1 Train - 2 trains - red trains - blue trains... Skyway unscrambled and expanded

[Ocklawaha]

what else can you do when you have budget cuts?

This is a problem for transit agencies all over the US....what's even worse is in many cases, these are routes and/or systems that have seen tremendous growth over the last few years.

TUFSU1 - It's a valid question, but I think we have valid answers. It takes creative thought to make it work, not just expansion but address the things that are missing. Here's a short list of improvements that would cause ridership to spike:

JTA goes with "NEXT BUS" or "GOOGLE BUS" and the real-time information signs at the Skyway stations start showing connections: ..... The Beach Bus BH Five will arrive at the downstairs concourse in 4 minutes.... etc...

Fix the connecting switch from the Southside line to the future stadium line. As is today, the Southside car must hold out until the Jefferson-Rosa Parks arrives or departs.

Food and other vendors in the station plaza's, tables and chairs, sidewalk cafes.

Attended restrooms, hire a homeless guy with a bottle of pinesol and a rag!

Covered walks, Sky Walks, as connectors to nearby buildings.

.10 / .25 cent fare.

Longer hours  + cover downtown bar hours.


OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

Standard logic would say to cut back and raise fares. History has proved this is a recipe for failure. Back in the Great Depression, the same thing happened to the Piedmont and Northern Interurban Railway, which served the Charlotte - Greenville area.

It wasn't some big shot executive or a fat cat consultant that came up with a solution, rather a lowly employee. Do the math, he sat down with a pencil and pad and calculated that people still needed to get from point A to B. The only thing a fare increase did is discourage many loyal passengers, forcing them to use an automobile or bus. In the case of the Skyway we have a train that is comfortable with 40 passengers on-board, 20 in each car. When JTA raised the fare, the ridership was cut in half. The crux of the P&N success was the employee wrote the railroads president with a simple question. If we must run the trains anyway, why are we running them with empty seats? Wouldn't filling the seats make more sense? So the railroad slashed fares and suddenly the trains were full. The gross per train soared, not to mention the convenience and traffic relief.
This could be tried on the Skyway, as we have a self contained lab to test the theory. Wouldn't a crowded Skyway bringing in less per passenger, but more overall revenue recovery, be pleasant to see? How well did it work on the P&N? well they survived as an interurban, eventually closed the passenger operation with the rise of parallel highways and converted to diesel power, thrived, and finally merged into CSX! I'd call that success.

OCKLAWAHA

[Coolyfett]

Central Station to Metropolitan Stadium
Central Station to Shand's
Central Station to Riverside
Central Station to San Marco

Those lines always made the most sense to me. I don't see why at least one leg could be started. Let the people vote which leg is priority. If I still lived in Jax it would be Riverside ALL DAY!! Jacksonville needs more rail in the core.

[mtraininjax]

Jacksonville needs more rail in the core.

What they need are more people living in the core and that would be downtown. Nowhere for cars to go if you turn the Barnett tower into residential, or the laura trio, so those people would rely on transportation to get around.

[Coolyfett]

Skyway
(Schedule Modified)

Monday-Friday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.

http://www.jtafla.com/News/showPage.aspx?Sel=186

And Jacksonville continues to walk backwards.  9pm & 7pm? Its like the city is full of Ned Flanders types.

I still think a Skyway station should be in Riverside. It does not have to go deep into the neighborhood, but Five Points is perfect. It would give everyone in the area easy access. If they build it in 2012, what would the Skyway station be in 2062? would it not be apart of Riverside's history? I don't understand not wanting to build new things in historic areas. Now destroying old buildings for crap like wal greens and mc donalds is lame to me, but building a Skyway Station were NOTHING IS aka the park near the corner of Post & Park is a perfect location. You have the area where Publix is located that didn't ruin the history of Riverside, so why would a Skyway Station ruin the history? Put that trolley stuff some where else. FINISH the system and stop putting things like the St Johns Town Center in stupid locations...you have all that land between Bay, Jefferson & Forsyth, why leave it open?? Backwards, backwards, backwards!!! When gas was going up everyone loved the trains.....I kinda wish it did go to 8 $ a gallon.

[copperfiend]

Its like the city is full of Ned Flanders types.

It is.

[mtraininjax]

And Jacksonville continues to walk backwards.

Drink the potion Alice in Wonderland, you should run for mayor!

[charlestondxman]

I believe that the Skyway should definitely be expanded. I already made a map of how it would look expanded, with an overlook of the whole system.

The map also includes the Jacksonville-St. Augustine commuter rail, and I will expand it over the coming weeks. It is called Southeast Commuter and High Speed Rail.

The link:

http://www.google.com/maps/user?uid=101304901480923879411&hl=en&gl=us

[Ocklawaha]

I believe that the Skyway should definitely be expanded. I already made a map of how it would look expanded, with an overlook of the whole system.

The map also includes the Jacksonville-St. Augustine commuter rail, and I will expand it over the coming weeks. It is called Southeast Commuter and High Speed Rail.

The link:

http://www.google.com/maps/user?uid=101304901480923879411&hl=en&gl=us

Nice maps, and some pretty good comments from everyone. My God MtraininJax, Barnett! Wow we agree again, that's like two for two in recent weeks. Who would have thunk it?

CharlestonDXMan: A couple of comments on your maps. The Skyway is not suited for anything other then just the major core urban area. Pretty much if it fits within the circle of University Blvd and Edgewood Avenue, but more realistically would be: 8Th street north; Myrtle Av., west; Atlantic, south; and the river, east.

Your map indicates the Skyway following the FEC RY south toward St. Augustine, or the Skyway meeting the FEC RY at Atlantic, but then it doesn't show a train into Jacksonville Terminal. ??  ??  ?? Many people on that future commuter train will be heading in other directions when they get off, this is why building the Terminal back in downtown is so vital to our growth. People will get off those trains downtown looking for the BRT to Lem Turner, The outbound A-Line train to NAS Jax/Yukon, or the Beaver Street local bus. The Atlantic stop will likely be the second most busy in the Skyway system on a daily basis (though the stadium stop will probably have the most boardings). But all of these Atlantic passengers are headed either for a southside bus, San Marco/San Jose or a quick Skyway ride into downtown.

A good station at Atlantic and the FEC (WEST OF THE TRACKS - WITH A PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS) will probably take out the paint store, and the first business or two on either side of the tracks. It would function as a small park-and-ride location, and a major intermodal interchange: RAIL, BUS, MONORAIL, BRT.

Looking forward to your next venture...

OCKLAWAHA

[stjr]

Clicked on map for Jax but unable to find.  Probably wouldn't tell me anything new if Ock says it mirrors previous thinking.

I am beginning to think we may have finally found a value for the $ky-high-way:  It's a puzzle waiting to be "solved".  Kind of like a crossword or Sodoku.  Everyone thinks they can do it and it's entertaining but really not of any value to anyone other than those attempting to solve the puzzle.  Too bad this puzzle has no solution (other than its demise) but feel free to keep playing the $ky-high-way puzzle to your heart's delight.  A little harmless fun never hurt anyone as long as its not taken too seriously, which, most assuredly, it won't.