Bus Rapid Transit Coming To Jacksonville

[Metro Jacksonville]

Bus Rapid Transit Coming To Jacksonville



The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) wants to bring Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to Jacksonville.  However, there's a lot of confusion about what's coming to Jacksonville is and isn't. Here's a glimpse at what's headed to our streets.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-oct-bus-rapid-transit-coming-to-jacksonville

[Egodriver71]

Yep, still don't want to commit to commuter rail that will bring passengers

[Kerry]

If we are going to go the bus route - route, let's at least do it Bogota style so TOD is possible.

Their system is called Transmilenio and operates more like a train system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--seUQXyfLE

btw, is it possible to post youtube videos and if so, how do you do it?

[thelakelander]

If we went Bogota style, it would cost just as much or more than LRT.  True BRT isn't cheap because in general, dedicated ROW and construction of roads for buses to drive on cost more than ROW/construction for rail.  Cleveland's Health Line BRT (which still includes a section that runs in mixed-traffic) cost upwards of $25 million/mile. 

Hartford's BRT project is $61million/mile - http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/CT_Hartford_New_Britain-Hartford_Busway_complete_profile.pdf


Charlotte's LYNX Blue Line LRT is also roughly 9 miles in length.  However, even with cost over runs, it came in at $50 million/mile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_Rapid_Transit_Services


Jax's is significantly cheaper (in the range of $3 million/mile like the Kansas City Max) because buses will run in mixed traffic.  However, that also means they'll be subject to the same travel conditions as the cars and trucks using those same lanes.  That also means, your chance for transit oriented development along BRT corridors is slim to none.

Btw, here's a good read on the many faces of BRT in America:

Bus Rapid Transit is a toolbox, not a package

Is Bus Rapid Transit a good idea? The answer depends on what BRT means. At its best, BRT is a toolbox full of techniques that make buses faster and more convenient. At its worst, it's an excuse for highway-building in places where rail transit is needed.

The term is used in so many different ways that the only way to judge is to ignore the label and look at the specifics. What Chicago calls BRT is a plan to speed up buses that already carry 31,000 riders a day. In San Diego, BRT is an excuse to build freeways instead of expanding light rail.

In Eugene, Oregon, BRT is a bus that runs every 10 minutes in its own lane between a university campus and two downtowns. In St. Louis, what's advertised as BRT is buses that would run 60 minutes apart outside rush hour, get stuck in traffic jams, and detour off the interstate to stop.

The Chicago Transit Authority has a definition that is vague enough to be accurate: BRT is "a term applied to a variety of bus service designs that provide for faster, more efficient and more reliable service than an ordinary bus line." The key to making BRT work is to understand that it's still a bus, and has to be planned as part of the bus network. Do only what helps the riders.

Seeing BRT as a toolbox is important because one tool can get in the way of another.

Start out with the aim of building something you can call BRT instead of paying for a rail line, and you invite a debacle like Minneapolis' new $112 million-dollar "Red Line." Passengers get dropped off on a suburban highway that is ferociously hostile to pedestrians, buses go back into traffic just where the road backs up, and there are only 800 riders a day.

full article: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/20093/bus-rapid-transit-is-a-toolbox-not-a-package/

[coredumped]

Actually the acronym for "Metropolitan Area Express" is MAE, but certainly not as cool as the MAX!

[johnny_simpatico]

Why does it take until 2020 to complete this minimal quasi-BRT system?  Incredible.

[thelakelander]

I'm not sure, if I had to guess I'd say the chase for federal dollars and the need to convince the local populace that this is a good fit. 

Nevertheless, as mentioned on these discussion boards before, a minimal quasi-BRT style operation could be implemented fairly quickly via a modification of a few popular existing routes. 

Tampa's MetroRapid is an example of this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/2ggzodw45Q0

[Kerry]

Thanks Lakelander.  For the record, BRT is way down at the bottom of my list of great mass transit ideas.  Development and density don't follow 'flexible' mass transit systems nor should mass transit encourage low-density sprawl by covering the transportation cost of those choosing to live at 5 units per acre 15 miles from downtown.

[Scrub Palmetto]

As a car-free Kansas City resident who rides dozens of local bus routes and has used bus and rail transit in many cities, here's my take:

The MAX routes essentially feel like just another bus route.

If anything, they feel like what any bus route SHOULD be -- short headways; hybrid (or even electric), low-floor vehicles; highly visible stops; and real time info at the stops. Really, in the 21st century, this should be the standard for urban bus routes. From this viewpoint, these features don't make the MAX feel better than other bus routes so much as they make the other bus routes feel less adequate than they would without the MAX to compare. Riding the MAX feels current; riding the other routes feels a bit 1990s.

That leaves its most defining features as really the "dedicated lanes" (extant on only part of one of the routes and often used by cars anyway), the ability to extend the green lights (which I've still never witnessed a driver utilize), the infrequent stops (typically about 4 blocks apart), and the branding (which has done a commendable job of getting people talking about, recommending, and trying the routes).

BRT-Lite is NOT an effective substitute for rail; it's an effective substitute for the tired old mid-sized city bus route.

EDIT: I meant to add that I really like the proposed shelter & totem designs. They're well done, and the gold-yellow is a striking choice. Although I don't get the photo at the bottom center... with the black. Yellow and black? No! I hope they stick with the yellow, white, and light gray that the renderings suggest.

[edjax]

^^i believe what you are referring to regarding the black are the current bus stops in downtown.

[Fallen Buckeye]

They ought to call it the Jax MAX.

[Kerry]

They ought to call it the Jax MAX.

For a marketing slogan they can say the riders are Maxercising.  Maxercising is going to work and reading the paper/browsing internet/texting/checking email/sleeping/etc...

[ProjectMaximus]

The name? I approve! The concept? Not so much.

Kerry, I think Ock on this board was involved with the transit in Bogota.

Oh, and I think the bus system in Birmingham is called "MAX" though it's not billed as BRT.

[tufsu1]

Why does it take until 2020 to complete this minimal quasi-BRT system?  Incredible.

do you have the $100 million?

also, Lake mentioned Tampa's new MetroRapid east-west BRT line...it was paid for almost completely with Community Investment Tax (sales tax) funds....they have one more route already through environmental studies and design is underway....and another 5-7 routes planned... but there is  no $ for any of them

[thelakelander]

Due to politics involved, I'd doubt we'd take a step back and do it but we could follow Charlotte's footsteps.  Their "no-frills" enhanced bus route (essentially what our BRT will be) only cost $4 million. $1.3 million for 17 stations and $2.7 million for five new "branded" hybrid buses.  The Sprinter started running between the airport and Uptown in September 2009 and is considered an interim transit solution that will be replaced by a streetcar link in 20 years.

http://cltblog.com/4266









The Sprinter was formerly the Route 5-Airport bus. The route is 8 miles in length. So the overall cost to implement was around $500k/mile instead of $2.5-$3.5 million/mile (the range we'll be at).

http://www.youtube.com/v/pLBw_IVRtXA

In other words, we can achieve similar operational characteristics without waiting for $100 million from Uncle Sam. This is probably one of the most frustrating issues for me as a local transit advocate.  There's so many things that seem simple to implement but for some reason it takes decades to achieve here.  Even with BRT alone, we've been kicking this can around since the BJP, so we're already one decade in and time is still ticking.