Dump the Pump

[fsujax]

anyone working Downtown really has no excuse to at least not try the Skyway. Who knows maybe it will be free that day!

[duvaldude08]

anyone working Downtown really has no excuse to at least not try the Skyway. Who knows maybe it will be free that day!

Well I want to, but I only have a 45 minute lunch. I work a Pru so the skyway station is right across the street. LOL Im just afraid Im going to get stuck and be late getting back to work. I was going to take it the landing one day just because. I may do it today and take some pictures. lol

[fsujax]

i ride it all the time at lunch. you should be ok.

[duvaldude08]

I had a license issue for about two months and I rode the bus to work everyday. Took the B7 and got dropped pff right outside Prudential and picked me up across the street in the afternoon. That was only 10.00 a week compared to how much I was spending driving to work. And If I need to go to the store I caught a cab. I was saving SOOO much money. It takes 60.00 to fill my car up once. I was spending like 100.00 every two weeks on gas.  I hated getting up so early and getting home so late, but I had plenty of change to throw around. I dont mind cacthing the bus at all now.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

I figured it out for bus travel on my end, and, if I HAD TO ride I'd be okay with a bit of a hike involved every day. Nothing comes as close as 10 blocks.

I'd have to take the P4 - arrives 6:50ish at 110th/Catoma   (so I'm walking from the park all up to the school... hmm, if the Kids can do  this every day, what's my excuse?)
Then it'll arrive at Rosa Parks about 7:50ish, so I could then walk thru Confederate Park and smell the roses on my way to work. I could take a connection right to the doors of the building but why spend another $1 there when I can move my two feet a bit faster?

Homeward bound, I wouldn't get home until about 7:30.  Eh. That part I don't like at all.


So as a summer thing, I'm okay saving some bucks. But this could NOT work if I have to drop off/pick up my son at school.

[Bativac]

Find a way to do it.

Find a way to do it.

Oh I would, believe me.  If any of the routes went where I needed them to go, in a timely manner.

Same here.

Choosing to "dump the pump" would add no less than three hours of extra travel to my work day. JTA can frame it as if the spoiled consumer is choosing to drive rather than take the bus all they want, but that doesn't change the fact that one day's commute to work via JTA bus takes longer than my entire week's commute in my own vehicle. I'd love the opportunity to take the bus to work, but not if it means sacrificing 33% of my non-working, non-sleeping day to do so. It'd be nice to be able to not worry about driving and to do a crossword or catch up on some work on the bus. But it's not so nice to start The Lord of the Rings while waiting on the bus in the morning and running out of movie by the time you get home at night.

Same here about the added travel time. JTA is useless as a reliable method of transportation - I remember when I was in college ten years ago, jobs required you to have your own transportation (aka "a car"). The bus wasn't considered a good way to get to work.

It was just as bad in the late 1990s when I had to use the bus to get to and from work. Leave two hours 15 minutes before the start of my shift and pray for a ride home at the end of it because the buses quit running to that area after 8 or 9 PM.

The bus system sucks and in its current state is totally unusable for most of the city's employed residents or anybody wanting to run errands in a timely fashion.

[hillary supporter]

For all of us with issues for JTA (which i agree with those issues) Dump the pump! Consider Electric car!

[urbaknight]

It only works for a random some of people. You knida have to live on a direct path.

[exnewsman]

The bus system sucks and in its current state is totally unusable for most of the city's employed residents or anybody wanting to run errands in a timely fashion.
[/quote] 

Well its working some somebody. JTA had 10-11 million trips last year and they're running more than 8% higher this year. I think duvaldude is a good example. It works for him. I'm sure it works for many. And for many it doesn't.
There is 840 sq miles of Jacksonville to cover. Not sure any transit agency could do that and satisfy everybody. Look at the Skyway. More people could use it to go to lunch, dinner, work/back - but how many actually do. Not nearly enough.
Everybody would use it if it picked them up right outside their house and dropped them off right at the office door with no stops in between.

[duvaldude08]

The bus system sucks and in its current state is totally unusable for most of the city's employed residents or anybody wanting to run errands in a timely fashion.

Well its working some somebody. JTA had 10-11 million trips last year and they're running more than 8% higher this year. I think duvaldude is a good example. It works for him. I'm sure it works for many. And for many it doesn't.
There is 840 sq miles of Jacksonville to cover. Not sure any transit agency could do that and satisfy everybody. Look at the Skyway. More people could use it to go to lunch, dinner, work/back - but how many actually do. Not nearly enough.
Everybody would use it if it picked them up right outside their house and dropped them off right at the office door with no stops in between.

Well it worked for me to get to work. It would have been a hassle to get anywhere else. The avenues mall for example would take me two buses and its around the corner. Those are the kind of things they have to fix. Thats ridiculos

[peestandingup]

I think all JTA officials & city leaders responsible for transit should lead by example & "dump the pump" if they expect others to. Let's see how well it works out for them.

[hillary supporter]

I think all JTA officials & city leaders responsible for transit should lead by example & "dump the pump" if they expect others to. Let's see how well it works out for them.

exactly +1

[Doctor_K]

Everybody would use it if it picked them up right outside their house and dropped them off right at the office door with no stops in between.

I'm not naive enough to think that such an example would be viable either (although I figured that was more sarcastic than anything).  All I'm saying is, based on where I live, work, and work (2 jobs), none of the routes as-listed on JTA's site are worthwhile for me. 

The L9 route used to be practically doorstep-to-doorstep for me, and I'm sad that they took it away as an option.  My problem is less with the routes (although those have been discussed at length on this forum in general) and more with the 50- to 60-plus-minute headways. 

I'm glad that the bus system, as operational right now, works for some.  I am of the opinion, however incorrect it might be, that if they at least doubled the buses (i.e., halved the headways), there might be increased ridership that went with that.  Part of the problem with the bus system is that they're so far spaced out (time-wise), that it just adds to the "not viable" option for someone like me.

And while I'm not saying "it's all about me," I'm sure that there are lots of other people who would want to make the bus a more integral part of their commute but the long headways make it untenable.

[exnewsman]

I am of the opinion, however incorrect it might be, that if they at least doubled the buses (i.e., halved the headways), there might be increased ridership that went with that.  Part of the problem with the bus system is that they're so far spaced out (time-wise), that it just adds to the "not viable" option for someone like me.

[/quote]

I think $$$ plays a major role in that. I wonder what would happen if they scaled back their service to a smaller area, but increased the frequency of those routes - making it a btter service. Then what do you tell those who are no longer served? Its a problem.

[Gators312]

Well its working some somebody. JTA had 10-11 million trips last year and they're running more than 8% higher this year. I think duvaldude is a good example. It works for him. I'm sure it works for many. And for many it doesn't.

I am of the opinion that a majority of those 10-11 million trips are from riders who have no other choice for transportation other than walking.  I think JTA can serve almost all of us, it is just not a good use of time to do so. 

Some people just have no other choice than to use the inefficient JTA.