Photo by Grace Singer

The city of Jacksonville provides its citizens with a complex infrastructure of buses that gives Jacksonville University students the opportunity to explore the city.  The public transportation system is called the Jacksonville Transit Authority (JTA).  JTA operates throughout the year, operating on holidays using amended hours.  Currently JTA maintains 56 routes, 320 bus drivers and 110 vehicles.

The mission statement of JTA is “To be the Northeast Florida leader in providing safe, effective, coordinated and integrated multimodal transportation solutions.” In other words, JTA wants to be the solution to your transportation needs, utilizing different tactics.  The route that is centered in the heart of the Arlington community is the AR6.

The AR6 starts at the Rosa Parks Transit Center and completes its route at the Regency Square Mall.   There are several points of interest on the route, the most noted is JU.

Alongside Terry Concert Hall beyond the fence sits a bus stop that gives bus goers a place to congregate until the AR6 arrives.

Once on the AR6 inbound, meaning heading towards the Rosa Parks Transit station, bus goers will be able to switch between bus lines for the price of  $1.50 since the price increase taking effect as of Jan. 30, 2012.

Students cam simply walk outside the gates of JU to utilize the public transportation system.

Freshman Manrique Torrens says that he uses the transit system here in Jacksonville and doesn’t mind the way it’s set up, believing there are no problems with it either.

Public transportation does provide a low cost alternative; however, it’s not appealing to everyone.

“I do not utilize public transportation, but in general it’s cheaper not necessarily more efficient,” said senior Alyssia Cousins.

A general concern for most bus goers is the length of time that it takes to go from origin to destination.  Typically, each route is about an hour long.  However, this does not included traffic conditions, the number of bus goers entering and exiting the bus or hazardousweather conditions.

“I don’t like Jacksonville transportation,” said junior Safiya Lawrence. “I think it’s confusing and always off schedule for me.”

JTA is known for its ability to meet the transportation needs of its patrons. Many people are thankful for having a mass transit system, but that does not excuse deficiencies in the system.

“It’s great when you have a well-developed mass public transportation; it sucks when the system is poor,” said junior Kim Mak.