Bus Rapid Transit Coming To Jacksonville

[KenFSU]

How will the stops work, Ennis? Will they be directly on street (backing up vehicular traffic), or will they be set off the street (necessitating a merge back into traffic). Also, any idea why there's no coverage for Southside below Beach Boulevard? Seems like Tinseltown, Deerwood Park, and the Avenues would be prime, obvious destinations for BRT. 

[tufsu1]

some stops will occur in regular lanes slowing down cars (I feel so bad for those people ) but other stops will be in dedicated bus lanes

as for Southside, JTA is studying the potential fo a 5th BRT route...connecting Regency and the Avenues on Southside Blvd

[JeffreyS]

This is such a waste other than the north line. 

[tufsu1]

^ I disagree....Jax. finally gets "rapid" transit covering 4 corridors for less than $100 million

everyone harps on how BRT down Philips would conflict with commuter rail...folks need to understand that the trains wouldn't run that often...SunRail is running 30 minute service in the am and pm peak and 120 minute service during the day...and that's with no freight trains on the corridor!

[thelakelander]

How will the stops work, Ennis? Will they be directly on street (backing up vehicular traffic), or will they be set off the street (necessitating a merge back into traffic).

Pretty much what Tufsu1 has stated.  It's essentially a carbon copy of Kansas City's BRT line (except KC's directly connects several major destinations). For much of the system, buses will stop the same way they do today.  The stops will just have amenities (shelters, signage, real time information, concrete slabs, etc.).  In some areas, existing pavement/lanes will be repurposed as bus only lanes during peak travel times.  With those, the buses will share their own lane with right turning vehicles during rush hour.  This is pretty much how the stretch on Blanding, south of 103rd Street operates now.


Kansas City Max's dedicated lanes.


A Kansas City Max BRT station.


A Kansas City Max bus stopping at a BRT station.

Also, any idea why there's no coverage for Southside below Beach Boulevard

It's taken so long to get BRT off the ground here that much of the original data used is over a decade old. Much of the area around Tinseltown and SJTC didn't even exist at the time. I also agree that Southside is an ideal corridor for BRT. 

However,  the surrounding land uses are significantly more suburban than those along successful BRT lines in places like Kansas City, Cleveland, and Eugene.  We'll need to find ways to directly connect BRT with major destinations in the area or else some corridors will struggle to be an effective transportation solution.

[thelakelander]

This is such a waste other than the north line. 

IMO, the North and East corridors are more ideal for this version of BRT. I don't know if it will be considered it, but you could utilize the Arlington Expressway's service drives for BRT between the river and Regency. If modified from a context sensitive streets standpoint, it could help redevelop that section of Arlington in the same way the streetscaping of the Health Line has transformed to look and appeal of Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Unfortunately, it's taking so long to get off the ground, Regency will probably be shut down by 2020.

Existing bus routes are already running along the path of the North corridor.  This one really seems like a corridor that you could retrofit an existing route to provide enhanced bus service similar to what CATS accomplished for $4 million with the 8-mile Charlotte Sprinter (enhanced shelters, a branded bus, less stops, etc.). However, it should probably tie into the airport as a terminal stop instead of a Walmart on the Northside. 

The West and South are the two most troubling routes to me.  Other than Avenues Mall and Metro Square, Philips misses most major destinations in the Southside. The most successful BRT routes (ex. Health Line, EmX, etc.) tend to hit a string of major pedestrian scale destinations in half the distance. For the West, I wonder if it would be more effective to connect Clay County with DMU/commuter rail (although complicated because of CSX's ownership, yet ideal because of Sunrail further down on the A-Line and congestion in Clay) and look at enhanced main bus routes to the due west, down major corridors like 103rd, San Juan and Normandy?

[thelakelander]

^ I disagree....Jax. finally gets "rapid" transit covering 4 corridors for less than $100 million

everyone harps on how BRT down Philips would conflict with commuter rail...folks need to understand that the trains wouldn't run that often...SunRail is running 30 minute service in the am and pm peak and 120 minute service during the day...and that's with no freight trains on the corridor!

The Orlando line will still have Amtrak and freight. However, most of the freight will run overnight. Over the years, I've grown to take a different outlook towards the Philips corridor.  If commuter rail isn't going to run on 30 minute headways or be available on the weekends, I'm not sure it's worth the cost on that corridor.

BRT will siphon the few (assuming its a M-F peak hour thing) commuter rail riders the FEC corridor would attract and BRT down the corridor won't get the highest ridership out of the four anyway (because of the land uses).  The ultimate feasibility of commuter rail to St. Augustine will also be impacted by whatever happens with Amtrak's proposed Flagler Line and AAF.  If both of those materialize before 2020, along with BRT, we may be better off looking at ways to enhance other under served corridors within the region.

[KenFSU]

However,  the surrounding land uses are significantly more suburban than those along successful BRT lines in places like Kansas City, Cleveland, and Eugene.  We'll need to find ways to directly connect BRT with major destinations in the area or else some corridors will struggle to be an effective transportation solution.

Does the plan include any park and ride lots that you know of?

[thelakelander]

Not sure, outside of what already exists but I don't think you're going to get many park n ride riders.  Overall, at less than $4 million/mile, there won't be much in terms of infrastructure improvements.

[fsujax]

The north line will have a park and ride lot near LemTurner and I-295.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

The north line will have a park and ride lot near LemTurner and I-295.

Who's going to drive there to park?