New System. New Routes. New Way. In a single day, the comprehensive Route Optimization Initiative greatly improved JTA service and positioned the Authority to be a regional transportation leader in Northeast Florida. At a one-time cost of $2.1 million in operating and capital funds, the ROI enabled the JTA to: • Remove 30 percent of bus stops to reduce travel time between stops • Install 128 new ADA compliant stops • Increase the number of routes with 30-minute frequency from 2 to 20 • Install 10 routes with 15-minute frequency, a first in JTA’s history
At every step in the process, JTA leaders engaged the public and key stakeholders from business, government, and civic and nonprofit groups to keep them informed and to obtain their input about how to refine the plan. Community engagement has continued to be a cornerstone for the JTA. After 18 months of intense planning that involved every level of the Authority, the JTA was ready to implement the groundbreaking Route Optimization Initiative, known to many as ROI. Rather than phasing the changes in gradually, the Authority made the transformation overnight. Anything less was unacceptable because it would not result in the total-system redesign that was needed. Like an army preparing for a stealth operation, the JTA readied its teams for the December 1, 2014 ROI launch. The big day coincided with the move of the JTA headquarters from its Myrtle Street campus to a temporary location in Downtown Jacksonville, a move necessary to prepare for a permanent relocation to the future Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center at LaVilla, another game-changing Blueprint 2020 initiative. If anyone questioned the impact of the transformational leadership of 2013, they didn’t anymore. The traits sought in JTA leaders would reverberate with the ELT and department managers tasked with running the Authority’s day-to-day operations while simultaneously overhauling the decades old system. Characteristics like “high-energy,” “engaged,” “customer-focused,” “innovative,” and “strategic thinker” took on new meaning. Perhaps, that explains the camaraderie JTA staff exhibited when they took to their trucks, two-by-two, in the wee hours of December 1 to remove bags that hid nearly 2,900 new bus stop signs from public view until buses began rolling at the crack of dawn. Or the excitement and sense of pride that permeated from the JTA boardroom turned Command Central, where the CEO and ELT received periodic updates throughout Day One on the progress of the launch.
• Install nearly 2,900 new bus stop signs • Implement the Real-Time Passenger Information system-wide • Double routes operating after 11 p.m. from 11 to 22 • Increase routes operating after midnight from 3 to 16 • Speed up weekend service to run more frequently • Increase route supervision, system branding, safety and security and adopted new protocol for naming routes • Adopt a new, more professional dress code for operators • Solidify the concept of teamwork among JTA staff The ROI didn’t just change the game in transportation for the JTA, it represented the first total-system overhaul in modern history for a transit authority of any scope or size.
ULTIMATE URBAN CIRCULATOR – A CASE STUDY | 15
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