JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville residents with disabilities who use JTA\u2019s Connexion Plus service saw their fares spike Thursday, with some riders\u2019 average fares nearly tripling.<\/p>\n
Previously, trips of 15 miles or less would cost $6.<\/p>\n
An extra $2 charge was applied for every additional mile.<\/p>\n
Now, trips of 12 miles or less will cost $10, with an extra $2.50 for every additional mile.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n The rate hikes come as JTA works to manage the cost of the premium paratransit service and disability advocates are continuing to look for a solution that would cut costs for JTA and bring rates back down.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it used to be $12 round trip and today it would be 34, $35 round trip,\u201d said Sharon Dykes, Executive Director of the Center for Independent Living Jacksonville.<\/p>\n Dykes explained even on day one, those new rates are having a major impact.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reports that we\u2019ve received are that people have quit their jobs,\u201d said Dykes. \u201dThey can\u2019t afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n But Dykes is hopeful the rate hikes could be reversed.<\/p>\n She\u2019s pitched a plan that would limit the single-rider Connexion Plus service to only trips of eight or more miles, which she estimates could reduce operating costs by as much as $4 million.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to take a while, but I do think that the authority is working towards that,\u201d said Dykes.<\/p>\n In the meantime, JTA has rolled out another single-rider option to help disabled riders keep costs low.<\/p>\n The agency is offering $20 vouchers through Uber for up to ten trips a week for qualified riders.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough conversations with our paratransit partners, offering an Uber option for shorter trips emerged as a valuable idea. Alongside reducing the standard Connexion fare to $2, we\u2019re taking an all-options-on-the-table approach to deliver solutions that enhance the customer experience while reducing service costs and improving flexibility and affordability for our customers,\u201d said a JTA spokesperson in a statement.<\/p>\n Dykes said it will be a big help for some, but for riders like her who rely on wheelchairs to get around, it may not be a workable option.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they\u2019re working on the wheelchair side of the Uber because that platform isn\u2019t exactly known for picking up wheelchairs,\u201d said Dykes.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in opting in to JTA\u2019s new Connexion Uber program, you can apply here<\/a>.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville residents with disabilities who use JTA\u2019s Connexion Plus service saw their fares spike Thursday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":701168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,5229,292923,18018,45430,292924,3188,723,11561,7310,77156,48916,292922,18708,425,14081,292925,4009,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-701167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-america","tag-center_for_independent_living_jacksonville","tag-connection","tag-dykes","tag-executive_director","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jake_stan","tag-jake_stowan","tag-jejta","tag-jta","tag-local","tag-plus","tag-sharon_dykes","tag-uber","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116338883741723213","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}