Fare Free Transit Wins Top Awards... is Jacksonville watching?

Ocklawaha · June 30, 2009, 05:49:42 PM

Imagine a City of 100,000 that has nearly as many transit riders as JTA in a City of 1.3 Million... Using nothing more then a commitment to livability, a Transit Foundation, and some advanced thought. Wonder what their road repair bill is next to ours?

OCKLAWAHA

QuoteMayor Kevin C. Foy accepted the first place City Livability Award on behalf of the Town of Chapel Hill, N.C., during the 2009 Mayors' City Livability Awards Program. More than 200 cities from around the country were considered for the award, based on three criteria: mayoral leadership, creativity and innovation, and broad impact on the quality of life for residents.

Sponsored by Waste Management, Inc., and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the City Livability Award Program recognizes mayors for exemplary leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve the quality of life in their cities.

Chapel Hill won top honors in the category for cities with populations of under 100,000 for creating the fare-free transit program. Since Chapel Hill Transit became fare free in 2002, it has become the second-largest transit system in North Carolina. Since that time, ridership has risen from 3 million riders a year to over 7 million riders annually projected for 2009.

This program is unique in that while some university transit systems provide fare free service for university students, faculty and staff, very few communities provide free transit service to all riders. The commitment in this community went beyond the University to all citizens in the community in an effort to encourage greater usage of public transportation and reduction of reliance on the single occupancy automobile.

"The Chapel Hill Public Transit system is the foundation of our sustainable future," said Mayor Foy. "This bus system makes Chapel Hill continue to be the kind of place people love; for us it is an investment and it has paid off big time."

The town is planning a special community event to celebrate this distinguished award and recognize the contribution of our fare-free system for the community. Event details are being arranged and will be released soon.

urbanlibertarian · June 30, 2009, 06:14:02 PM

Free? Somebody is paying for it. Hopefully they are making voluntary contributions to this charity.

Ocklawaha · June 30, 2009, 06:35:09 PM

Quote from: urbanlibertarian on June 30, 2009, 06:14:02 PM
Free? Somebody is paying for it. Hopefully they are making voluntary contributions to this charity.

Yes, FREE, as in Interstates - Expressways - AKA: FREEways.

Nobody said the transit was free to own or operate, what they said was it is FARE free. All this means is they have used some creative method of financing the O&M as well as Capital costs of their system. There are a million ways to do this, but we MUST be creative: How about "CASH FOR CLUNKERS?" "The Jacksonville Streetcar Trust," when you want to give back to your city - accepting donations of properties..." All sorts of cool stuff, could be done, but sadly we don't even offer free transfers.

OCKLAWAHA

tufsu1 · June 30, 2009, 08:02:20 PM

maybe UNC is paying for it....as stated, many universities offer "free" rides, usually through a transportation fee assesed to students, faculty, etc.

Ocklawaha · June 30, 2009, 10:40:46 PM

Quote from: tufsu1 on June 30, 2009, 08:02:20 PM
maybe UNC is paying for it....as stated, many universities offer "free" rides, usually through a transportation fee assesed to students, faculty, etc.

UNC is not paying for this one, which is the main reason it hit the news like it did, and won the award. I do believe you are correct in as much as I believe the University started it. The story goes that the Trust that was set up for its support, decided it could serve the whole community.

By the way, TUFSU1, FARE FREE is an amazing new transit movement that is sweeping the industry and gaining ground. There are some who are holding out with all sorts of issues, but generally rather then budget, it appears social. Those persons who are fighting the fare free movement are the same faces that believe one bus per hour is all the poor and degenerate bus passengers deserve.

http://frepubtra.blogspot.com/

OCKLAWAHA

mtraininjax · July 01, 2009, 07:52:24 AM

OC - You are wrong, we do offer free service to the senior citizens. They have special cards, with a library number on the back, for them to gain FREE access to all JTA vehicles in Duval County. Not just the elderly vehicles, ALL vehicles of the JTA. To learn more, contact Adult Services down at the City or visit the Mary Singleton Center at 150 First street, where the cards are produced for the senior citizens.

cline · July 01, 2009, 08:08:18 AM

QuoteUNC is not paying for this one

Wrong. Actually, UNC is paying for this- well at least the students are. UNC is one of the largest funders of this system. They pay for it using a fee that is added to each students tuition. I believe it was $66 for FY 08/09. They do this in other university towns as well- Gainesville for example.

tufsu1 · July 01, 2009, 08:12:58 AM

and to add onto cline's point, UNC may be covering more than it share of the bill....for several reasons:

1. to be good community partners
2. allows Chapel Hill and UNC campus to stay bucolic
3. traffic delays caused by non-university trips still affect students, faculty, etc.

Ocklawaha · July 01, 2009, 09:05:31 AM

QuoteThis program is unique in that while some university transit systems provide fare free service for university students, faculty and staff, very few communities provide free transit service to all riders. The commitment in this community went beyond the University to all citizens in the community in an effort to encourage greater usage of public transportation and reduction of reliance on the single occupancy automobile.

"The Chapel Hill Public Transit system is the foundation of our sustainable future," said Mayor Foy. "This bus system makes Chapel Hill continue to be the kind of place people love; for us it is an investment and it has paid off big time."

My mistake, should have written that UNC AND the town work together on this one. Either way, it's still a very good idea when a town 1/10 our size can put as many passengers on mass transit as JTA. BTW, UNF has it's own bus system... JU anyone? MTrain, I'm not talking about senior or handicap citizen transit here, this is about everybody in their town.

OCKLAWAHA

mtraininjax · July 01, 2009, 10:20:46 AM

QuoteAll sorts of cool stuff, could be done, but sadly we don't even offer free transfers.

My point is that the CITY DOES OFFER FREE transfers to anyone over 65 on JTA equipment.

QuoteJU anyone

Does JU need a bus system? Does JU offer classes outside of the Arlington campus? Would it be feasible at all?

FCCJ would be a better investment, since it has 4 campus locations (downtown, Kent, Southside, and Northside).

vicupstate · July 01, 2009, 10:42:26 AM

I bet the entire system of JTA's could be fare free for a few years, for less than the cost of adding a pair of HOV lanes on I-95 or JTB or some other such highway.

vicupstate · July 01, 2009, 10:54:29 AM

In Charleston, transit usage has risen dramatically from two DT universities offering $5 a month unlimited Express bus passes. The respective school covers the difference. The schools benefit by not having to provide as much parking, which in Charleston means expensive garages.

Cliffs_Daughter · July 01, 2009, 11:16:21 AM

Quote from: mtraininjax on July 01, 2009, 07:52:24 AM
OC - You are wrong, we do offer free service to the senior citizens. They have special cards, with a library number on the back, for them to gain FREE access to all JTA vehicles in Duval County. Not just the elderly vehicles, ALL vehicles of the JTA. To learn more, contact Adult Services down at the City or visit the Mary Singleton Center at 150 First street, where the cards are produced for the senior citizens.

I'm going to further this quote by mentioning that the initial cost for these "Sunshine Passes" as they're known is $1.50. You would need to show proof of age by either a DL or ID card with photo.
The number to the Mary Singleton Sr. Center is 630-0995.

Ocklawaha · July 01, 2009, 12:59:09 PM

Quote from: vicupstate on July 01, 2009, 10:42:26 AM
I bet the entire system of JTA's could be fare free for a few years, for less than the cost of adding a pair of HOV lanes on I-95 or JTB or some other such highway.

This was the whole idea behind the posting of this transit news. bingo!

This is way deifferent then JTA's SUNSHINE PASS, This would be more like UNF operating JTA and offering free seats to anyone. OSU stillwate also operates city wide transit.

OCKLAWAHA
Laying on the floor watching all my hoses of stuff walk out the door.

fpteditors · July 03, 2009, 07:36:19 PM

urbanlibertarian: are you against public subsidy of profit-making firms? If so, you should be marching in the streets against the $trillions spent to support the auto system. Fuel taxes support only about 60 percent of hi-ways. Who pays for the medical costs, traffic congestion, "free" parking, cheap parking, drainage problems, noise, collision cleanup, carbon dioxide emissions, oil wars, direct tax-money handouts to oil and auto companies, government loan guarantees, tax breaks for auto plant site choice (including foreign auto firms), license bureaucracy, auto insurance government bureaucracy, health costs from driving stress, etc. For our list of autosprawl externalities, see http://freepublictransit.org/index.php?pr=Externalities