For comparability, I first rode the Skyway monorail from Jefferson Station to Rosa Parks after which again to Central Station. Alongside the way in which I observed that there have been a wide range of folks utilizing it, principally employees on this Thursday afternoon but additionally households utilizing it to get round Downtown. The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) solely seems to have two Skyway trains in service, one for both sides of the river, with trains about each quarter-hour. The stations appear moderately nicely maintained however the trains, some now bordering on 30 years previous, are clearly moving into dire form.
From Central Station, I crossed the road to Bay & Julia to board NAVI. A person gave the impression to be smoking on the station, however walked away as I approached. The station is sort of designed, with numerous what look like frosted glass panels, together with a giant one on high with a stylized JTA arrow. I’m undecided if they’ve a warehouse stuffed with substitute panels or if that’s simply not going to final.
*Among the glass panels adorning a NAVI station. *
On the other facet of the pedestal that included an upcoming buses display (which lacked a line for NAVI) and a smaller touchscreen with a digicam for speaking with the AIC, there’s a display that seems to be solely devoted to broadcasting promotional content material concerning the system, together with footage of the automobiles testing down at SunTrax in Central Florida and a clip of Councilman Rahman Johnson. There are additionally buttons to request a wheelchair ramp or name for assist. As soon as fare assortment ($1.75 per trip) begins in October, there’s a card reader on a smaller pedestal subsequent to the station for off-board cost. They seem to not settle for American Categorical.
The cardboard reader at a NAVI station.
The primary NAVI car to reach was out of service with a sheet of paper labeling it as such, and the person inside appeared to drive off. The second was in service and allowed me aboard. The Beep worker within the driver’s seat was pleasant, the large pc field rather than the entrance passenger much less so. The passenger space of the car is totally wrapped, which means the view exterior is moderately poor. There are 9 seats going through inward, six usable if somebody in a wheelchair boards with the elevate, which takes up numerous inside room and is roofed with a panel that features one other touchscreen and one other promotional display above it, with some security data as nicely.
The inside touchscreen and promotional display inside a NAVI car, overlaying the wheelchair elevate.
There’s one other fold-down display up entrance that shows bulletins and reveals upcoming stops. Along with the van’s infotainment display (repurposed for some type of working show), there’s a smaller display left of the Beep worker that reveals the standing of the autonomous package: Auto, Prepared, Prepared (Stationary), Stowed, and Handbook.
Earlier than we might transfer, I used to be advised I wanted to sit down and buckle myself up. This seems to be required for all passengers. The Beep worker appears to manage each the doorways and the hazard lights, presumably additionally flip indicators (that was onerous to see from the passenger space). There are actually a lot of transit-only indicators alongside the route, along with sensors above visitors poles and a scattering of NAVI-branded sign management bins. As soon as we started to maneuver, some challenges rapidly grew to become obvious. The car wants to maneuver from the north facet of Bay Road (the place the station is) to the south facet in lower than a block to be able to flip south onto Pearl Road. It’s onerous to inform if the autonomous package is able to making this motion itself or requires assist from the Beep worker. Alongside Water Road and Unbiased Drive, I used to be watching the small display flicker between Auto, Handbook, Prepared, and Stowed because it moved eastward and stopped at Riverfront Plaza. There have been additionally a lot of sudden stops because it moved, which appeared to elucidate the necessity for seatbelts. These awkward actions continued as we moved onto Bay Road, the place the car swerves into visitors because it tries to keep away from the parked vehicles close to the previous Courthouse. The trip is sort of noisy, between the whine of the electrical motors, the frequent automated bulletins, and radio chatter from the AIC.
Wanting ahead inside a NAVI car.
Simply east of Lafayette Road, the place Bay separates to accommodate the Hart Ramps, the car strikes onto a (moderately badly paved) devoted lane constructed between Gator Bowl Boulevard and its sidewalk. This features a very surprisingly positioned cease that the car basically stops previous (already listed as being for MOSH), and one other cease throughout from Lot J (listed because the 4 Seasons). At most of those stops, the car would cease, however not open the doorways. The car then proceeds additional east (by means of a puddle, at the moment) earlier than lastly reaching the pedestrian crossing close to Day by day’s Place, the place it makes a U-turn to proceed west down Gator Bowl Boulevard. There’s one other cease (for the stadium, with the outdated identify of “TIAA Subject”), the place I briefly obtained off and walked round.
I crossed the road again to the 4 Seasons station, the place after a surprisingly lengthy wait (the pedestal display which now did embody NAVI arrivals going from 4:09 to 4:12 and ultimately to 4:19) earlier than being met by the exact same car I had exited earlier, this time with one other Beep worker aboard who exited to apparently study one thing earlier than re-boarding. We then made a big U alongside Georgia Road, Duval Road, after which A. Philip Randolph Boulevard (the place one station appeared to nonetheless be beneath development) earlier than rejoining Bay Road. As we handed the Elbow, the Beep worker needed to take over to go two double-parked beer vans, the system taking again over at Market Road. The second Beep worker defined how he had solely begun working again in February, discussing how the car was nonetheless overly cautious and workers would wish to assist it alongside, particularly round the place development was, which hopefully would make issues simpler as that work accomplished. There have been solely 4 vans working at the moment, and with this being a Thursday afternoon and tomorrow a vacation, it will be the final day of operation earlier than the next Monday morning. He appeared to recommend that the hours would possibly doubtlessly increase later. I requested about how they might accommodate folks leaving busy occasions resembling soccer video games as fall rolled round. His reply was solely that they might merely maintain operating the eventual 14 automobiles to the very best of their capacity.
I lastly reached Bay & Julia, the place I had first boarded. The Beep worker’s button to open the door appeared cussed. After a wait on the intersection, it lastly rolled away. I used to be the one member of the general public I noticed using the car at the moment.
I’m shocked, maybe most of all by the general high quality of the expertise. The Beep workers all seem like sort folks doing their jobs, however witnessing the all these years of labor and tens of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer {dollars} lead to a product that seems no higher, maybe even worse, than the very first Check & Study demonstrations in 2016 or the Armsdale Facility demonstrations in 2021 or the experimental pilots elsewhere heightens my disappointment on this metropolis’s leaders, at JTA and elsewhere. Taking a look at what has been completed in different cities with the amount of cash now spent breaks my coronary heart for Jacksonville. Now we have really made an egregious, spectacular waste of the general public good. These accountable, not the Beep workers spending their days in vans however those that have marched us to this final result over these a few years must really feel huge disgrace for this ultimate product. Jacksonville ought to take this chance now to conclude the lengthy overdone experiment of an Final City Circulator and work out learn how to develop extra of the true mass transit a area this dimension wants and deserves.
Editorial by Marcus Nelson