The Jonesboro Economical Transit System has reached record levels in ridership. Director Steve Ewart was expecting to see over 10-thousand people use the system by this time next year; however, they reached that milestone this month
“It just shows that projects that we made as far as what central transfer operations do were accurate. We are happy with all that,” Ewart says. “It just gives us a challenge of trying to keep schedules. If you have more people getting on and off the bus, that means that buses are running slower.”
JETS runs five routes through the city, with the newest route located on East Johnson Avenue by Hilltop. He says that route is the most challenging and does not have a lot of users yet.
“We are seeing the greatest growth out of west and north Jonesboro. The reality is that the route that is on East Johnson up to the new NEA Baptist Hospital is not growing as fast as we had hoped. Generally, it takes between six months and a year to determine how active stops may be. It also takes about that long to determine how fast that route will grow”.
He tells why East Johnson is such a challenge.
“Part of the problem is just how busy Johnson is. We can’t stop a bus on Johnson Avenue. You get in the Hilltop area where some people do want to use public transportation, there is no place for us to stop and let people off there. We have to be limited in our points of access on Johnson.”
He says JETS is trying to come up with solutions to meet those challenges on that route. At the same time, JETS is also preparing for a new central transfer station that will be located at Matthews and Caraway Road. That is expected to open sometime in October. He says the central transfer station is centrally located in Jonesboro and the driveway could house up to eight Greyhound buses if needed. He tells what the new station would have in it.
“There will be a waiting room, a ticket counter, restroom facilities, some vending machines, and there will be a 911 number inside and outside the facility, and there will be a lot of technology to give people updates on what our system is doing, as well as a direct line to our dispatcher. We are trying to see what our transportation needs are and how the center can serve those needs, not only now but also years down the road.”
Steve Ewart is the director of JETS.
