MARGATE – The investigation into providing some form of public transportation this summer is continuing, Business Administrator Patrick Moran said this week.
“We’re trying to get a trolley service that complies with the Department of Transportation’s standards,” Moran said in a telephone interview.
The city is continuing its investigation into what type of transportation, associated costs and potential routes would work before it solicits bids for the service.
“We want to hear from everyone before we decide on a route,” Moran said. “That includes the Margate Business Association, Citizens Advisory Committee and the residents.”
The Atlantic City Jitney Service, which provided service during the summer of 2018, offered to meet with the city, Moran said.
“We were looking at a tram in lieu of a jitney. I understand last time around the residents didn’t want a jitney. The routes were not conducive and it was underutilized.”
During contentious public discussions years ago, residents who live along Atlantic Avenue objected to having riders who may have been out drinking at local establishments dropped off in front of their high-priced homes during the early morning hours. Local ordinances permit bars to stay open until 4 a.m.
Real estate agents testified that having a jitney stopping at intersections would devalue properties. Others said the roadway is not conducive to dropping people off at the curbline. For the safety of riders, jitney stops could eliminate some much-needed parking spaces, some said.
Jitney operators complained the service was barely utilized by residents due to the limitations imposed by city officials. The jitneys only stopped at certain locations and the public was uninformed about where the stops were located.
Due to the lack of parking during the height of the summer season when thousands of summertime residents and visitors descend on the city, local businesswoman Roz Tynan, owner of Jamaican Me Crazy in the Ventnor Avenue Business District, has been spearheading the effort to get the city to “apply a tourniquet and get into the people moving business” to transport shoppers between the city’s four business districts.
“Now my business is suffering. Everyone who walks in my store complains they can’t find a parking space. There’s a lot of negative energy coming from our customers,” she told commissioners in January.
A circulation plan outlined in the city’s 2016 Master Plan recommended three options to the ongoing shortage of parking – consider allowing some beach-block parking, purchasing and converting properties into public parking lots and offering shuttle services to offsite parking locations, such as the parking lot at the Eugene A. Tighe Middle School.
The city is spending $3 million to purchase the defunct Liberty Gas Station and turn it into an 18-space parking lot with parklike amenities. The city is hoping to have the parking lot completed by Memorial Day.
Moran said the city is considering a 23-seat electric vehicle, but it may not meet federal standards for slow-moving vehicles because it’s too heavy, Moran said.
The city has reached out to state legislators to see if the NJ Department of Transportation could make an exception. At that point, the city would go out to bid for a company to operate the system.
“We need everyone’s input to get the best plan for the city,” Moran said. “We don’t want it to be unsuccessful.”
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