St. Johns County's key public transit offering is the Sunshine Bus, operated in partnership with the area Council on Aging. | St. Johns County Council on Aging
Published on May 15, 2026 at 10:38 am
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St. Johns County is asking the community for feedback about the area’s public transit options.
The county receives funding from the Florida Department of Transportation to provide transit services, but that funding is incumbent on updating the county’s transit development plan.
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The survey, conducted by the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization with help from consultant England-Thims & Miller, functions as a key component of the plan.
The planning organization functions as an independent agency that helps coordinate planning and funding with local governments across North Florida.
In St. Johns, the only county-funded transit option is the Sunshine Bus, run in partnership with the area Council on Aging.
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“St. John’s county receives funding from the state and other sources to provide that service for the county,” says April Bacchus, senior transportatoin planner for England-Thims & Miller. “It serves the St. Augustine urbanized area, and it also connects the St. Augustine urbanized area to other areas of the county as well.”
This survey is one of many that the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization conducts regarding transportation throughout the area. Last year, the organization surveyed St. Johns County residents about bicycle and pedestrian trails throughout the area.
What the surveyors hope to collect is feedback from bus riders about the quality of service, as well as feedback from people who don’t already take the bus.
That feedback can be incorporated into the county’s transit development plan and used as guidance for adding future bus routes or altering the Sunshine Bus service. Previous survey results have been used to add service to areas where the population has greatly increased, like the World Golf Village area.
“It sort of becomes a strategic blueprint for meeting transportation needs,” Bacchus explains, “and specifically public transportation needs within the service area.”
The survey is available on the TPO’s website and will remain open until June 1.
Getting around with public transit
According to a 2023 report, Sunshine Bus ridership was down over the past year, with the largest decline beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic. Annual ridership across the service’s seven bus routes sat at 300,000 in 2018, and that number was down to just under 100,000 in 2021.
One-way trips cost $2 per rider, with daily and monthly passes available for one-time fees of $4 or $30 respectively.
Outside of the Sunshine Bus, there are not many public transit offerings in St. Johns County.
The city of St. Augustine offers the free STAR Circulator bus system, which runs from the city’s downtown visitor information center through the historic downtown.
That bus system does not run during the city’s popular Nights of Lights holiday event, but the city instead offers the STAR Beach Shuttle, an alternate service that connects the Bridge of Lions to areas south of the city, all the way south through the city of St. Augustine Beach.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority also offers a route connecting the St. Johns County government complex to downtown Jacksonville. For $3, riders can ride to and from the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center in LaVilla to the government complex on Lewis Speedway in St. Augustine. The bus makes a single stop in Durbin Park on St. Johns County’s north side.
