ABC NEWS INTERNATIONAL revists the Jacksonvile Skyway...

[Ocklawaha]

According to JTA, BRT will be a success because a "case city" built both LRT and BRT and when they expected 7,000 on their BRT they got even more people... But they expected 30,000 on LRT and it failed to get those numbers. Oh my, they wanted to build it to 60,000 a day and now it's a failure. Besides that, they claim the BRT only cost a few million a mile, while the "case city" spent over a BILLION dollars on a LRT feeder to their BRT... "We just can't afford such mistakes in Jacksonville..."

So we should trust JTA? Their new BRT plan has grown to 32 miles while the price has fallen to only 300-500 million! Sorry folks, these boys and girls are about to run us over with their bus, just look at the track record:

Riderless Express

Almost No One Is Riding $200 Million Skyway

By Charles Herman  ABC NEWS.com

J A C K S O N V I L L E, Fla., July 29 â€" The 2.5-mile Jacksonville Automated Skyway Express is a model of efficiency. Completely automated and controlled from a central operation center, the Skyway makes eight stops throughout the northeastern Florida city that is split in two by the St. John's River.

The only problem: hardly anyone rides it.

"It's strictly a waste of money from beginning to end," decried longtime Jacksonville critic Marvin Edwards. He blames the builder and supporter of the Skyway, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA).

"They lied about ridership projections," explained Edwards. "They said 56,000 a day at first, then dropped that to 30,000, then last it was 18,000 to 19,000."

Currently, the Skyway sees 3,000 riders per day who pay 35 cents a trip. In fiscal 2001, the Skyway brought in $513,694 in revenue but its expenses were $3.5 million.

Fights for Funding

The Skyway was first proposed back in 1971. It took more than a decade before the funding â€" federal, state and local â€" could be secured to start construction. At the time, the goal was mainly for development so the Skyway to connect the downtown core with parking facilities away from downtown.

The Jacksonville Skyway was part of three demonstration projects to see if "people-mover" systems could stimulate business expansion in downtown centers. Detroit and Miami received federal funds for similar projects.

Some officials within the Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Authority questioned the ridership projections for the Jacksonville Skyway.

In an interview with ABCNEWS' John Martin in 1994, Federal Transit Administration official Gordon Linton said, "We and this department, this administration and previous administrations, have not supported it."

Nevertheless, Congress eventually provided more than half the funds for the $182 million Skyway.

In 1987 construction began on the first 0.7-mile portion of the system.

"It was mainly for political reasons, not transportation reasons," explained former Rep. Bob Carr, who chaired the committee that approved funding for transportation projects in the early 1990s. "Like so many projects, they get a camel's nose under the tent and then it gets very very difficult to stop them."

Few Riders From the Start

In 1989 the first section was completed and opened to the public. Jacksonsville's transit leaders projected more than 10,000 people would ride the Skyway a day on this 0.7-mile starter section.

Instead, only 1,200 rode the Skyway.

In 1993 Transit Authority member Miles Francis defended the system to ABCNEWS. "Until this thing is finished, there's no way to measure its performance or its potential."

Now it's finished and the Jacksonville Transit Authority is still waiting for the riders to come.

Open for Business

In November 2000, the complete Skyway opened to the public. Nearly two years later, with ridership at an average of 3,000 a day, the Skyway has not met even the projections for the starter section.

"No one will argue with the fact that ridership is not where we would like it to be," admitted Steve Arrington, director of engineering with the Jacksonville Transit Authority. He says the lack of riders is attributed to economic recessions in downtown Jacksonville in the early 1990s that led to a decrease in development in the area.

"Any number of things predicted to occur that didn't occur development-wise has an effect," he added. "Fuel prices, parking prices."

Arrington still believes in the Skyway and expects to reach its ridership goals. "You don't build a system like this or a roadway for the next four years," said Arrington. "You try to built it for the next 20 to 30 years."

Riding an empty car from one station to another, critic Edwards disagreed. "This really is a public rip-off and a total waste of money that could have gone for something not quite as fancy, but a lot more practical." 

Internationally known for not being able to find their posterior with both hands, once again they call foul and "just trust us..." YEAH RIGHT! JTA time to pull your collective heads out!

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

What's the case city you mentioned?

[Ocklawaha]

Los Angeles. I had some trouble finding it, JTA hid the resource with only one small mention of location. Further it is the classic "ORANGE LINE" v "GOLD LINE" stupidity that they are again selling to our unsuspecting media and public.  Even then they found a way to twist the facts. The entire story is twisted, as they continue to elude to LRT as a feeder for BRT. The implication is LRT is an accessory for REAL TRANSIT which of course is City Buses. The more I read these spin pieces the more convinced I am that JTA is not only out of control, they are dangerous to our Cities future, doing anything in order to further their own agenda.

This time they have:

Reversed the role of Rail and BRT in Los Angeles, (in reality, BRT is only there to serve as a connector to the City and the State commuter rail and LRT systems).

Painted the "Orange Line" as a "CLEAR WINNER" when LA built these two systems side by side to compete and test which was better... (Truth is, there is no competing system in LA, The Orange Line is built on a former Railroad, through very direct and dense population and business areas. Meanwhile the Gold line is not even finished, it is Light Rail on a wandering, light density, upper income route that meanders along canyons and hills, it's on new right of way. Thus JTA is comparing a completed dense urban bus route that replaced a former freight railroad through the heart of business areas, with a Light Rail system, that is only 1/2 built and is very residential in nature. They do this because it serves their purpose to advance lies and mis-information.)

Using the above JTA criteria, we could then judge JTA and the Skyway on the success of the first .9 mile, segment, opened in 1989, which failed to reach the projected 56,000 daily riders by 55,000 persons!

No mention is given of the Blue Line LRT and the Harbor Busway BRT which were built some time ago between LA and Long Beach. The LRT was a smashing success and the busway has already been dismantled. In this case both lines WERE completed, and both served dense area's.

Throughout their report they count passengers on BRT systems that are transfers from rail. BRT can serve as a end distributer for a rail system, it does that in many markets and does it quite well. This should NOT give licence to our transportation authority to LIE to us and tell us these rail systems are feeders for some imagined "super bus". The reality is the exact opposite.

JTA constantly mentions these state-of-the-art systems have que jumping and signal priority. Never a mention of the FACT that signal priority completely ruins the wonderful timed signals we have worked so hard for. Imagine a drive down State or Union after a dozen buses have completely ruined the signal patern.

JTA constantly parrots the "TERRIBLE, INCREDIBLE, HORRIBLE, HIGH EXPENSE of Light Rail and Commuter Rail when the BRT technology they propose is much more costly then any compairable rail line. In fact they have gone out of the way to find expensive Light Rail systems, systems with subway segments, high speed elevated or double track on exclusive right-of-ways to write compairson numbers for their bus system. The facts, tables and numbers are so jaded as to be completely worthless.

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

Is this a new argument or the one they published back in December?  Anyone with an ounce of transit knowledge or the will to do a google search can find out that the Orange Line BRT is a feeder to LA's Red Line subway system.  Its an apples to oranges comparison with the Gold line because its not complete and travels into a less populated area with varying elevational grades.

However, the LA Orange Line is a great example of BRT because its a cheap at-grade system that still cost $25 million per mile.  In addition, its got pretty hefty operation and maintenance costs (something like $20 million a year) and they pay an additional $1 million a year to keep repair the asphalt which ruts from heavy bus traffic.

[Ocklawaha]

"Tell a lie loud enough, long enough and to enough people and it will become truth..." The late Chairman Mao
So Lake, I guess we'd have to call this the latest line from JTA in a long line of loud lies.. So far they have made ZERO changes and are still defending the most expensive possible system that will serve the least number of Citizens for the maxium O & M costs. Another day, another ration of stupid.

JTA, time to pull your heads out!

Ocklawaha