Scenic Jacksonville

Bus Shelter News

Further coverage of the shelter advertising issue can be found on the TIMES-UNION website:

Webb's ties to JTA renew conflict-of-interest concerns.

JTA critics take on agency over conflict of interests.

JTA does not comply with former General Counsel's public records request pertaining to the bus shelter advertising bill.  Click here to read the January 27, 2009 article outlining one citizen's attempts to obtain documents identifying any lobbyists who may have worked on the bill, as well as communications proving JTA's Executive Director's assertion that the bill was proffered in response to thousands of requests for more shelters. 

FOLIO WEEKLY also covers the JTA's noncompliance with the public records request.  Click here to read the editorial.

This January 11, 2010  TIMES-UNION article outlines the JTA's plans to move forward with the bus shelter advertising proposal, despite its commitment to work with those who would seek an alternative to littering the streets of Jacksonville with curbside ads.

The TIMES-UNION is at it again.  Click here to read the latest editorial, in which the T-U reports, "It costs $4,000 or more to build a shelter and $1,200 a year to maintain it, the JTA says." A review of JTA documents (see the Current Issues page) will show any who care to look that these figures are inaccurate at best.

FOLIO WEEKLY applauds the JTA Board of Directors for decision to reexamine bus shelter advertising proposal. (Click here to read the editorial.)

This article in the November 2009 RESIDENT Community News also discusses the JTA Board's decision to search for alternatives to the bus shelter advertising. Note that the misinformation continues. (Click here to read the story.)

Here you will find additional articles pertaining to the bus shelter issue within the Jacksonville community.

Times-Union, January 17, 2005, Ad Sales Could Build Bus Shelters

This story reported that JTA had 6,570 bus stops in Jacksonville when, in fact, the number was in the range of 3,500.  By relying upon the inflated number, the article gave the impression that Jacksonville's rate of shelter installation lagged behind other cities' rates, like Orlando's.  The erroneous number would continue to be reported in news stories and editorials over the following years with few exceptions.

Times-Union, January 21, 2005, Bus Shelters: Seize the Day

This editorial reported that 15 to 20 new shelters are added each year, and that the new shelters cost $3,000 to $8,000 to build.  However, documents provided by JTA show that in 2004 it requisitioned 50 shelters with wheelchair access.  The cost was $2,350 per shelter. (Click here to see the invoice and accompanying paperwork.) These shelters were placed into service in 2005.

Times-Union, June 1, 2005, Bus Shelters: Go for cover

This article also used the erroneous figure of 6,570 bus stops, and hiked the cost of a new shelter to $9,000, claiming that the JTA's budget could only accommodate 15 to 20 new shelters per year.  The article omitted the fact that 50 new shelters were being placed into service that very same year for a total purchase price of $117,500 (at $2,350 per shelter).  (Click here to see the invoice and accompanying paperwork.) It is noteworthy that in October of 2009, JTA reported that it had achieved a savings of $3,000,000 through budget cuts.  A fraction of that savings could have been used to purchase a handicapped-accessible shelter for every bus stop location that met JTA's ridership criteria in 2009.

Times-Union, August 9, 2005, Bus Shelters: Ideas welcomed

This article again makes use of the inaccurate numbers, referencing 6,570 bus stops, but it makes no mention of the low cost of the handicapped-accessible shelters purchased from Brasco, Inc. (based in Detroit, MI) that had just been placed in service.  The funny numbers, as well as the omissions, would continue to plague the media and citizens alike over the next 5 years.

Times-Union, February 12, 2006, City Notes: Bus stop proposal hits snag

By the time this article reported that JTA had 400 shelters in service, the purported number of bus stops had risen to 6,650.  Again, this is nearly twice the number of stops actually existing in Jacksonville.  The article reported that the City was researching the numbers, and citizens began to suspect the accuracy of the information being disseminated by JTA.

Times-Union, May 28, 2006, Bus Shelters: Keeping Dry

This article refers to 3,774 - not 6,650 - bus stops.  No explanation is given for the radical drop from the previsously reported number of bus stops.  While the number of stops was approaching something like accuracy, the annual maintenance cost for a shelter was reported as $3,500 in the same article.  While the true maintenance cost (a mere $68 per year) for most shelters is buried within this figure, the number is still a gross exaggeration, even allowing for trash pickup costs that have nothing to do with a shelter's maintenance cost. 

Times-Union, July 25, 2007, Bus stops: Give riders a break

This article refers to nearly 3,800 bus stops, but it won't be long before the number is again being reported as 6,000 plus.  Once again, this article places the annual cost of shelter maintenance at $3,500 each. Where is the media scrutiny?  Why are these numbers accepted on blind faith?  For insiders, note the reference to bus ridership in San Antonio.  Isn't that the world headquarters for Clear Channel Outdoor, the largest billboard company in the world?

Times-Union, August 12, 2007, Council asks for more time to study ads on bus shelters

This article takes us back to the good old days of doubling the actual number of JTA's bus stops.  This time, the number of stops is reported as 6,600.  However, because of citizens' pesky questions regarding the details of the maintenance figures, the same have dropped from $3,500 to $950 per shelter. No explanation is given for this discrepancy either.  But isn't the real shelter maintenance cost in the neighborhood of $68 yearly? 

Times-Union, September 29, 2007, Give riders a break

This article repeats one JTA's spokesman's assertion that there are 6,600 bu stops throughout Jacksonville.  It also urges the City Council to take action. Behind the scenes, citizens continued to press for information about locations actually meeting JTA's criteria for the placement of shelters.  Others expressed concerns regarding the quoted costs of an adopt-a-stop program.  Unfortunately, the article simply makes reference to JTA's limited funds, without any mention of actual numbers.

Times-Union, October 13, 2007, History, bite-sized

This story reported that the City was renegotiating its contracts with trash haulers.  More importantly, a spokesperson from the Mayor's Office advised that the City would ask its current trash haulers to empty JTA waste receptacles as they pass by on their normal routes.  Even though the cost of trash collection should be considered independently of the cost of shelter maintenance, JTA has repeatedly thrown trash collection costs into its shelter maintenance figures. Despite the representations made by the Mayor's Office, the news media never followed up on the promise that "it will be done." The City appears to have broken its commitment to looking into whether its trash haulers would collect trash in JTA receptacles along the City's roadways.  Will the press ever follow up?

Times-Union, October 24, 2007, Good compromise

This article refers to 6,000 bus stops and $8,000 in shelter installation costs.  It should be evident from a review of this press coverage that JTA data is a moving target upon which it is impossible to depend.  Facts and figures become reliable only through public records requests and a thorough vetting process. In June of 2008, the JTA would acquire 15 bus shelters:  $3,010 each for 12 shelters and $3,195 each for the remaining 3 shelters.  When combined with the 50 shelters purchased for $2,350 each in 2005, the average price of the 65 shelters was $2,510.  (Click here to see the invoice and accompanying paperwork.)

Daily Record, May 28, 2009, JTA still pursuing new bus shelters

This article in the Financial News and Daily Record refers to 6,600 bus stops distributed across Jacksonville's 840 square miles, with 6,200 stops marked only by a pole in the ground.  NEWSBREAK:  6,600 is a bogus number, and many of JTA's stops have a bench. No report on the locations that meet the JTA's ridership criteria for the placement of a shelter, nor on the criteria themselves. Any number of questions could have been asked, rather than blindly accepting the purported figures.

Times-Union, July 13, 2009, Jacksonville takes another look at bus shelters with advertisements

This story repeats the fiction of 6,600 bus stops, inflated by about 3,000.  Shelter maintenance is now $1,200 per year (even though shelter cleaning is only $68 per year for most shelters).  A bus shelter is now reported to cost $12,000 per year, but no one seems to be asking about the source of this information.  Is anyone looking into stimulus funding?  It is interesting to note that in July of 2009 JTA estimates that a private advertising company will build 15 to 20 shelters each year.  Watch that estimate balloon to 50 shelters in future estimates.

Times-Union, August 27, 2009, Bus shelters: Put people first

This story mentions 6,000 bus stops, and the number of shelters to be built by an advertising company has ballooned to 50 per year. There is still no reference to stimulus funding.

Times-Union, October 4, 2009, Stimulus money: Missing the bus

The myth continues as this story refers to 6,000 JTA bus stops.  However, the issue of stimulus funding is finally raised by the media.  It is reported that one city acquired 500 solar-powered shelters through stimulus funding. But, here we go again, a JTA spokesman cites the shelters' maintenance and cleaning costs, purported to be $1,200 t0 $1,500 per shelter, as the major impediment to increasing the number of shelters in service.  Is anyone asking to see records the JTA's cleaning and maintenance costs?  Will the records confirm the $1,200 to $1,500 number, or will they show that the actual maintenance cost per (5'X9') shelter per year is about $68?

Times-Union, October 8, 2009, Bus shelter battle heads to Jacksonville City Council

Again, this story refers to 6,000 bus stops, as well as $1,200 annually in maintenance costs per shelter.  It does not refer to the sharp line of questions focused on the "maintenance" costs by one member of Jacksonville's Planning Commission.  Everyone seems to assume that the information is accurate.  However, neither the number of stops nor the quoted maintenance costs can be supported by documentary evidence.

Times-Union, October 12, 2009, Building bus shelters with ads stirs debate through Jacksonville

This article contains no report on the number of bus stops meeting JTA's criteria for the placement of a new shelter, and there is still no mention of the criteria themselves.  The story does not point to the number of shelters actually needed, or the shelter maintenance costs actually paid by JTA.

Times-Union, October 14, 2009, Jacksonville sign law amended to allow ads at new bus shelters

This article, written after a City Council public hearing during which it became apparent that the JTA's data was inaccurate and during which no mention of the JTA's $3,000,000 in savings during the prior fiscal year was made, reports again that there are 6,000 bus stops in Jacksonville.  The reported shelter costs, as well as the reported maintenance costs, are likewise erroneous.  At the same City Council meeting, two Council Members who had initially supported the advertising bill voted against it, but why?

Folio Weekly, October 20, 2009, Numbers Game

This article, featured in the City's alternative newspaper, examines JTA's shifting numbers.

Times-Union, October 24, 2009, Advertising for bus shelters: Funny numbers, flawed logic

This letter to the T-U tracks the insufficient and inaccurate media coverage of the bus shelter issue in Jacksonville.  It also exposes other problems with the bus shelter advertising bill.

Times Union, October 29, 2009, JTA says it will put the brakes on bus shelters with ads

This story details the decision by the JTA Board of Directors to work with opponents of the bus shelter advertising bill to find a way to fund bus shelters without selling out to the advertising industry.  The bill was passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Peyton but, in light of the negative reaction to that passage, the JTA Board has committed to looking for alternatives.  Kudos to the JTA Board!