Long Day's Journey Into Plight. Stephen Dare Wrassles the Transit System.

[Ocklawaha]

and joined the public meeting of Metrojacksonville.com at HOLA.

Which by the way, was one hell of an experience.

Be careful Stephen, those meetings at Metrojacksonville can be downright dangerous! ROFLMAO!

OCKLAWAHA

[BridgeTroll]

I can assume you will not be visiting the westside anytime soon?

[pwhitford]

Not to keep throwing pennies at a dead horse, but I must raise my voice here.  I am absolutely flabbergasted at all the stories of "penny-throwing" and "soft drink showers" for pedestrians and cyclers who are peaceably trying to share the roads with the vehicles.  This is insanity!  What possible motivation is there for doing this?  Is this some sort of twisted local custom ... a sport ... or just some vicious time killer for mouth-breathers?  I mean really, I come from one of the most inhospitable points on this crowded planet (NYC), where hostility is a birthright and aggressive behavior is an accepted form of communication, but this kind of sh*t would just never be done!! It is abhorrent to me and everyone I know.  What kind of ignorant, knuckle dragging, empty headed low life would do this and why?  Does it make them feel superior?  Is it somehow sexually gratifying?  Fear? Envy?  What?  Please, somebody, help me understand this.

Oh, and by the way, Stephen, this is great stuff.  Please keep it up.

[uptowngirl]

Oh, and by the way, Stephen, this is great stuff.  Please keep it up.

I concur, but not sure if my body can take it I am wracked with pain from all the laughing, it is almost unreal!!!!

[Ocklawaha]

Can we expect an equally fair side-by-side of your Amtrak Journey through Florida. Perhaps a nice mirror for the JTA experiences?

The Stations "WERE" all still standing when Amtrak took over, but at the time they didn't (and still don't in most cases) have title to the land. So the railroads, being so friendly to passenger rail back in the day, simply tore many of them down, or the communities ("PALATKA" is a prime example) rallyed to get themselves back in the game. In Palatka's case they had a horrible tumble down statiion and were left completely off the system. Trains blew right through town. They bought the property, installed a historical preservation group, rebuilt the depot and grounds, installed a small museum, allowed a model railroad club to have a room, and lobbied and got "Experimental Stop" status. Within a couple of years, Experimental Stop, became one of the better stops in Florida. A great lesson for Auburndale/Haines City, Green Cove Springs (depots gone).

OCKLAWAHA

[ProjectMaximus]

I've heard of similar stories out in LA. Some people are just nasty and look down on pedestrians who, in such car-dependent locales, are generally of less means than they. At least there is a degree of self-sacrifice for the motorist in sharing the road with a cyclist (albeit still very unjust for motorists to run bicycles off the road) so I agree, these stories about pedestrians are ridiculous.

Not to keep throwing pennies at a dead horse, but I must raise my voice here.  I am absolutely flabbergasted at all the stories of "penny-throwing" and "soft drink showers" for pedestrians and cyclers who are peaceably trying to share the roads with the vehicles.  This is insanity!  What possible motivation is there for doing this?  Is this some sort of twisted local custom ... a sport ... or just some vicious time killer for mouth-breathers?  I mean really, I come from one of the most inhospitable points on this crowded planet (NYC), where hostility is a birthright and aggressive behavior is an accepted form of communication, but this kind of sh*t would just never be done!! It is abhorrent to me and everyone I know.  What kind of ignorant, knuckle dragging, empty headed low life would do this and why?  Does it make them feel superior?  Is it somehow sexually gratifying?  Fear? Envy?  What?  Please, somebody, help me understand this.

[Ocklawaha]

So friend Stephen, are you ready to open a new thread and give us the skinny on Amtrak? (I already think I know the answer...hee hee) but just wanted the masses to be able to get a grip on what it would be like to ride to Palatka, Green Cove, Orange Park, St. Augustine by train rather then say, JTA, or the big MCI "express" motorcoaches, or Greyhound, or even Piper Cub or Fokker. Strike while the iron is hot!

BTW, could you include a "food experience" on train vs bus depot or airplane?

PLEASE don't take this wrong guys, I'm not being my usual Smart A-- here, we have a very talented blogger that just made a fairly long train trip after weeks of riding various other modes, let's hear how they stack up!

OCKLAWAHA

[Ernest Street]

  I am absolutely flabbergasted at all the stories of "penny-throwing" and "soft drink showers" for pedestrians and cyclers who are peaceably trying to share the roads with the vehicles.  This is insanity!  What possible motivation is there for doing this?  Is this some sort of twisted local custom ... a sport ... or just some vicious time killer for mouth-breathers?  What kind of ignorant, knuckle dragging, empty headed low life would do this and why?  Does it make them feel superior?  Is it somehow sexually gratifying?  Fear? Envy?  What?  Please, somebody, help me understand this.

PW, There are some really good folks that own property out on the westside, but unfortunately the Inbred, Oxycontin, zanax,Meth,+Alcohol Rowdies that havent been caught yet are still cruising around. They wouldn't last 2 weeks around the DUI predator Cops in Riverside... 

[urbanlibertarian]

Vicious time killer for mouth breathers is my guess.

As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say that it is the answer.

I would have said that it made the white trash feel better about things, but some of the items were thrown from very nice cars, and not everyone who tossed something was white.

Its going to take a few cops patrolling the streets to put an end to this bullshit.

There is absolutely no reason that we should wait until there is a serious or fatal injury to stop this practice.

Maybe a hidden camera and some exposure on the evening news would make a difference.

[BridgeTroll]

I REALLY want to see those deer on hidden camera...possibly Stephen running in terror....

[gatorback]

How exciting.  I need to take a train somewhere just for the heck of it.  I've not been on a train since the Amtrak Accela from Boston to New York trip in 2000.  Has much changed since then?

[RiversideGator]

I took Amtrak to NYC several years ago when my flight was canceled and it was a lot of fun.  The bar car was great (and it helped with sleep later).  The food was good.  We met some European travelers and some interesting Americans also.  It was fun.  And we were in NYC in the morning.

Now, train travel to an area without its own mass transit system would not be so good.  You would have to rent a car when you arrived, I guess.

[JeffreyS]

I can't wait for an express Amtrak to Miami. I wish they would bring back the New Orleans run.

[Ocklawaha]

How exciting.  I need to take a train somewhere just for the heck of it.  I've not been on a train since the Amtrak Accela from Boston to New York trip in 2000.  Has much changed since then?

Where's the baggage car? In a line of 200 other junk cars? yep!

Oh yes, the BUSH that followed CLINTON/GORE years at Amtrak. Let's look at 16 years of decay.

How much has changed?

Car Fleet has shrunk due to non-available maintenance funding, minor accidents (like switch yard scrapes and bumps = the railroad equivalent to parking lots), have greatly reduced the number of train cars, resulting in shorter trains and premature sell-out of seat stock.

Schedules have been cut to bone, in attempts to save money, the system has gone from connectivity to abandoned routes, stations and time slots. Leaving many communities and many route options dead.

Under Clinton/Gore the "Roads and Bridges" nonsense only hastened the Republicans attack on rail. Nationwide a creative system of "out of the box" thinking called AMTRAK EXPRESS was killed. Hundreds of road-railers, baggage cars, express high speed box cars, platforms, forklift stations, rail-truck agreements, new refrigerator express companies, food service and electronic firms were left at the platform. A major source of revenue for the passenger train was killed with a spin called "We are a passenger carrier, we shouldn't be in the freight business..." Got news for y'all, pull the US MAIL or express out from under your local US AIR, SOUTHWEST or DELTA flights and see how long they last.... Bottom line, the DEATH of Amtrak Express.

A national bi-partisan bill went sailing past that put Amtrak on a ruler of profit and loss per route, by the first years of Bush, the PALMETTO, Tampa-Jax-NYC; The Silver Star (split) Jax-Waldo (Gainesville)- Ocala- Tampa were both abandoned. Ocala, where the state spent MILLIONS rebuilding the old Union Station into a "Transportation Center" suddenly had a fancy bus station. CSX claimed it needed this, because all of the freight would now go down the center of the State... BULL ****.  Meanwhile the facilities to maintain the PALMETTO or turn it in Jacksonville, the dining car commissary, food freezers, express loading docks, lifts, crew base etc... sit in decay. The train now runs NYC to Savannah!

Salt Lake City - Vegas - Los Angeles
Salt Lake City - Boise - Portland
New Orleans - Jacksonville - Orlando (it should have NEVER gone to Orlando, rather used our connections in JAX)
Jacksonville - Tampa (via central Florida)
ALL ABANDONED to improve Roads and Bridges.

Schedules continued to go to hell in a hand-basket. Try riding that train out of Austin, Texas. Amtrak is at the mercy of UNION PACIFIC, an openly hostile host. So U.P. (AKA: "Uncle Pete") has gotten used to being horrible and getting away with it. Run it late, run it sloppy, cause it to crawl, and the passengers (and thus the support) will just go away. Suddenly we hear talk that Amtrak LAW might get enforced! MIGHT!??? Enforced? Wow, that would make a change. Funny when Uncle Pete has PV on the train, it can run up to the second...

The new Amtrak funding is the first and ONLY time that the system has EVER gotten close to what is needed. Miles of "bad order" passenger cars in long dead lines wait at the shops. This is going to be very interesting. We MUST be pro-active to get our service back and make Jacksonville the hub it has always been.

OCKLAWAHA

[Lunican]

What is JTA's operating plan for Tropical Storm Fay? There doesn't seem to be any updates on their website about it.