sharing and using CSX staff’s time and resources in April 2008.

Ridership figures will need to be refined at that level, and that level of study “is only used to determine if the JTA is ready to advance to the federal process.”

JTA’s next board meeting is scheduled for December 3. There will be no November meeting.