JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville City Council Member is demanding detailed answers from JTA about its Ultimate Urban Circulator project and downtown NAVI autonomous shuttle program.
Action News Jax told you earlier this month that the NAVI shuttles were averaging roughly 137 riders per day, which Councilmember Rory Diamond (R-District 13) argued is unacceptable given the $65 million that has already been dumped into the project.
“You could have taken $65 million and just paid for people to take taxis, and you would have had a more efficient system,” said Diamond.
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Diamond, who sits on the Duval DOGE Committee, sent a letter to JTA CEO Nat Ford last week, writing in part, “There is growing concern among the public regarding the financial exposure, technological reliability, and overall feasibility of the U2C initiative”.
He listed 17 questions surrounding project costs, contingency plans, ridership projections, and more.
“Obviously, I have lots of questions about what’s going on with the NAVI system. I don’t support it. I think it ought to be canceled like, today,” said Diamond.
We wanted to hear directly from NAVI riders about their experience, so we spent half an hour at a NAVI stop on Bay Street, hoping to talk to one.
Eventually, we saw a woman waiting at a nearby stop down the street, but when we asked her whether she was waiting for the autonomous shuttle, she said she’d never heard of it.
When a shuttle pulled up, she had a discussion with the shuttle operator and agreed to hop on.
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She declined to talk with us, and it was unclear whether the shuttle was actually taking her where she wanted to go, or if she was simply trying to get away from us.
Ford responded to Diamond’s letter on Friday, indicating he plans to provide answers to all 17 questions by November 3rd.
Diamond said he’s very much looking forward to seeing those responses.
“Tell me, how do I protect taxpayers if this is a huge boondoggle? I mean, that’s what I think it is, and so, let’s get the answers on the table. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s some plan I don’t understand, but I would like to see it,” said Diamond.
Diamond said he also plans to question JTA leaders about the project in person during the upcoming Duval DOGE committee meeting scheduled for November 4th.
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