With hundreds of thousands of passenger trips for Jacksonville Transit, the operation now celebrates its tenth anniversary during November.
More than 133,000 passenger trips were logged for Jacksonville Transit last fiscal year. Jacksonville Transit is a partnership of the City, NC Department of Transportation, and the Federal Transit Administration. The service operates public transportation routes that serve residential, commercial and governmental areas of Jacksonville as well as Camp Lejeune and the New River Air Station.
Today Jacksonville Transit remains the only North Carolina transit system that actively operates aboard a military installation. Military members and other riders, are able to use Jacksonville Transit to connect to a central location shared by Amtrak and Greyhound. The City’s vision is for all public transportation options to be headquartered at a new multimodal transportation center, for which the design will begin in 2018.
Additionally, the construction of a new Jacksonville Commons Park and Ride lot will better support Amtrak and Greyhound connectivity while also alleviating parking concerns at Coastal Carolina Community College. The project has been approved by the Mayor and City Council. Construction is to begin soon with full funding coming from the Federal Transit Administration.
Jacksonville was the largest metro area without transportation when in 1997, a community summit produced significant support for a public transit service. A Transit study was organized in 2000, and in 2001, the Jacksonville Onslow Local Transportation service was began using vehicles from Onslow United Transportation System as a test. The name changed the “Loop” in 2002 while the City applied for Federal Transportation Administration status to operate a full transit system.
On November 1, 2007, the first Jacksonville Transit bus rolled into action. Since that time, the system has expanded in both service area as well as ridership.
"Our primary goal with Jacksonville Transit is to provide safe, efficient and convenient public transportation services that make our community proud," said Anthony Prinz, Transportation Services Director. "With the support of our Mayor and Council, we have successfully realized that goal; however, after ten years of operation, we continue to strive for improvement every single day."
Jacksonville transit will work to improve bus stop amenities in the future and continue work on other transit related projects.
To learn more about the City's Transit service, visit: