JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The Jacksonville Transportation Authority\u2019s $65 million autonomous shuttle program, NAVI, has now been running for over a year \u2014 and data shows that ridership is down.<\/p>\n
Numbers obtained by Action News Jax show ridership dropped roughly 15% from its first six months in operation \u2014 June to December of 2025 \u2014 to its last six months \u2014 January to June of this year.<\/p>\n
The shuttles follow a fixed 3.5-mile route, with 12 stops along the Bay Street Corridor, but JTA\u2019s own numbers show that ridership began to dip after just three months of operation.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Between June and December of 2025, NAVI saw a total ridership of 8,242. Its most successful month was August of 2025, just two months after its launch, with 1,924 riders.<\/p>\n But since then, NAVI has failed to see those numbers carry over.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n An Action News Jax investigation last November found that JTA was paying employees to ride the new transit system<\/a> through its ambassador program, leading some to question the $65 million taxpayer investment.<\/p>\n City Councilman Jimmy Peluso says that much money could\u2019ve been better used elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if we as a city are truly going to be looking at new mass transit options, we\u2019ve got to look at rail,\u201d Peluso said. \u201cNow\u2019s the time to strike and start talking about a fixed rail system, like a light rail system or a commuter rail system. We are ready for faster ways to get around the city quickly, efficiently, and without having to own a car. And so that\u2019s where these dollars need to go.\u201d<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n JTA CEO Nat Ford recently announced that he will be stepping down from his position in January.<\/p>\n Peluso says he\u2019s doubtful whether JTA will continue to invest in the program once he steps out.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think logically it makes very little sense that you\u2019re going to see somebody want to step into that role, continuing something they had nothing to do with, and maybe don\u2019t believe in,\u201d Peluso said. \u201cAnd frankly, I don\u2019t think the people of Jacksonville believe in it either, so I think it\u2019s ready to pull the plug.\u201d<\/p>\n Action News Jax reached out to JTA to ask whether they\u2019re happy with these numbers, how they plan to increase them, whether they will continue to invest in the program and whether it\u2019s still paying employees to ride. We are waiting for a response.<\/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 The Jacksonville Transportation Authority\u2019s $65 million autonomous shuttle program, NAVI, has now been running for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":927091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,15619,5229,76541,102417,276581,3188,723,9649,11561,7310,373959,48496,18708,425,22597,16635,373960,373961,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-927090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-action_news_jack","tag-america","tag-ax_news","tag-bay_street","tag-casey_stone","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-ford","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville_transportation_administration","tag-jimmy_peluso","tag-jta","tag-local","tag-navi","tag-nv","tag-nvi","tag-peloso","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116899570461038597","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927090","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=927090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}