Downtown Trolley Bus coming to Five Points

[Metro Jacksonville]

Downtown Trolley Bus coming to Five Points

Beginning in January 2008, JTA will connect Downtown to Five Points, via the Downtown trolley bus.  Here are the proposed routes, both interim and long term.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/478

[konstantconsumer]

i would ride that.  they need to have some way to carry a bike though.

[Owen Holmes]

I'd ride the shit out of that. Thanks for the coverage.

[fsujax]

good to connect Riverside

[thelakelander]

Connecting BCBS, Fidelity, Everbank, Brooklyn Park, YMCA, Cummer, Memorial Park, Five Points, Riverside Park, etc with the heart of the Northbank with free transit in six months?  Yeah, for all the grief we've given JTA with BRT (and will continue to do), connecting Five Points to Downtown with the free trolley is a good idea.  Now it will be up to us urbanites, DVI, CVB and JTA to promote it.

[Lunican]

I think JTA named the trolleys Magnolia, Sunflower, and Poison Ivy (or whatever it is) because they don't actually have destinations.

The three routes should be, Five Points, Springfield, and San Marco.

[Lunican]

Also, they could integrate the central trolley stop into that park they are planning next to the landing.

[copperfiend]

Sounds like a good idea to me. They need to make sure people know how to use it or they won't.

[thelakelander]

Sounds like a good idea to me. They need to make sure people know how to use it or they won't.

It should be fine, as long as each stop is easily identifiable and contains route information showing the location of various destinations along the way.

[lindab]

Those of us who live in Five Points would also like to see a connection to St. Vincent's Hospital and medical offices, Avondale shopping and the Roosevelt mall. Some of us don't drive (or shouldn't drive ) and still like to get around.

[Pavers.]

In an ideal world, couldn't JTA have a few overlapping trolley routes that all start off at the Landing (or another frequented downtown terminus) and then fanning out to Riverside (or all the way to Avondale), another one to Southbank and San Marco Square.  And another one rolling through Adams and Bay Street downtown?  That way one could hop on at Square One, get dropped off at the landing, and take another trolley to 5 points or Bay Street?

In a way, this would be our own mini-"loop" of most popular destinations.  One could park anywhere along either of these routes, with quick, regular access to downtown and the nearby neighborhoods.

Any idea how much the trolley costs to run?  Does JTA need the service to "pay for itself" to keep it running with some sort of minimum ridership or revenue stream?

Out of curiosity MetJax founders, why the move to a registered message board?  Doesn't matter to me either way, but curious to hear if there was a rationale.

[Lunican]

Maybe JTA should make all inbound buses from the surrounding inner core neighborhoods to downtown free. Boston does something similar on their green line trolley.

It's a simple change. The driver just tells the passengers getting on not to pay.

[Ocklawaha]

What The Hell Are We Thinking?


Fort Collins, Colorado has this...


Fort Smith, Arkansas has this...

What is going on here? "I love it", "I'll ride it", "I want it", why are we so quick to not only endorse, but jump aboard JTA's latest scam? You can't see the RAILS for the rubber tires?
This is the biggest snow job, since the Skyway was going to solve all of our problems. If the Citizens of Brooklyn, Riverside, Avondale and these boards don't rise up against this crap, then there really is NO HOPE for our City. They are not "GIVING" you a trolley! They are closing off that street and building that big ol' station with one thing in mind... READ MY WORDS!  "BUS RAPID TRANSIT" or BRT! They don't give a damn about spending a couple hundred thousand on a cutesie little "Potato Chip Truck-dressed-as-a-Trolley" to SHUT YOU UP! Guess what? IT IS WORKING! Oh my God, people, Wake the Hell up and smell the Sulfur. Tell JTA to get out of these neighborhoods with their diabolical plans and give us a REAL heritage trolley. Until then, NO to their station! NO to their busway! NO to their Potato Chip Trucks. Please Jacksonville, come to your senses. It's no longer do you want BRT, they have shifted the argument to "Where you want it" and "If it's ALMOST kind of, sort of like a Trolley THEN can we build it?" The answer is still a resounding HELL NO!


But in the land of the blind, leading the blind, the fools at JTA have the whole City excited over this? Give me a break!

Sorry Blaylock... PULL YOUR HEAD OUT!  

Ocklawaha

[urbanjacksonville]

Did you guys hear of any plans for the trolley's future in Springfield? Mack Bissette mentioned something about JTA rolling the trolley through Springfield soon.

[thelakelander]

I asked Mike Miller and he said they were looking into it, but he didn't give a specific date.