Metrorail Commuter Line Opens in Austin

[fsujax]

I agree with you there. There has been some major progress with commuter rail in Jacksonville. JTA has spent the money to do the studies and worked with the TPO to get it in the Long Range Plan. It is my understanding JTA has budgeted money to begin the environmental process with FTA. Look for things to continue going in the right direction.

[Jaxson]

I think that we can improve mass transit in our city.  We need to begin by electing local leaders who actually care that traffic is a living nightmare.

[Coolyfett]

Commuter Rail is to transport to the burbs. Its a long distance rail system. Connecting Springfield, Riverside, San Marco & Lavilla is the job of expanded Skyway....but Jax does not want to connect those communities.

[Mattius92]

Commuter Rail is to transport to the burbs. Its a long distance rail system. Connecting Springfield, Riverside, San Marco & Lavilla is the job of expanded Skyway....but Jax does not want to connect those communities.

Yes that is true, the Skyway needs to be expanded if it is ever to be of any use, because right now it goes no-where.

[JaxNative68]

HEY JACKSONVILLE LEADERS: CONNECT THE PEOPLE WHERE THEY LIVE TO WHERE THEY WORK!

. . . and to downtown and the middle ground will grow, along with downtown.

[fieldafm]

An anecdote to the conversation... Austin is going to have even MORE transportation options over the next few years now that they have announced they will be hosting a Formula One race

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/25/breaking-formula-one-coming-to-austin-texas-in-2012/

[tufsu1]

Commuter Rail is to transport to the burbs. Its a long distance rail system. Connecting Springfield, Riverside, San Marco & Lavilla is the job of expanded Skyway....but Jax does not want to connect those communities.

that's where you are wrong....those neighborhoods can be connected by Skyway and/or streetcar...and JTA, the TPO, and City are now endorsing streetcars at some level.

[thelakelander]

Those neighborhoods can also be served by commuter rail.  Examples of urban communities in Jacksonville that will be connected to downtown by commuter rail include Durkeeville, New Springfield, Brentwood, Panama Park, Springfield, Riverside/Avondale, Murray Hill and Lakeshore.  

More and more systems are becoming hybrids in that they are being designed to fit with the communities they serve as opposed to traditional transportation planning mode descriptions.  Good examples that deviate from the traditional thinking of commuter rail includes Portland's WES, Oceanside's Sprinter, Austin's Metrorail, Philly's SEPTA and New Jersey's RiverLine.

[Ocklawaha]

Commuter Rail is to transport to the burbs. Its a long distance rail system. Connecting Springfield, Riverside, San Marco & Lavilla is the job of expanded Skyway....but Jax does not want to connect those communities.

This is a sort of one-size-fits-all answer Coolyfett. Frankly, it is impossible in the Transportation World to say that everything within XX is rail, while everything over in ZZ is Skyway, or that everything AA is bus/BRT.  The Transit world is one of a careful tailoring job, with each community, urban or suburban, getting the best mode or modes to make them mobile. While 5-Points, Park & King, and the Landing all scream S T R E E T C A R, San Marco (because of the FEC RY cutting it off from the rest of the city with blocked crossings) screams S K Y W A Y. Does this leave Commuter Rail out of the picture? Not at all, consider the FEC RY at Atlantic, or the CSX at King, as potential Commuter Rail Stops.

Just to make a point, imagine if we studied and decided that Streetcar to King and the CSX, as well as BRT bus to Blanding, would hub out of this "King Street Commuter Rail Station."  That is really 4 distinct modes serving and mixing up their passengers at a single urban neighborhood stop. Let's call these Mini-Hubs, and each would be roughly patterned after the Kings Avenue Station, or Rosa Parks Station, of today. 

To break this down further consider that Edison, Mc Duff, Stockton, College and Post, might all be frequent neighborhood bus routes from our "King Street Commuter Rail Station".  Every 20 Minutes, a City bus cluster rolls in from each of these routes.  During rush hours the headways are even more frequent. Every 40 Minutes a Commuter Train heads into or out of town, in the morning or late afternoon hours.  Every 10 Minutes a streetcar rolls to a stop at the busy King Street Station to meet a fleet of sleek Bus Rapid Transit Buses that have made a trek from Middleburg and Argyle, up through Wesconnett, Lake Shore, up Cassat, to Post, and on to King.  Every 15 minutes the BRT line circulates another coach through the station, coaches that NEVER have to make the rest of the trek downtown!

So all day and into the night the system would hum, perhaps a dozen mini-hubs scattered around the city, each well landscaped, well lit, well staffed, with INFORMATION, with SECURITY, with real time display links to GPS bus-train-streetcar tracking, with restrooms, with vending machines, perhaps even with air conditioned cubical-waiting lounge, and some with large parking lots.

The trains are the ultimate consolidator of traffic, and the BRT is a lighter Consolidator with some longer distance features too. Streetcar is more of an Arterial that flows heavy night and day, pulsing with life, while in other neighborhoods and routes the Skyway performs this duty. The City bus connectors while they are the same old clunkers we have come to love, consider now that they'll have reason to exist, food for the farebox, and a renewed determination to succeed in foraging for passengers.

Like members of a choir, each sings it's own part, and when placed on stage one will then hear the harmony.


OCKLAWAHA

[urbaknight]

I see people moving here all the time. And soon (I really hope) people from more developed parts of the country will out number the native population, causing the city to accommodate to what the new majority is used to and rightfully expects of a major city. I'm not trying to say all Jacksonville people are bad. It's just the powers that be right now are not working in the city's best interest. I said this on another post, but it's worth at least considering. Let's organize a boycott against Gate gas stations, in order to force the mayor to do right by Jacksonville!

[Joe]

^ Gate is ownedby the Mayor's father, who is a pretty good guy. There's not much reason to boycott Gate just because the Mayor has been bad. I don't think the younger Peyton has been involved in the operation of Gate for the better part of a decade.  My two cents.

As to commuter rail - I'm still extremely excited that JTA and the TPO are moving forward with their studies. Back in 2004, the Better Jax Plan called for preliminary ROW acquisition for the ill-conceived BRT plan. The fact that BRT has not been built, and that a bigger, better, cheaper commuter rail system is at least on the table ... well, it's really nice to say the least.

[tufsu1]

As to commuter rail - I'm still extremely excited that JTA and the TPO are moving forward with their studies. Back in 2004, the Better Jax Plan called for preliminary ROW acquisition for the ill-conceived BRT plan. The fact that BRT has not been built, and that a bigger, better, cheaper commuter rail system is at least on the table ... well, it's really nice to say the least.

the BRT-lite version is still in process...and design of the downtown portion will begin soon.....as for commuter rail, it is bigger and better, but not necessarily cheaper...it is likely to cost just as muh as the 2004 version of BRT, but covers more area.

[thelakelander]

^Thus it's significantly cheaper.  The 2004 version of BRT would have also cost around $1 billion to construct the 29/30 mile long dedicated busway system.  The entire 90-mile Commuter rail system may not cost that much.

[urbanlibertarian]

"The entire 90-mile Commuter rail system may not that much."

And could be done in phases.

[fsujax]

^^very true and with the possible improvements in conjunction with Amtrak service to Miami on the SE line to St Aug we are looking at a reduction of cost.