Poll: 67% of Floridians support state or federal funding for High Speed Rail

[Ocklawaha]

Remember that the OMNI, WACHOVIA and HILTON GARDEN INN are all byproducts of the SKYWAY! So it doesn't carry a soul... how much are these places worth to our economy?

As for Commuter Rail, I think even a Miami type system will attract development if Florida wasn't so damn backward. California will run METROLINK trains every 30 minutes all day and all night too. Jacksonville or Orlando will introduce Commuter Rail with 2 hour headway's and MAYBE a small morning and evening rush of better frequencies... forget going to a concert or out to the mall, because we'll roll up the sidewalks and close the stations at 6 pm.  Witness the poor Skyway... undependable, off schedule, dirty, smells like piss, broken fare and turnstile machines, no weekend or holiday service, no night service past 9 pm... City 1.4 million people-transit HORRIBLE.

I see that Faye just posted about being way behind in infrastructure, and I'll agree with her.  Colombia is so far ahead of the US in mass transit we couldn't get a radar fix on them. The new trolley buses in Medellin are "GUIDED BUS TECHNOLOGY", want to go to the poor barrios in the mountains? No problem, buses every 10 minutes, or a train, or rope cable tramways (which run continuously with a car arriving at any one station about every 45 seconds). For a proud American that has never traveled out of our country it can be an eye opening experience and a large serving of humble pie. Go with me to Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Cartagena, Rio, Ciudad de Panama, Bello Horizonte, Brasilia, or even freaking Paramaribo Suriname, pick ANY location, ANYWHERE in these cities, and walk to the corner... 30 seconds MAYBE, 2 minutes not likely, more then 5 NEVER, and you'll have a bus, trolley, subway, train, taxi, boat, something ready to whisk you to your destination. In the Andes or in Amazonia, city or country, anywhere, anytime... GO!

OCKLAWAHA

[middleman]

^You are correct.  We can look at the skyway as proof.  However, when you integrate mass transit and land use together, from a public policy standpoint, transit oriented (or adjacent) development tends to follow.  On the commuter rail side of things, the style of service also has a lot to do with whether a system will be attractive to TOD or not.  For example, while commuter and intercity rail may not have spurred massive TOD in Boston, it has in California.

Yeah, that makes sense. Question is, if commuter rail is ever brought to Jacksonville, will intelligent land use be coupled with it?