JTA First Coast Flyer "Blue Line" coming to Southside
(http://photos.moderncities.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Transportation/JTA-First-Coast-Flyer-Blue/i-75Hs8nc/0/L/DSCF3551-L.jpg)
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is gearing up to launch the First Coast Flyer (Bus Rapid Transit) “Blue Line” on Monday, December 5, 2016. The Blue Line will operate between Rosa Parks Transit Station and the Avenues along Philips Highway with stops at major destinations to include MOSH, Baptist Health, the Park-n-Ride lot at JTB/Philips and the Avenues Mall. The Flyer will connect customers to jobs, education, entertainment, restaurants, healthcare and more with features as unique at the region it serves.
Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2016-nov-jta-first-coast-flyer-blue-line-coming-to-southside
Ennis, I think the photo links might be broken for this article at ModernCities.
Might be me, but I tried a couple of browsers.
^It was working earlier. Looks like there is something going on with the photo host site. I'll check on it.
It's working again, thanks!
A few quick thoughts/questions:
1) Though the enhanced stops provide utility, they still look very much like city bus shelters. I worry that this will further the perception that the FCF is simply a new bus route, making it difficult to attract the types of riders who might use rail but wouldn't be caught dead on a city bus. Budget obviously won't allow every stop to be more station-like, but it feels like more could and should be done to differentiate BRT stops from our regular city bus stops. For example, doesn't BRT often use elevated platforms at stops?
2) Does the blue line leverage mostly shared roadway, or are there dedicated lanes along portions of the route for peak hour use? I seem to remember dedicated lanes being a pretty major selling point of BRT by JTA, but I'd be shocked if there are two miles total in the existing north line.
3) I also seem to remember that BRT was pitched in a way that suggested it could eventually be transitioned to rail if the system proved popular enough. Looking at these pictures, wouldn't such a transiation be a logistical nightmare that would cost roughly five trillion dollars?
4) Does anyone know if funding/grants are in place for the East Corridor and/or Southwest Corridors? These seem like the biggest growth opportunities to attract riders who don't traditionally use transit in Jacksonville. Recognizing the poor reputation our city bus service currently enjoys, was a healthy marketing budget included in the project cost?
5) JTA has stated that they plan to scale and expand service in the future as demand dictates. Seems like the glaring omission from the full, five-line, 2019 plan is the lack of access to and from the entire Town Center area (STJC et all, Tinseltown, Top Golf, IKEA, Tapestry Park, Deerwood Park). Just seems so odd to ignore the biggest retail and restaurant area in the city and one of the biggest residential and employment centers. Not to mention our city's major university, UNF, who students would theoretically be prime ridership targets. Any idea how this will be addressed?
^a few quick responses off the top of my head:
1) The reality is, it is a new bus route. Just a high frequency one. It's not a replacement for rail. It's just another part of a multimodal mix of mobility options that every successful transit oriented city has.
2) There are dedicated lanes downtown. It shares lanes with cars outside of downtown. Looking into the future, I believe there's opportunity to add dedicated lanes by right sizing streets incrementally with roadway resurfacing projects. Especially for the parts of the route that aren't on constrained FDOT maintained arterials.
3) You'll be hard pressed to find examples of BRT or BRT-Lite being converted to LRT in the US. It isn't financially practical. At the end of the day, they are different animals. Plus, in Jax's case, the BRT routes aren't idea rail routes, so converting it, only means we'd spend tons of local money to build a rail line set up to fail.
4) I'm not sure about the funding but the SW corridor offers the highest potential in attracting choice riders, IMO. Depending on how the design/station placement is handled, there's an opportunity to have a string of stops tying downtown, Brooklyn, Five Points, King Street, etc. with 10 to 15 minute bus service. That's a stretch with decent density, walkable destinations and millennials. As long as its clean, with an attractive streetscape, efficient, quick and reliable, I think it's a pretty easy sell.....even as a bus.
Philips is difficult because it slightly misses where choice riders really go (Southpoint, Town Center and Baymeadows office parks). Outside of the Avenues, Lowe's and a couple of Walmarts, its mostly distribution and wholesale businesses. The Beach is pretty far for BRT and the population density between Jax Beach and Regency is pretty low. The North corridor would be more attractive to choice riders if it went to the airport but Lem Turner serves a larger transit dependent ridership base.
5) I have no idea but it's something I've pointed out for years. With that said, that corridor is setting up to be a natural transit spine of the future. It has a suburban character and destinations that are similar to the San Diego Trolley's Green Line between Old Town and Santee.
(http://sdrvresort.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/trolley-map.jpg)
1st and formost: Not BRT. It's an express route at best. Having to use this line daily, the current #7 route is 35-40 mins from The avenues to Rosa Parks. The Blue Flyer turn around times are listed at 50 min. So I'm looking forward to what the actual travel times are. Outside of Downtown & King St. there are no Star Card Machines at any of the Flyer stops. The Avenues aren't even getting the upgraded Flyer Stations. So there is no where get or load a Star card away from downtown or Regency.
The route replacing the #7 is the #27 and it starts and stops at The King Street Station. That means those who will need that bus because the of limited stops by the Flyer will have to wait for another bus going into town and pay another fare. Or take the Skyway for free except on the weekend when the Skyway doesn't run. #NatFordHasToGo
I can't find any information on the replacement routes 27 & 35 on the JTA website. They launch these routes in less than a week. How are people supposed to learn the new routes. What a joke.
This new Flyer is a bad deal for many of the people that ride the 7 bus. I ride the 7 northbound in the morning and there is no flyer stop near the Atlantic/Kings stop that I normally make on the 7. I would have to walk an additional mile through some rough areas once I got off the flyer at Kings Ave (good bye time savings). So the back up plan is the new 27 route - except that bus will leave every hour instead of every 1/2 hour, so I will be late if I take the 27 instead.
I know about the hourly schedule and earliest times of the new 27 route only because I went to the JTA meetings held about the blue line at Kent Campus. I told everyone there about this problem and filled out two different comment cards for someone to address my issue. Nobody ever called me back. I don't think they really care. Ask yourself why the route 27 info is so hard to find and why this is not being addressed publicly.
After this Friday I will no longer be a JTA rider.
Quote from: Bike Jax on November 29, 2016, 07:53:06 PM
1st and formost: Not BRT. It's an express route at best. Having to use this line daily, the current #7 route is 35-40 mins from The avenues to Rosa Parks. The Blue Flyer turn around times are listed at 50 min. So I'm looking forward to what the actual travel times are. Outside of Downtown & King St. there are no Star Card Machines at any of the Flyer stops. The Avenues aren't even getting the upgraded Flyer Stations. So there is no where get or load a Star card away from downtown or Regency.
The route replacing the #7 is the #27 and it starts and stops at The King Street Station. That means those who will need that bus because the of limited stops by the Flyer will have to wait for another bus going into town and pay another fare. Or take the Skyway for free except on the weekend when the Skyway doesn't run. #NatFordHasToGo
Nat Ford is the best thing to happen to transit in Jacksonville in a very long time. That doesn't fit in a hashtag, though.