JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jaguars fans leaving last Saturday nights big win against the Tennessee Titans are sounding off to News4JAX about the delays they experienced while riding JTA’s Gameday Xpress after the game.
JTA shuttles fans from four different parts of the city to TIAA Bank Field and back and some fans say it took them far too long on the return.
To put the attendance into perspective, JTA says they transported more football fans from the Kings Avenue Parking garage to TIAA Field than they have for the Florida Georgia game. That coupled with the fact that the Saturday night game was a nail biter to the very end, led to the perfect storm of delays in transportation according to JTA.
TELL US: Did you have to wait a long time for JTA’s Gameday Xpress after the Titans game?
It was a major fourth quarter win for the Jacksonville Jaguars who pulled out a victory for the AFC South title in the last few minutes of the game. Fans say it was a great celebration followed by an unusually long wait.
News4JAX viewer Dan wrote, “I waited in line approximately 1.5 hours to board the bus. The bus wait/ride for the postgame Xpress to the Kings Avenue Parking garage was anything but an express.”
Jennifer wrote, “I have knee problems, and my knees started to give out wile I was in the long line. A JTA helper escorted me to a bench while I waited for a JTA bus.”
An anonymous viewer wrote, “Wildly inefficient. I’ve never had to wait that long ever.”
JTA Spokesperson, Petrina Parker, said, “When the game was over, we had a massive amount of fans all coming out at the same time trying to get on the shuttle.”
Parker told News4JAX JTA Xpress transported approximately 3,200 football fans to and from the field. She also said that at a typical game, buses start transporting fans to their cars near the end of the third quarter. Below is a breakdown in the numbers:
- Gameday Xpress total ridership for Tennessee Titans game – 3,277
- Kings Avenue Garage shuttle Tennessee Titans game - 1,920
- Kings Avenue Garage shuttle Dallas Cowboys game – 1,384
- Kings Avenue Garage shuttle FL/GA game - 1,348
Because the fans were fighting to win a playoff spot, everyone seemingly waited until the end of the game, and left TIAA Bank Field at the same time. Parker said JTA holds weekly meetings to address what could be larger crowds each and every game, announcing that in response to demand, JTA is expanding their JTA Xpress hours.
“What we are going to do to remedy that is we are going to have an extended hours, we will extend the hours after the game for the Gameday Xpress shuttles,” Parker said. “So we’ll have an additional 30 minutes that will run the shuttles after the game and then before the game we’re going to have the shuttle start running three hours before the game. So, we’re going to remedy that by extending the hours before the game and after the game.”
Parker also said according to JTA statistics, all fans were cleared from the stadium to the parking garage in one hour and 40 minutes. She said they will have all the resources they need to handle the crowds for this Saturday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers but she’s urging fans to be patient.