Why Jacksonville(US) will never have proper mass transit

[Bostech]

To respond to this article which was obviously written by naive,socialist person.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-feb-why-jacksonville-should-immediately-invest-in-rail

I said it looong time ago,urban living and mass transit are anti-capitalist.
Article points that is cheaper and more cost effective to have mass transit/urban life then car culture/suburban lifestyle which is partially true.
Actually suburban lifestyle creates more jobs and money then urban.
Mass transit creates jobs for some but car culture creates whole lot more...a lot more.
You need highways,you need to buy a car,fix a car,maintan a car,use resources to power that car.
All that creates jobs,which creates more money and demand-good for capitalism.

20 people in a rail can spend 100 dollars a day,but 20 people in a car can spend thousands of dollars easily.
As an individual it is cheaper for use rail,save YOU money but for a capitalist (or a entire country) car culture is God given,that's where money is.
Mass transit might be good for you,but for rich car culture is-thats where money is.
You don't decide what happens but rich and powerful people do.you might think you do,but you don't.

That's why Jacksonville or even entire US will never have proper mass transit.It's socialist and anti-American.
Car and everything that surrounds cars is what capitalist want.
Money comes first,everything else later.

So let's not kid ourselves that this will change.People in power will never allow that to happen (as we can see in example of Jacksonville),in most severe cases you might get some cheesy solution to mass transit that wont be efficient,safe or comfortable -simply most people would stray away from it and stick to a cars.

Unless rich and powerful allow you to have that(which will never happen) or people simple decide to stray from suburban lifestyle (which will never happen when rich are straying every good project) nothing ever will happen.

Writing article without actually pointing to real problem will never solve or change anything.

[thelakelander]

umm....okay.

[ProjectMaximus]

umm....okay.

spoken like a true naive socialist. 

[Bostech]

Thats why you dont have politicians do anything positive regarding urban lifestyle or mass transit.
They work for special interest groups whos interest is not in urban/mass transit lifestyle.

It's a lost battle before you even start it.

Mayor Peyton is great example,for his entire term nothing was done.Next mayor comes is,nothing will be done either.Occasionally they might throw few bones to people in form of some cheesy project,park and hot dog cart,maybe even paint few lines on street and mark it Bus line.

Capitalism likes profit and there is barely any profit in mass transport.Politicians work for capitalist not for you.

[thelakelander]

So what turned Portland, Charlotte and Austin around?

[Ocklawaha]

товарищ

Please print your sources for this information. What study says that 20 car people will always spend more then 20 transit people? Why are roads not socialized? All road, user fees, and gas taxes combined, pay only 51% of the costs per year for highways, the other 49% is taken from our taxes. So why is this not socialist? Where does it say that owning a house in Riverside makes me a socialist, but owning one in World Golf Village doesn't? Frankly if I didn't live in this suburban version of hell, I'd be spending a lot more money on things I want, rather then gas for the stupid car. I think you have it backward, but tell us your sources.

компаньон
царь OCKLAWAHA

[Bostech]

Those are mass transit cities compared to...Jacksonville.
They are still suburban cities.Portland got 4% of daily raiders on entire metro population.
Most of them own cars too.
That is still car culture.
Chicago,NYC,SF have been urban historically,but for most other americans cities going from suburban to urban..good luck with that.

[thelakelander]

I'll be happy the day Jax gets to that 4%.  I don't have any illusions of America's cities becoming London, Paris or anything European.  I don't even think I would want them too.  However, I would like to have a choice of living in a viable urban environment in Jacksonville.

[Bostech]

Take a person that rides mass transit daily and then compare it to person driving a car.
Car driver spends more money which creates more jobs,moves economy and especially makes some good ol boy very rich.
They dont refer to Americans on TV as CONSUMER for nothing.
More you consume better is for capitalist.As far as they are concerned they want you to consume more and more,even if you are getting in debt.

Guy on a bus or rail only pays for a ticket (and in some cases not even that),sure you still need a road or rail to be built including a bus but thats nothing compared to car culture.
20 people in suburbs are bigger consumers then 20 people in urban center.

Consuming=money.
Money is good.
Greed is good.

[mtraininjax]

I'm very happy with my BMW, have no need for public transportation.

[Bostech]

I guess you never rode Mercedes Benz bus.

[tufsu1]

I'm very happy with my BMW, have no need for public transportation.

so sorry we're not good enough for you 

truth is, I like my Audi too...doesn't mean I wouldn't like to have options...plus other people who don't have BMWs might appreciate having good public transportation.

[JeffreyS]

Mtraininjax, you do not have to take public transportation for it to have a very positive impact on you.  Your city could have billions invested on property near transit lines, reduced traffic, better planned development, an actual good urban aspect to go along and enhance the good suburban and good rural lifestyles available in North Florida. On option on the day your BMW needs the brakes done. Less traffic on the roads also means you do not need to add lanes as often or maintain as much. The money you as a tax payer save on roads alone justifies the investment. Your buddy needs a ride and it isn't convenient for you at the moment here is an option.  The drunk driver that was going to hit your friend has an option. When OPEC tries a grand power play to really jerk us around we have an option. Giving up your BMW is not the goal.

[mtraininjax]

JeffreyS - Transportation in Jax is not an issue. No matter what the blowhards here want to get you to think. We don't have traffic congestion today. WE can plan all we want for the future, but there are no dollars and no need today.

What you should spend money on is education not roads, but somehow, that gets missed when people want to spend money on a new choo choo station, when only 2/3 of the students in Duval County graduate from HS.
But really, go ahead and hype the transit system. I'd rather hype the education system.

[thelakelander]

Its not about congestion even though we do have our choke points (I drive through one every day to and from work).  Its about place making, community shaping and sustainable economic development.  Good mass transit spurs pedestrian scale development and urbanity just like a billion dollar highway spurs sprawl.