The TU has been hanging out with Ocklawaha
QuoteBy The Times-Union
The year was 1936. Nazi Germany reoccupied the Rhineland, part of a chain of events that eventually led to World War II.
Arab opposition was brewing against Jewish immigration in Palestine, foreshadowing problems that still grip the world today.
And the Jacksonville Traction Co. was going out of business, condemning streetcars forever to the dustbins of this city's history.
Maybe not forever.
In what is either one of the most brilliant or most hare-brained ideas in recent memory, retired transportation consultant Bob Mann wants to bring them back.
He and others revived the old traction company, which had been defunct.
He envisions the company building streetcars in a Jacksonville plant, then operating the service here.
Mann, who owns 1 percent of the company's stock, isn't talking about running buses disguised as trolleys - something the Jacksonville Transportation Authority already does downtown.
He wants the real thing - cars on tracks powered by overhead electric lines.
They would run an 8-mile route, carrying people to places such as the convention center, Jacksonville Landing, courthouse, sports complex, Main Library, City Hall and Norwood Plaza.
The transit system also could attract businesses in an area that needs economic development, amid citizens who often use transit.
An extension would go from the convention center to St. Vincent's hospital, Five Points and back.
Speedy streetcars
There's a common perception that streetcars are slow. Not so, says Mann. Most are capable of going 100 miles an hour, although that isn't practical in a city.
Here, he thinks, they probably would run about 30 miles an hour most of the time.
Could they carry enough people to be efficient?
Yes, he contends. Buses typically carry about 45 passengers; streetcars, up to twice that many people.
And, if there are enough riders, several cars could be "coupled together" to save on operator salary costs.
This would be a private element in a larger transit system. People would take rapid transit buses - or, better yet, commuter rail in some cases - from the suburbs to the core city.
From there, they would catch a streetcar, bus "trolley" or the Skyway to their final destination.
A streetcar ticket would cost about the same as a bus fare.
Or better yet, he says, bus and streetcar rides should be free - a sure-fire method to unclog roads by getting people out of cars.
No free lunch
That brings us to the potential pitfalls.
No company can absorb heavy start-up costs, then provide services for free - and stay in business.
Mann wants city subsidies - first to acquire the streetcars and infrastructure, then to provide the rides at affordable fares.
That sounds reasonable enough. No transportation system breaks even; government subsidizes roads, air travel, buses - everything.
But how much public money would be needed? Mann doesn't know yet.
Funding might be available from the Better Jacksonville Plan, he says.
A tourist attraction?
But could it be put to better use? No, Mann insists.
Not only would it serve a lot of local commuters - it passes by some very popular job sites and venues - he says he has a study estimating that it would attract 500,000 tourists a year.
If that's right, the streetcars would be a financial bonanza, bringing in nearly as many people as a half-dozen Super Bowls a year.
But is the study right?
Streetcars are unique - everybody who visits San Francisco knows that - so they might pull off some of the traffic headed down Interstate 95 toward the tourist attractions in Orlando.
But that much?
It sounds a little optimistic. The city would need to do a study of its own.
But don't write off streetcars as some sort of quixotic daydream.
The JTA, which runs the city's transit system, is at least giving the idea some credibility.
Study in progress
"We plan to use rail when practical," says JTA spokesman Mike Miller, who adds that a "prefeasibility" study already is under way.
If the results are encouraging, Miller adds, a more elaborate study will follow.
No guarantees. But the promise of an open mind. That's all Mann - or anyone else, for that matter - could ask for, right now.
Streetcars are an exciting idea. Any reasonable person has to hope they come here.
And City Council member Richard Clark, Transportation Committee chairman, is a key supporter.
But trolleys would have to make economic sense.
The key to all of this is ridership.
Don't forget that the Skyway was an exciting concept at one time.
Once it got out of the concept stage, it didn't turn out so well.
The JTA should study the idea carefully, with Mann's input. But, figuratively speaking, it needs to do so with its eyes wide open.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/052208/opi_281405921.shtml
Man, Ock. I wasn't aware that you actually restarted the Jacksonville Traction Company already. This article should be the first of many and will help to further educate the populous on the benefits of rail based transit and the dire need for it.
Roll on Mr. Mann, and a job very well done!
QuoteMann, who owns 1 percent of the company's stock, isn't talking about running buses disguised as trolleys - something the Jacksonville Transportation Authority already does downtown.
Who owns the other 99% of the company? Where can I buy stock? :)
At this moment we are still forming things, but it's moving along smoothly. The research group and a new offer from a big hitter are very interesting as they would put us in the fast lane. Thus the sudden request for what you felt we'd get from a streetcar in another thread today. Yep, Jason, it is the same company, just brought back and dusted off from the dead. As for investment, let's say we have a major rail car builder behind us and as for others ??? we are not knocking on doors to sell stock. You have to be Kamakazi to do this stuff, but River, if you've got the "Divine Wind" in your sails, who am I to argue! The risk involved is just short of that stock I bought in "Montana Brass Mines".
Ocklawaha