One of the JTA's Clay Community Transportation shuttle buses. | JTA
Published on September 24, 2026 at 10:10 am
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
The JTA contract for its shuttle bus and paratransit services in Clay County will end in 90 days following a unanimous Board of County Commissioners vote this week to cancel the current agreement.
Jacksonville’s transportation agency says it continues to negotiate with Clay County officials on continuing to serve its citizens. Regardless of the outcome, the services will continue unchanged through the end of this year.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
Clay’s three-year JTA contract was meant to run through September 2028, and cost about $1.4 million annually for three separate transit services. The commission vote means that the current contract ends on Dec. 31, leaving Commissioner Jim Renninger concerned about potential disruption in bus service.
“There are people who depend on these lines of transportation,” he said during Tuesday’s commission meeting. “I get a little antsy when we are going to cancel something without knowing any alternative for replacements.”
JTA officials say they are working on reaching a new agreement with Clay County.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
“Tuesday’s vote was anticipated,” JTA said in a written statement sent to Jacksonville Today. “Both parties are using the 90-day period to work toward an amended agreement that would allow the JTA to continue serving Clay County residents while aligning with the County’s budget.”
JTA currently runs the Clay Community Transportation, Clay Express Select and Transportation Disadvantaged programs.
The authority took over Clay County’s Community Transportation system in 2019, providing paratransit services as well as bus service to 29 major municipal, medical and residential sites in Orange Park, Middleburg, Green Cove Springs and elsewhere in the county.
The Express Select program takes Clay County residents to and from the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center at LaVilla for transfer to other JTA bus routes. And the Transportation Disadvantaged Program is for riders with disabilities.
During recent budget workshops, the Clay County Commission discussed reducing funding for the shuttle services to save money. County Contractual Services Director Karen Smith says one option was to cut the JTA contract by $500,000.
Because state law says the county cannot cut the Transportation Disadvantaged Program, it will not go away, Smith says. But the county will spend the next 90 days either renegotiating its contract with JTA for Clay Community Transportation and Express Select, or seek out other ways to provide those services, she said.
Smith said staff plan to bring another transportation funding agreement before the board before Dec. 31 that will “clearly spell out what services will be provided throughout the county.”
JTA says it’s “confident” that an amended agreement can be reached by then.
