Shipyards - S'side Generating Station

[WmNussbaum]

How about connecting the two properties both of which the City owns? How about a St. Louis style arch from one bank to the other? Or how about a gondola ride from one bank to the other, one side also having shops, outside market, etc.?

The St. Louis arch has a base of 630 feet. How wide is the river between these two properties? It can't be much longer. Call it the Gateway to Florida. It would cost about one-third of the cost of the new courthouse and would attract VISITORS. And that is what the city needs.

[thelakelander]

I'll be happy with such money being placed in a real transit system that serves a larger population.  I'm not sure a gondola ride across the St. Johns River will amount to anything more than a short lived gimmick to lure tourist and suburbanites.  The shops and outdoor market would complete against the struggling retail we already have (ex. like the Landing).

[acme54321]

The river is much wider than 630ft between those sites, more like 2000ft.  I can't think of anything that would be a bigger waste of money than some sort of physical connection between those sites.  Plus, the city does not own the southbank property, JEA does.

[dougskiles]

I've always liked the idea.  A friend of mine has been talking about this concept for years.  Many other cities are implementing gondola systems that cost less than fixed transit and can move more passengers per hour.  Plus, the wait times are usually only about 30 to 45 seconds.  They have shown to be most successful in cities with geographical challenges such as lots of hills - or in our case - a large water body.  My biggest concern would be the weather.  While I am sure they can be built to withstand high winds, I don't know if many people would feel comfortable in anything over 15 - 20 mph.

[Kaiser Soze]

What abut an underwater tunnel?  I bet the algae blooms would like pretty badass underwater.

[copperfiend]

How about connecting the two properties both of which the City owns? How about a St. Louis style arch from one bank to the other? Or how about a gondola ride from one bank to the other, one side also having shops, outside market, etc.?

River Taxi?

[Ocklawaha]

I've always liked the idea.  A friend of mine has been talking about this concept for years.  Many other cities are implementing gondola systems that cost less than fixed transit and can move more passengers per hour.  Plus, the wait times are usually only about 30 to 45 seconds.  They have shown to be most successful in cities with geographical challenges such as lots of hills - or in our case - a large water body.  My biggest concern would be the weather.  While I am sure they can be built to withstand high winds, I don't know if many people would feel comfortable in anything over 15 - 20 mph.

Actually your friend is incorrect on the subject of capacity, maximum passengers per hour pph is typically much lower then either BRT, LRT, or commuter rail. While many promoters claim that the systems can reach 20,000 passengers PER DAY, that's a long way from LRT (light rail transit) which can be designed for capacities approaching 30,000 passengers PER HOUR.
This is where our story gets pretty funny, in a attack on LRT, the Bus Rapid Transit people have come up with this rather comical claim:

As you drive the freeway you will find that staying about 3 seconds behind the preceding vehicle feels quite safe at 50 or 60 MPH. Three-second headways translates to 1200 vehicles per hour. The Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual assumes a freeway lane can carry about 2300 autos per hour and that a bus would be equivalent to two automobiles. If so a freeway lane could carry 1150 buses per hour.

Assuming 1150 buses per hour at 78 persons per bus means one HOV lane used exclusively for Bus Rapid Transit has an ultimate capacity of 89,700 persons per hour with standees, or 69,000 with all seated.

The above example assumes some pretty crazy things. First a typical highway lane with 2,000 cars per hour isn't going to be moving at any decent speed, since a single bus can take up the space of 2-3 automobiles so 2,300 buses racing along 3 seconds apart is pretty silly. Bogota is learning this lesson the hard way and their high capacity BRT is now going to go from 4 lanes (2 each way) to 6. This is going to require putting some of the system in a pit so sidewalks and intersecting roads can pass over it, an open air subway.

You are right that the aerial cable systems are great for specialized situations, and they are a fairly low cost build. The new cable metro in Caracas is shaped like the letter 'L', making it in effect, a two route system. The actual construction costs were only about $18 million though the Chavez government still managed to blow about 3 times that amount of money (the missing money or pay-offs are known as 'The Injection' in S.A. and it's nearly impossible to get anything done without it). Their new system is generally thought to have a 7,000 pph capacity.

OCKLAWAHA