JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The crowd-funding effort to give the public a ride from downtown Jacksonville to the beaches has hit a financial road block. There is a lot more money needed to make 'The Connector' buses that would travel from downtown to the beaches a reality.
Void Magazine and The Elbow teamed up to make the idea a reality for Jacksonville, but they've only reached 6 percent of their goal. Organizers admit that their $100,000 goal was ambitious, and while they may be down on cash, they told Channel 4 Wednesday night that no one should count them out.
"We are dedicated to exhausting all options, and we feel that over the last 30 days, opportunities have come to the surface where we're more optimistic than ever," said Director of Marketing Eddie Barrang. "We are very confident and cautiously optimistic in the upcoming negotiations with some of these private investors and we think that by Dec. 13 we should have a better answer."
The idea behind 'The Connector' is to give people a ride from the beaches to downtown Jacksonville and back, from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., every 30 minutes on Friday and Saturday nights.
While Barrang said that city council members in both parts of town have been supportive of the idea, they're hopeful the community will toast the next round of fundraising.
"There's an energy and an opportunity in here to do something greater than themselves and connect and grow. This initiative, 'The Connector,' with the transportation from the beaches to downtown is one thing, we have confidence behind it"
Organizers originally wanted to have buses up and running by New Years Eve, but they say they don't know if they'll make that timeline. Right now, organizers tell Channel 4 that the focus is to get private investors behind the idea in order to make it a success.
If 'The Connector' kicks off, they will offer rides for $5 one way and $8 round trip, from the Beaches to Downtown.
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