The JTA developed and completed strategic initiatives outlined in a roadmap for the future called Blueprint 2020 that transformed the Authority and strengthened stakeholder confidence more than at any time in the history of the organization.
Route Optimization Initiative: A game-changer for the JTA
In 2013, the JTA’s transformation was well underway. The JTA received Board approval to dust off and implement an ambitious plan that had been approved years earlier called the Blueprint for Transportation Excellence. This condensed roadmap, Blueprint 2020, consisted of 10 strategic initiatives, many of which were shovel-ready or already planned, that could be accomplished by the year 2020. The initiatives would forever change the Authority and laid the foundation for it to become the regional transportation leader in Northeast Florida that it is today, with an expanded service area from the City of Jacksonville and surrounding Duval County to the suburbs. Improving on-time transit operations topped the list, when an analysis showed that JTA buses departed from and arrived at designated stops only 60% of the time, almost 20 percentage points below the industry average. In response to this, the on-time transit operations (OTTO) initiative was launched to address service reliability. The administration broke down silos between departments by assigning route owners – some of whom had never worked in Operations before – to 12 of the lowest-performing bus routes to determine what prevented them from running on time. Routes that performed well were also analyzed so their method of success could be shared.
Through that exercise it became clear that the main hindrance to on-time performance was the JTA’s outdated bus network. For example: • Service frequency was extremely poor with only two routes running at 30-minute intervals • Service span catered to a 9-to-5 workforce when what commuters really needed was early, late and weekend service to get to and from work • Mainline routes had long waits and exhaustive rides • Poor coordination between routes often meant that routes were circuitous and transferring from one bus to another resulted in lengthy wait times Meanwhile, customers complained that all routes forced them to travel downtown even if they were trying to get to another location in the same section of the city. Many customers said they would like access to technology that would tell them when the next bus would arrive. They also noted that some buses were practically empty while others had standing room only, which meant the JTA needed to do a better job of allocating resources. Armed with that information, the Executive Leadership Team directed Operations planners to build an entirely new system from scratch, a monumental but much needed task.
14 | ULTIMATE URBAN CIRCULATOR – A CASE STUDY
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator