So, is there a transit rating system for cities in Florida? I know CapitalMetro is Number 1 in TX. So, um, what place is JTA in and if we are not completely entirely in last place in this category, you think JTA would try to get a most improved award? ;D
Transit was, is, and always will be JTA's stepchild. We talk about a possible $400. Million for transit like that was major funding. It's not. Just look at what JTA spends on a single interchange like 9A and JTB. As long as the highway lobby and the highway builder within JTA commands the big dollars, transit will always be an "also ran" in Jacksonville.
If the TU would do the math, and the Mayor could find his male parts, I'm sure JTA as a transit agency would be fired tomorrow. Otherwise, how does Austin rank? Ridership? Passenger Complaints? Destinations? Quality Riders? I wonder what scale Texas uses so we could compaire it with JTA, IF (and that's a BIG IF) we could find any published figures. I do know in ridership we suck. JTA hopes to do as well as Gainesville and St. Petersburg, considering our size, that's pretty darn bad. Eugene, Oregon, carrys as many passengers and their system wasn't even around just a few years ago. Before anyone jumps on the "SEE EUGENE HAS BRT!" bandwagon, let's say the BRT has been less then stellar in it's performance. Most Oregonians wish the money had been spent on Light Rail. So here's a transit system that is well over 100 years old in Jacksonville, trying to play keep away from being caught by a baby system that started and built it's ridership with Volkswagon Micro-buses. NO KIDDING!
Florida is the very image of "The New South," so much so that many history teachers have taken us out of the War of Yankee Aggression! Yet as far as Transit is concerned, we haven't left Tara. Uncle Charlie in Tallahassee, hasn't even got dem mules shod... Rail? Mass Transit? Amtrak? "Why frankly Mam, we don't give a collective damn!"
Ocklawaha
Good questions. Starting with...the web sites just for giggles. It's On!
JTA Capital Metro
http://www.ridejta.org/ V . S < http://www.capmetro.org/ >
NO PUBLISHED MEETING MINUTES YES
NO PUBLISHED AGENDA YES
NO PUBLIC COMMENTS YES
NO SATISFACTION ADVISORY COMMTEE YES
YES MEETING CALENDARS YES
NO PUBLISHED PASSENGER TRIPS YES (130,000 per day)
NO PUBLISHED RIDERSHIP YES (31.5 M per year)
MULTI-LANGUAGE
YES ENGLISH YES(I had to give JTA that)
NO SPANISH YES
NO VIÊTNAMESE YES
NO MANDARIN CHINESE NO(Coming Soon Yes)
From this one gathers: One keeps in touch with the communities they serve and their public meetings offer a forum for sharing information and ideas.
Looking back, that's 2 out of 11 for the JTA. Wow, that's right in-line with our FCAT Scores. ;D
QUIZ: Can you tell which photos are from Austin, Tx. and which are from Jacksonville?
(http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/dynimages/page_media/wide.5.jpg)photo 1
(http://www.capmetro.org/images/photogallery/hybrid_drag.jpg)photo 2(http://faculty.washington.edu/~jbs/itrans/jack2.jpg)photo 3
To be honest, JTA does a decent job of being the A-Typical City Bus operator. No imagination, no creative stuff, just plain old buses, doing it over and over again. True, it could do much better if it became an agressive, independent Transit Agency. Some creative thought, community input and tweeking of the over-all system of things could turn it into a model system. That being said, how about we stack up what we have to work with, to a system already around that corner. If (another big IF) anyone can find the goods on JTA how about these JTA vs Austin TX, Capital Metro...
Daily Ridership
Express Services
Park and Ride Bus
Free Downtown Shuttle
Average Age of Fleet
Electric or Hybrids in service
intermodal transit center
monorail
extreme hours of service
% of city using transit
Rail plan or rail system
Multi-Modal System
Fare
Real Time Information
Route Miles
Daily trip miles
Average Headways Bus
Average Headways other
Cross town connectors
Anyone got the information here? Mike? Are you lurking in the wings? Here's a chance to make Jacksonville proud. What are the JTA numbers for the above? Hello?
(http://images.news8austin.com/media/2004/8/20/images/01___train.jpg)photo 4(http://images.news8austin.com/media/2006/7/18/images/01metro.jpg)photo 5(http://images.news8austin.com/media/2004/11/4/images/02_railmap2.jpg)photo 6(http://www.bigredrabbit.com/picturesart/skyway_fccj_high.jpg)photo 7(http://abandonedrailroads.homestead.com/files/ACRRline.jpg)photo 8
Ocklawaha
Capital Metro VS JTA
Fair Down
.50 cents Regular 1.00
1.00 All Day NOT Available
.60 Specials 1.50
VIÊTNAMESE
50 xu 1 dollar
1 dollar NOT Available
60 xu 1.5 dollars
Wow, I'm starting to see a pattern I just don't know what it is yet. ;D