JTA Responds to Skyway Criticism

[johnnyroadglide]

That may be true is some cases but these are obvious and very blatant efforts to simply ignore the fee and jump the turnstiles. I have watched numerous occasions of people not even making an effort to pay the fee.

[fieldafm]

That may be true is some cases but these are obvious and very blatant efforts to simply ignore the fee and jump the turnstiles. I have watched numerous occasions of people not even making an effort to pay the fee.

If JTA does not care, clearly why should anyone else?

They brought out the Bay Street Trolley bus on the Riverside Trolley route two Saturdays ago... problem is, Bay Street Trolley busses have broken fare boxes.  I asked why?  The answer from the driver, they just wanted to run these busses today. 

[wsansewjs]

After spending millions of dollars on "upgrading" their fare boxes in past three years using the America Recovery Act's funds, and you are telling me that is still broken?!

Scroll down to "Fare Collection System" @ http://www.jtafla.com/Projects/showPage.aspx?Sel=208. You will see the description, "To install modern fare collection equipment in bus fleet." and the cost, $4,430,000.

Seriously that cost MORE than any other projects under America Recovery Act.

JTA, BULLSHIT! JTA. F***ing BULLSHIT! -throws papers in the air-

-Josh

[peestandingup]

Connecting the adjacent areas (Riverside, San Marco, Springfield) with an integrated system is vital (not buses, buses suck, no one will ride them, so lets get that out of our heads right now).

Meh.

While I actually agree with your other points, PSU, I must say I'd ride the bus if there was a route that actually went where I needed to go. 

And if there were better than 50-70 minute headways, but that's another argument.

So would I, but buses rarely ever do that. They're erratic by nature since they all follow the same open road system that cars do. That means delays, less frequency, uncertainty of when the next bus arrives at your stop, etc. That's why places with dedicated rail systems like DC can push a train through every 10 minutes. Which is really what you want.

No one wants to pull out a bus schedule & try to coordinate a rendezvous to which you can be at the bus stop at the perfect time. That's why no one rides buses, its not worth it & is a PITA. You should be able to just go whenever you want & not possibly wait an hour. And no, running more buses isn't the answer because of the reasons I mentioned. Plus, its incredibly wasteful & inefficient. Thats why they run them with the infrequency that they do now. You could maybe up it to once every 30-45 minutes in a town like this, but thats still not good.

Plus, let us not forget our history & where our good friend the modern bus system came from. It was a strategic replacement to a system that wasn't broken (the streetcars) to get us all to drive more & to benefit GM, Standard Oil & the rest of the clowns of National City Lines. Then it sorta went off from there. So they're terrible by design. We knew this before, we know this now. Other cities are trying to make up for the mistakes of the past, but not us.

Like I said, any real city that's serious about public transit doesn't make buses their primary people mover. To do this is doing it ass-backwards (which I suspect is what we'll end up doing).

[johnnyroadglide]

That may be true is some cases but these are obvious and very blatant efforts to simply ignore the fee and jump the turnstiles. I have watched numerous occasions of people not even making an effort to pay the fee.

If JTA does not care, clearly why should anyone else?

They brought out the Bay Street Trolley bus on the Riverside Trolley route two Saturdays ago... problem is, Bay Street Trolley busses have broken fare boxes.  I asked why?  The answer from the driver, they just wanted to run these busses today. 

And you are right, field..they obviously don't care or they would figure out ways to fix the turnstiles or stop the toll jumpers.

[exnewsman]

Until the new fare collection system is installed - what would be the point? Blaylock said on his TV show that the smart card fare system would be installed later this year.

[stjr]

Lake, the tone, style, and substance of this looks an awful lot like your handiwork with input from Ock.  It also looks especially customized to address our many fertile discussions at MJ.  At first, I actually thought it was an MJ article.  I had to pinch myself a few times to be sure it was "officially issued" JTA speak.  Sure you didn't offer JTA a major assist?  

I'll give whoever wrote it some bonus points for trying to show and respect more than one side of the issue.  I don't recall JTA humbly acknowledging its critics or their criticisms too often.  Maybe this is a sign of a new, "softer", JTA?    (Or, is it a display of Lake's style to encourage even handed evaluations of the issues?)

So... Lake and Ock, are you co-conspirators with JTA on this or is it just a coincidence that it aligns so well with your accumulated posts and previous articles?  For the record.....

[Lunican]

Here is the JTA Making Moves video that discusses the future of the skyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED4V7n_7plc&feature=player_detailpage#t=914s

[dougskiles]

I watched the video.  Pretty good but I didn't like the talk about "it is unlikely that the original plans to extend the Skyway to Shands, Riverside or the Sports Complex will ever be realized".  Nice shots of Portland.

[thelakelander]

None are on the drawing board at the moment. We need to pick and choose our battles and expanding the skyway should not be the top mass transit priority right now. Addressing skyway expansion before getting better utilization out of our existing system or a streetcar starter could take down local mass transit in general. JTA has to 2017 to get their act together or risk losing a significant amount current funding. Time to quickly grab some low hanging fruit and incrementally move on from there.

[Garden guy]

The historically conservative leaders of this city want an international city but unfortunately their decisions, ideas, attitude and beliefs will continue to make sure that any type of modern transportation infrastructure null and void in this city. They think we are a metro city but we really aren't and never will be if the citizens keep doing what they've been doing the past 50 years...nothing but passing on the buck and defunding by lowering taxes that really only help the wealthy and connected.

[Ocklawaha]

So... Lake and Ock, are you co-conspirators with JTA on this or is it just a coincidence that it aligns so well with your accumulated posts and previous articles?  For the record.....[/b]

In spite of the best efforts of the idiots at CNN, FOX and the local mullet wrapper, there is NO SUCH THING AS A "CO-CONSPIRATOR." Please don't write under the mistaken assumption that if it appears in a lesser dictionary, that means it is correct, obviously overlooking the possibility that perhaps they are mistaken. Look up "unindicted". Coconspirator, is just as wrong despite the drooping standards at Merriam-Webster. Sex refers to living things, gender is a grammatical term. People continue to use these words interchangeably. That's just bad writing. I continue to use the Times-Union for bad examples and they give me a lot to work with.

Actually if it makes you feel any better JTA reads MJ, perhaps they were responding knowing we would pick up the story? Otherwise stjr, as far as conspiracy's that's as close as it gets.

OCKLAWAHA      

[stjr]

Actually if it makes you feel any better JTA reads MJ, perhaps they were responding knowing we would pick up the story? Otherwise stjr, as far as conspiracy's that's as close as it gets.[/b]

Well, Ock, you and Lake should get some royalties from JTA.  I would say most of their "white paper" was lifted right off of MJ boards.  Not that I mind, just giving credit where credit is due.

[Lunican]

Here is part 1 of the Skyway segment on JTA's Making Moves show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDMwWD-PqGE&feature=player_detailpage#t=830s

[danem]

Well that's a good thing, right? JTA listening to the transit enthusiasts on here?