The Plaza at Town Center Entertainment Complex

[comncense]

Thank God that Ruby Tuesday wasn't built... I'll take Bahama Breeze over that any day

[tufsu1]

Tufsu - Are you for real? I take the train into Penn Station every time I fly to Newark. Do we really need to add 100 pictures to the blog to prove the point? You can get to the New Jersey Transit site and go from "Newark Airport to New York Penn Station", they run about every 30 minutes every day.

I never said you couldn't take a train from Newark...I said not from JFK or LaGuardia...and the Newark rail link was only buil a few years ago.

[mtraininjax]

and the Newark rail link was only buil a few years ago.

Define a few.....I was riding it back in the 90s.

For service between LaGuardia and Manhattan, take the E, F, G, R, V and 7 trains on the New York City subway

Shall I post info on JFK as well?

[mtraininjax]

Atlanta's airport is the BUSIEST airport in the world.  Jax threw a party when we hit 6 million passengers in a year.  Atlanta does that montly.  Bad example.  Next.

Do you really want to compare airport traffic now? All we wanted to do was quote some modern cities have rail to their airport, now you want to start discussing the size of the airport? When you have the world's largest airlines use ATL as their HOME and MAJOR HUB, its not hard to see why it is the world's busiest airport. Airtran has a major hub there as well as the commuter planes like ASA and Delta Connection. Comparing ATL airport and JAX airport is not the idea of comparison, again, we are discussing rail to airports.

[aaapolito]

I'm not sure how SJTC got to "rail to airports," but I'd like to just add a really great example of a city, on a similar level with JAX, that has done this effectively.

Portland, Or./ PDX is a a little distance outside of the city and is surrounded by industrial and commercial development.  A traveler can take the MAXX (a light rail) for approximately $2 from PDX to Pioneer Sq., which is in the center of downtown.  The ride takes about 30-35 minutes, but the scenery is enjoyable and the cars are comfortable.  The ride takes you through commercial, rural, and eventually urban neighborhoods with many stops along the way.

I think that JAX should look to this great example.

[St. Auggie]

, we are discussing rail to airports.

Yep, I get that.  But to say we should have rail to the airport because the world's busiest airports have it is not a very good reason IMO.  Have you walked through our airport on a Wednesday?  NO ONE is there. ATL had to do it because people use their airport, people dont use Jax airport enough to spend all that money on something that just is not used that much. Now dont get me wrong I LOVE that airport... because NO ONE uses it (its also been nicely redone).

[tufsu1]

and the Newark rail link was only buil a few years ago.

Define a few.....I was riding it back in the 90s.

For service between LaGuardia and Manhattan, take the E, F, G, R, V and 7 trains on the New York City subway

Shall I post info on JFK as well?

Here's what I know...the Newark AirTrain link opened in 1996 as an airport circulator....but wasn't extended to Newark's Amtrak station until 2001...this 3 mile link is free for some (up to $5.50 each way for others) yet had less than 5,000 riders per day in 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_Liberty_International_Airport_(NJT_station)

As for the NYC airports, a look at the New York MTA route map does not show a direct rail connection to LaGuardia....

http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm

and the JFK station is off the airport itself and requires a transfer to the AirTrain to get to the terminal...

http://www.mta.info/mta/airtrain.htm

btw, cost of this trip is between $7 and $13 each way...how many in jax. would do that when airport parking can be had for $5 a day?

[Captain Zissou]

^ I see what you're saying St Aug.  We don't need to get ahead of ourselves trying to be like the big boys.  I think we should be very proactive and make sure we don't wait until its too late to decide to connect our airport to our city.  

If we had a rail line that went from the airport to the transit hub downtown, lines that went down Philips to St Aug and Roosevelt to Green Cove, and a line down JTB to the beach.... How much better of a city would we be??  It would make doing business in Jax much easier for out of towners, and could encourage new businesses to relocate here for that reason.  We'd reduce sprawl and encourage compact centers of development around rail stops.

We don't need to do it today, tomorrow, or even in the next couple years, but we need to get ahead of demand so that we're not stuck widening 95 and 295 around the airport again in 5 years when materials costs will be higher.

That being said, I'm going to Bento at the Town Center for lunch and I'm going to stop by Best Buy because I have a gift card. I'm Psyched! (seamless transition)

[thelakelander]

We don't need to do it today, tomorrow, or even in the next couple years, but we need to get ahead of demand so that we're not stuck widening 95 and 295 around the airport again in 5 years when materials costs will be higher.

Actually, we should have did it (rail) yesterday or a decade or two ago.  Not having it is one of the reasons we're so sprawled out today with a struggling urban core.  Rail builds density, its not the other way around.

[Captain Zissou]

I meant rail to the airport.  I agree that we're overdue for some rail in this town.  My parents' house would almost be a TAD on roosevelt!

[mtraininjax]

btw, cost of this trip is between $7 and $13 each way...how many in jax. would do that when airport parking can be had for $5 a day?

Airport parking in lots A and B are $6 a day, where are you thinking?

[mtraininjax]

Here's what I know...the Newark AirTrain link opened in 1996 as an airport circulator....but wasn't extended to Newark's Amtrak station until 2001...this 3 mile link is free for some (up to $5.50 each way for others) yet had less than 5,000 riders per day in 2007.

The AirTrain is only a link between the airport and the terminals and parking decks. The Northeast Corridor line for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains run by the Newark terminal. The Airtrain does not really serve anywhere other than the airport. You take this to the Newark Liberty International Airport (NJT station) which takes you into Manhatten and Penn Station.

[CS Foltz]

Rail here should have kicked off years ago and where are we now.............still talking about it!

[reednavy]

WTF? I thought this was about the town center.

[Charles Hunter]

yeah, the town center at the airport rail station!