JTA spending $4.6M on bus stop shelters, upgrades

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority  is in the middle of a $4.6 million project to improve bus stops across the city.

That includes shelters, which riders appreciate on rainy days like Monday.

But right now, just about 400 of the city's more than 2,600 bus stops have shelters to protect riders from the rain and sun.

Councilman Reggie Brown said the city needs to do more to protect riders.

Thousands ride Jacksonville's public buses but some say the bus stops need to be improved.

“I take it on a regular basis. It’s pretty good but we need more overheads for the bus stops,” Desean said.

Desean is talking about shelters which he said help protect riders from Florida’s sometimes intense weather.

“The rain be so hard and we don’t have overheads at all the bus stops,” Desean said.

“It really sucks. I missed the last bus so I’ve been here for about a half hour in the rain,” Victoria said.

Right now there are 2,658 JTA bus stops and 372 shelters, meaning 14 percent of stops have shelters.

“I’m soaking wet and cold. I wish there was an awning,” Victoria said.

But it’s not cheap to add a shelter. Installation costs are around $20,000 and then $2,000 a year for maintenance.

"We need to look at redirecting funds," Brown said.

Brown is working to get more bus stop shelters, especially near schools and senior centers where right now only 32 percent of stops have shelters.

"They should not have to sit out in the sun. Students should not have to wait in the sun or the rain," Brown said.

So far in 2017, JTA has replaced or installed 40 shelters. They have 54 more to go. Still, Brown and riders say more needs to be done.

“We’d really appreciate it. It’d be awesome. I’d like to get on the bus dry,” Victoria said.

Right now only 14 percent of all JTA bus stops have a shelter. We compared that to other Florida cities. In Orlando, 24 percent of stops have shelters. In Tampa, the number is 25 percent.

Brown said the city needs to add shelters but he also wants to review how it's decided which stop gets a shelter. One major criteria is that a bus stop has 40 boardings a day, a standard Brown said may ignore stops used by seniors and students.

“I think that’s a problem and it needs to be reviewed, re-evaluated, reassessed,” Brown said.

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JTA sent the following statement about bus stop shelters:

“The Jacksonville Transportation Authority prioritizes shelter placement where there is high ridership. In doing so, this focuses placement of shelters in the areas of town where we have the highest number of customers.  These areas include Council Districts 1, 5, 7, 8, 9 & 10. JTA currently has 2,658 stops and 372 bus shelters.  Bus shelters and other amenity upgrades are important to our community. As we continue to make significant investment into these areas, we also take the feedback from our customers into consideration, which indicates that their priority in service offerings is focused on continuing to increase the frequency of service at our stops and expanding locations for bus service.”

Cox Media Group