JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The city and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority are launching the “Door to Store” pilot program, which will give people living in a certain area free rides to grocery stores.
The program is slated to launch on Feb. 1. It’s for residents living in the JTA’s Northside ReadiRide zone.
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According to JTA, the year-long pilot is intended to provide access for residents living in what are considered food deserts, areas where access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats are not as easily available within a close proximity of their homes.
“I am grateful for the JTA’s efforts and excited to see this wonderful program take flight,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said. “There are still other areas in our community that lack easy access to the healthy foods, so my team and I will continue to look for solutions to meet these important community needs.”
“What we’re doing is trying to prevent those food deserts from happening, and essentially improve the connectivity to great healthy food opportunities,” JTA CEO Nathaniel Ford said.
Ford said he asked the JTA staff to look at how they could help solve that problem.
“So what we will be doing at the JTA, our role is to provide free rides to area grocery stores in this community,” Ford said.
Through Door to Store, the JTA will provide complimentary rides to and from seven grocery store locations within the Northside ReadiRide zone including:
- Jacksonville Farmers Market - located at 1810 W Beaver St., Jacksonville, FL 32209
- Harveys Supermarket stores located at:
- 2261 Edgewood Ave. West, Jacksonville, FL 32209
- 201 West 48th, Jacksonville, FL 32208
- 777 Market St., Jacksonville, FL 32202
- Save-A-Lot grocery stores located at:
- 8000 Lem Turner Road, Jacksonville, FL 32208
- 5751 Main St. North, Jacksonville, FL 32208
- Winn-Dixie - Future location (opening Feb. 12) at 5210 Norwood Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32208
- Price Rite - 3528 Moncrief Road, Jacksonville, FL 32209
“Eliminating Food deserts -- it’s a priority. It’s something that we’ve focused on. It’s something the City Council (is) focused on,” Curry said. “So when you’re working to do that and you hear that you’re potentially going to lose a grocery store and create another food desert, you just can’t let that happen.”
For more information, click here to head to JTA’s website.