Kamelia Solomon doesn't know what she'd do if bus service stopped in Jacksonville.

"It would hurt me bad," said Solomon, 27, who lacks a working car to take her from her home on the Westside to her job at Tinseltown on the Southside. "I take the bus to work, and use it to take my kids to doctors' appointments."

The possibility of weeks or even months without bus service looms because of labor strife between the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and the union that represents its 250 bus drivers. Those drivers, who earn an average of $38,000 a year, asked for either a 17 to 24 percent pay increase, according to the JTA, or 4 to 8 percent, according to the Amalgamated Transit Union.

The JTA has said little about what would happen if a strike occurs. The last negotiating session was Sept. 10, and both sides have promised a federal mediator that they will not talk publicly about the process.

But the agency concedes that many routes would have to be pared down or scrapped.

That could be disastrous to the 10,000 to 12,000 people estimated to ride the bus most weekdays. Although many people criticize the JTA bus system as inadequate - especially people who ride it - it's still better than nothing.

On Thursday morning, people of all ages and races were waiting for buses at the Rosa Parks Transfer Station downtown. A 2006 origin and destination study of bus riders commissioned by the JTA showed 44.4 percent of bus users rode the bus to work, 14.3 percent to shop, 8.2 percent to school or college and 33.2 percent for other purposes.

Warren Chapman, 54, is retired, but takes the bus across Jacksonville to do odd jobs.

"If it shuts down, I'll have to rely on people I know," he said.

He said he wonders if the general public appreciates that people like him need the bus and how catastrophic it can be when the bus is late or does not come at all.

Theresa Walker, 24, hasn't had a problem catching the bus to her job at St. Vincent's Medical Center. She often catches one more than an hour before she's due, so if she misses it or the bus is late, she can still get to work on time.

But Walker worries about a shutdown. "I could lose my job," she said.

Laura Wolanski, 40, shares a car with her son.

"He and I take turns driving the car, so the other one of us takes the bus," she said.

Wolanski works in Lakewood and her son goes to the Florida State College at Jacksonville South Campus. They live in Arlington and her husband is unemployed.

If JTA service is interrupted, her husband would have to drive both to work.

"He could only do that because he's unemployed," Wolanski said. "If he gets a job, he couldn't."

Fear of a shutdown is occurring while the bus is as popular as it's ever been.

In fiscal 2009, riders took just under 10.3 million trips on JTA buses, generating fare revenue of $9.8 million.

But fare revenue and trips taken is just a small part of bus funding. Also last year, the JTA spent about $62.3 million to operate the system, resulting in an operating loss of about $52.8 million. That was balanced with money from sales and gas taxes and $9.7 million in combined state and federal grants, JTA spokeswoman Wendy Morrow said.

Most bus systems lose money and are supplemented by other revenue sources. But the JTA saw a decrease in the amount of gas and sales tax revenue it collected from 2008 to 2009. Gas tax money dropped from $30.4 million to $28.1 million; sales tax money dropped from $71.4 million to $64.6 million.

Another drop is expected in 2010.

The cost of operating the bus service also has doubled in the last decade, from $30.3 million in 1999.

The JTA points to increased fuel and maintenance costs and an increase in health insurance costs as reasons but was unable to provide a comprehensive list of why the bus costs have skyrocketed.

The labor strife began when the union asked for a raise and the JTA insisted on a new contract that would freeze salaries for multiple years.

Union members have voted to strike but also promised not to walk out while negotiations continue.

Ken Kirk, the union's international vice president, later said his drivers would accept a one-year salary freeze but not a long-term freeze.

larry.hannan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4470

Link: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-09-19/story/riders-fear-str...