Obama budget includes $38 million for JTA's bus rapid transit project

[thelakelander]

If approved by Congress, BRT will be running on Philips Highway, through downtown, and up Lem Turner Road by 2014.

http://jacksonville.com/news/2012-02-14/story/obama-budget-includes-money-jacksonville-bus-system

[thelakelander]

North BRT Corridor would receive $19.1 million from the feds:




The South BRT corridor would receive $19.1 million from the feds:

[JeffreyS]

I can live with the north line but that south line may be the biggest waste of money since Ryan Leaf.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Can someone tell me what that blue line is underneath the green one?   

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I can live with the north line but that south line may be the biggest waste of money since Ryan Leaf.

You wouldn't if you knew what was happening on that specific corridor.  Personally, I think the BRT north line is a huge waste of money and I'll try to explain why.

  Currently, the busses on that route, Soutel to Rosa Park, run every 15 minutes with the current configuration of the L8 & L7.  The ridership from Soutel to 295 down Lem Turner doesn't warrant having a bus run every 10 minutes.  Both the L8 & L7 are interliner busses, meaning when they get to the main station, Rosa Park, they travel to another part of town.  If they were to add an L7 1/2 that focused on the North side, they could cut the wait times to the neighborhood of 6-8 minutes by only using another bus and paying an additional driver.

[tufsu1]

don't worry about that blue line....there is very little interest in using an existing rail line for public transit 

[jcjohnpaint]

Isn't this almost inline with the future commuter rail line? 

[thelakelander]

I can live with the north line but that south line may be the biggest waste of money since Ryan Leaf.

You wouldn't if you knew what was happening on that specific corridor.  Personally, I think the BRT north line is a huge waste of money and I'll try to explain why.

  Currently, the busses on that route, Soutel to Rosa Park, run every 15 minutes with the current configuration of the L8 & L7.  The ridership from Soutel to 295 down Lem Turner doesn't warrant having a bus run every 10 minutes.  Both the L8 & L7 are interliner busses, meaning when they get to the main station, Rosa Park, they travel to another part of town.  If they were to add an L7 1/2 that focused on the North side, they could cut the wait times to the neighborhood of 6-8 minutes by only using another bus and paying an additional driver.

I think both have merit as enhanced bus lines through simple route modification of existing rolling stock (ex. Charlotte Sprinter, LA Silver Line, etc.).  Neither is worth $23 million but its always different when you're playing with other people's money.  If approved, we need to make sure the type of service promoted actually comes true and hold those responsible accountable.  As for commuter rail down the FEC, the best we may be hoping for this decade is Amtrak to one day expand to corridor service and include an extra station or two between DT Jax and St. Augustine.