Going Carless in Jacksonville?

[cityimrov]

Supposing you don't live in Riverside, Avondale, or a highly walkable neighborhood - what does it take to survive going carless in Jacksonville? 

I'm assuming living near a bus stop is a must.  What else do you have to do?  How do you thrive while being carless?  What lessons have you learned over the years for you guys who've done this? 

[Ocklawaha]

You'll need 5 things:

A two wheeled, foldable grocery cart

A REALLY good pair of walking shoes

A map of the JTA system and familiarity with schedules

A small water bottle

Faith... Lot's and lot's of faith and perseverance, it probably won't hurt to become a prayerful person.

[coredumped]

and adequate head gear to shield yourself from motorists hurling things at you (see Mr Dares posts on his week or so carless.)

[blfair]

Biking or walking distance to work ideally. If you're depending on the bus then ideally your home/office are on the same route (no connection), and you don't work on Sunday, or odd hours.

I commuted downtown from Baymeadows by bus semi regularly for about 6 months. I was able to walk to the B7 stop on either end in about 5 minutes.

Buses were often frustratingly off schedule (early or late). I did enjoy the 'free time' to read or whatever.

You really have to look at where you want to go. Ther are whole suburban areas that are highly inconvenient or basically inaccessible without a car. My mom lives near Baymeadows & 9A. Last I checked there was no bus service that put you closer than 3 miles to the front of her neighborhood. Same with my day's house at the north end of Kernan. Taking the bus to their houses would require bringing my bike or a very long walk. Fun if you want to do it, but it sucks when you just want to go somewhere.

You can certainly find a location with good bus service, and be walking distance to the grocery store, gym, etc, without being in one of the neighborhoods you mentioned. You'd start picking things to do around the bus line you lived on. You'd damn sure go to movie theater A before you took 2 buses to go to theater B, for example.

People do it every day, without any of the ideals I'm talking about... They just spend 4 hours commuting 20 miles.

[cityimrov]

You have to live near your employment.  Thats the main thing.

And near enough that you can either walk or bike within a reasonable time.

Biking or walking distance to work ideally. If you're depending on the bus then ideally your home/office are on the same route (no connection), and you don't work on Sunday, or odd hours.

I commuted downtown from Baymeadows by bus semi regularly for about 6 months. I was able to walk to the B7 stop on either end in about 5 minutes.

How about if they are both near A bus stop?  Suburban house and office park. 

A two wheeled, foldable grocery cart

Buses were often frustratingly off schedule (early or late). I did enjoy the 'free time' to read or whatever.

Let's start with the necessities - food and water.  How do you deal with this without a car?   How about perishable foods?  Ice cream? 

[Adam W]

I used to commute to and from Baymeadows Way by bus. I did it for about 6 months or more (it was years ago, I can't remember how long I did it for). It was rough. I eventually was able to get a ride to work, which meant I only had to catch the bus home, which made things a lot easier - but it still meant waiting around a long time to catch a bus at night, followed by a long bus ride home. I was living in Riverside at the time and found it was easier for me to just get off the bus at the first stop after crossing the Acosta bridge and walk home down Riverside Avenue from Downtown - it was quicker than waiting for a connecting bus to take me to Riverside.

Later on, when I worked Downtown, I would catch the bus to work and walk home at night (it was quicker than waiting for the bus). That wasn't so bad. But the bus in the morning was unreliable and I would miss it sometimes when it would be way early.

If you try to take the bus any appreciable distance, it is going to take you a long time.

But most of all, it just takes some getting used to. Once you adjust to it, it's not so bad.

[cityimrov]

The bus service is so unreliable that you have to account for the possibility of more than one missed bus in a row.

Late bus I can understand.  An occasional miss bus I can see.  But more than one missed bus in a row?  Isn't there some type of legal obligation JTA has to the riders of the system to provide the service they advertise? 

How's the JTA smartphone apps like?   Do they at least tell you when a bus goes missing?