Our neighbors find that a night trolley downtown is a success

Downtown trolley try-out a success

By: Jensen Werley

Historic City News is following, with interest, an article by Jensen Werley, who covers logistics, manufacturing and defense activities published in the pages of Jacksonville Business Journal. She reports that the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s test of a “Downtown Night Trolley” last weekend went so well, that staff is asking for permission to move ahead with a pilot program to keep them running more permanently.

The trolley, which ran Downtown on Friday and Saturday night, had to have at least 25 riders per hour to be considered a success, the JTA said. Ridership was about 40 people per hour, said Leigh Ann Rassler, spokesperson for JTA.

Friday night, the trolley had 270 passengers. On Saturday, it had 370.

“It’s very successful,” Rassler said.

The next step is for the JTA board to review the stats and see if it wants to move forward with starting a pilot program; likely to be similar to the program the agency conducted before kicking off the Riverside Trolley. That program had the bus run the first weekend of each month for about half a year.

“I feel comfortable,” Rassler said, “but i’m not the board.” The board meets again on August 28th.