Jacksonville, FL – The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) Board of Directors adopted a proposal to modify nearly all JTA fares for the first time since 2012, during a special meeting on Tuesday.
The adjustment to all JTA fixed-route buses, First Coast Flyer BRT lines, the St. Johns River Ferry and ReadiRide service will take effect on Monday, September 30, 2019.
Tuesday’s board action represents only the fifth time the JTA has modified fares since it began providing transit services in 1971.
Under the new fare structure, single trip passes will increase from $1.50 to $1.75. Additional discounts will be afforded to customers who purchase fares through the free MyJTA app, available for Android and iOS smart mobile devices. The discount for college students who verify their enrollment through ID.me, also will increase from 25% to 50%.
Fares for Connexion and Connexion Plus paratransit services, and those for seniors (65 and older) will not change.
The JTA held 11 public meetings in June to explain the details of the proposal and to receive customer feedback. Outreach also was conducted by JTA staff at transit hubs throughout Duval County in June and July. The board’s decision comes after public hearings held this week and followed several meetings with public officials and community stakeholders.
In addition to a new fare structure, the JTA Board of Directors also adopted a new Automatic Fare Indexing Policy that establishes a more predictable and transparent mechanism for setting changes every two years. Under that policy, JTA fares will be adjusted in accordance to a formula based on changes in the Consumer Price Index, the JTA operating budget and labor cost changes.
Future adjustments would not to exceed 10%.
The JTA Board of Directors will evaluate this policy on a biennial basis during the JTA’s budget process and reserves the right to discontinue or adjust the policy at its discretion during that review. Of course, any fare changes would be reviewed to ensure that they would not adversely affect one group over another.
Customers are encouraged to view full details of the new fare structure. They also can call customer service at (904) 630-3100 with any questions.