The Future of Transit in Jacksonville

[Steve]

Brilliant!
This should be required viewing for every adult in Duval County.
I just wonder how the JTA will try and defend their stance?
Maybe point to the one or two BRT systems around the country that work, and as usual ignor the fact that all smart cities are going with some form of rail?
BRAVO!

They can feel free - I don't know of any that work, unless they are linked to a "trunk" line that is rail-based.  A few examples of this are Los Angeles, Boston, and Miami

[downtownparks]

Any one who tries to call Boston a BRT success is high. Boston has a well established commuter rail, subway, and bus system, with a dedicated ridership. Hardly a similar situation to us.

[Steve]

Any one who tries to call Boston a BRT success is high. Boston has a well established commuter rail, subway, and bus system, with a dedicated ridership. Hardly a similar situation to us.

Exactly - basically, they put a bus corridor in, and then any development in the blocks around it were then because of the bus corridor.

[zoo]

Look out Jacksonville old-school. You are not an island anymore. The intelligentsia have arrived and are stumping for change. Somebody get this to First Coast MPO (and fast).

[riverside_mail]

Very well thought out and easy to understand. It won't stand a snowball's chance in hell with the government types.    Seriously, I wish you good luck with this, as it is a wonderful idea that has the added benefit of saving the taxpayer money.

Here's one more reason that rail trumps the BRT:

Quick, name at least 2 popular songs about riding a train.
Not too tough, eh?

Now, name at least 2 songs about riding a bus.

[02roadking]

Waiting for the bus all day.... ZZ Top
Magic Bus.... The Who
   

[thelakelander]

double dutch bus... Frank Smith
the wheels on the bus....

[Ocklawaha]

02Roadking... uh? Magic Bus is NOT about a bus!

CHECK OUT: " WEIRD AL and ANOTHER ONE RIDES THE BUS "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjTZvk2j6m0&feature=related

Ocklawaha

[gatorback]

Any one who tries to call Boston a BRT success is high. Boston has a well established commuter rail, subway, and bus system, with a dedicated ridership. Hardly a similar situation to us.

I first visited Boston in 1998.  I ended up working there in 2004 for half a year after the Big Dig.  The traffic flows efficiently under Boston post BD.  I can't wait to get back to beantown, however, I hate the Mass. Pike during rush hour, but getting around in the city is very easy.  My stomps include Coppley Square and the Back Bay.

[PROTRANSIT]

The video never mentions how transit projects are funded.  If rail, light rail or even BRT projects were easy to fund every city in America would have one?   That would be an interesting report. 

[thelakelander]

The key is finding solutions instead of making excuses for never doing the right thing.  So how do you fund a transit system?  There's several options.  You could take the route of JTA and bow down to the FTA or you could do what you believe is best for your community and do it yourself, if that's what it calls for.  Another option is public/private partnerships. 

Not suprisingly, many of our peer cities are doing what it takes to improve their quality of life and create more attractive communities for job relocation, etc., even if it means finding financing strategies without the FTA.  Austin (Capital MetroRail), New Jersey (RiverLINE), Houston MetroRail are three systems that immediately come to mind as those that told the FTA to buzz off.  After recently being rejected by the FTA for funding, SE Michigan is also doing the same.  They plan to have their starter commuter rail line between Ann Arbor and New Center Detroit up and running within two years as a demostration project.  Luckily, in Jax's case we already have $100 million set aside from the BJP.  Most communities don't have that going into it.   

Btw, regarding the FTA, the current Administration is on its way out the door later this year.  Depending on the election turnout, mass transit-based mobility alternatives may be on their way back up.

[Steve]

We need to take the money from the FTA.  After all, look how well the money they gave us for the Skyway worked out.  So glad we took that check.

Instead of taking the 180 million from Uncle Sam, if we had invested 90 million in Light Rail, what would we look like today?

[chris]

now all we have to do is convince the people making these decisions... not exactly a walk in the park:(

[jeh1980]

Good video ...BUT!!! We all due respect, but if we, especially Metro Jacksonville care more about our downtown and its needs, are we just gonna sit here and talk about the city's problems and what the city, the Mayor, and JTA needed to do to step up and make our city the best city in the world? I think that we need to go to them and give them some good sound advice and encourage them about this video. Showing lack of respect to JTA won't do. Dishonoring the Mayor won't do. And showing the public reasons why our downtown is "struggling" and proving why the Mayor can't do anything about it won't do either. We need get up and go to these people and demand what we want for our downtown. Simple as that!

[thelakelander]

Good video ...BUT!!! We all due respect, but if we, especially Metro Jacksonville care more about our downtown and its needs, are we just gonna sit here and talk about the city's problems and what the city, the Mayor, and JTA needed to do to step up and make our city the best city in the world? I think that we need to go to them and give them some good sound advice and encourage them about this video.

This is exactly what we did.  We presented this video in front of Council's Transportation Committee and JTA.  See first post...

MetroJacksonville is proud to present a documentary focussing on the future of transit in Jacksonville. At this very moment at city hall, MetroJacksonville and JTA are going head to head in front of the City Council's Transportation, Energy   Utilities Committee.

Showing lack of respect to JTA won't do. Dishonoring the Mayor won't do. And showing the public reasons why our downtown is "struggling" and proving why the Mayor can't do anything about it won't do either. We need get up and go to these people and demand what we want for our downtown. Simple as that!

With all due respect, this issue is much larger than whether downtown can be vibrant or not.  BRT has the potential to be a negative for several inner city neighborhoods and a huge negative for the taxpayer, who will once again fit the bill for this boondoggle.  As for a lack of respect with the video, I'd challenge that notion.  The video contains facts and actual quotes from local tranportation planners during their fight to pursaude Jacksonville citizens that BRT is the best choice for Jacksonville.  Is it our fault that many of the quotes happened to be easily proven as incorrect?  If anything, you should be upset that the people you pay to take care of your city's transportation needs have the audacity to come up with a poor plan and expect you to sit back and fund it.  Considering we were able to take two days to make a video that points out some serious questions that our transportation authority can't accurately answer should be enough to think twice before giving JTA $100 million of our tax dollars for a system no one wants.  Believe me, we're doing all we can, but we need more jeh1980s to practice what they preach and join the fight.