JTA making progress on transportation center

[duvaldude08]

But back to the subject at hand. That is definately good news. I am happy he recongnizes that a spwarling 4 block 180 million dollar transportation system is just stupid. It can be done more efficently with less money. Hopefully this forces them to go back to the drawing board.

[Ralph W]

It would appears that Mayor Brown is actually listening to the fine folks on his transportation transition team.

Take a bow youse guys!

[ProjectMaximus]

Says the TU: Brown spokesman Abel Harding said

That alone makes me more confident than anything that happened under the last administration.

Lol, hear hear! I don't know how executive offices generally work, but I'm sure (or hope) even as the communications director he will have some sort of advisory role on policy. Which makes me sleep a little easier.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Semi-Intoxicated Rant:

I'm not sure what the huge holdup is regarding the transit terminal.  I feel like I should pull a Rosa Parks every morning and guide 15-20 people off the bus at Jefferson Station (Skyway) every morning, and show them that if the WS2 would just turn around here - we kill 35 minutes off the headways - thats turns a 50 minute headway into a 15 minute headway without changing a thing other than drop off points.  We increase the skyway at a minimun 200 riders per day from Rosa Park to Jefferson.  With one turnaround point, I just increased the Skyway by (200 riders per day * 300 days per year) 60,000 riders per year and eliminated (30 min per route * 18 trips per day * 300 days per year) 2,700 duplicate hours per year in service.  Am I a genius? No.  Do I do this daily?  Yes.  How many times per week do I exit the WS2 at the Jefferson Station and beat the bus to Rosa Park by at least 5 - 10 minutes?  Every day, monday through friday.

I know this is only one bus route, but imagine if the terminal was 3 blocks closer.  They would have thousands of people doing this daily in the same spot - not just JTA people, but also Amtrack and Greyhound - all using the same terminal.  Where would I buy my morning coffee and paper and breakfast sandwich?  Not at Blanding and Wilson anymore, but me and a few hundred other people would be buying the neccesities (sic if needed) at the terminal while waiting on the train, skyway. trolley, downtown loop bus service.  Either way, there's now several thousand people walking by your storefront on a daily basis.  2,000 people daily * 3.40 (very low estimate of an average check) = $6,800 gross revenue per day * 365 = $2,482,000 .  Ask Gate or Daily's or Hess if they would lower themselves to that average without the cost of having to fill/maintain gas tanks?  There emphatic answer is Fuck Yes!   Where do I sign?

Mayor Brown, if you're looking for a Private/Public Partnership, limit the transportation center to the Prime Osbourne and the Skyway terminal, force JTA to update their money routes and invite a convenience store to do the upgrades.  You'll end up with a nice compact station, at least one bus route that works the way public transportation should, shuts up the naysayers about the people mover (you just doubled the ridership) and generates a tax revenue from a city property from a business that is making a profit and happy to be there.

Sounds like a win, win, win, win, win.

[thelakelander]

Here is a map of the parcels that JTA wants.



full story: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-07-13/story/mayor-alvin-brown-against-transferring-more-land-jta-without-detailed

[ChriswUfGator]

So, for the first time ever, someone finally demanded that JTA present a plan that actually works before they get to play with more taxpayer assets. JTA must be shell-shocked, I bet they're pissed and don't have a clue what to do.

[Ocklawaha]

So, for the first time ever, someone finally demanded that JTA present a plan that actually works before they get to play with more taxpayer assets. JTA must be shell-shocked, I bet they're pissed and don't have a clue what to do.

I'd call it the second time as 30 years ago I told them the Skyway would fail and that we would be far ahead if we built Light-Rail. CHIRP... CHIRP...

You can see how far that went back then, while the newspaper scorched them (Jacksonville Journal) and a few of our Councilmen supported the streetcar concept (Eric Smith, Jim Wells, Andy Johnson) Jake refused to even open his door and hear from any of us. The entire archives of the Jacksonville Traction Company and all of the early City Coach and Motor Transit Company files, photos, uniforms, badges, etc. were hauled to a northside landfill in the dead of night and lost forever. Smith and Wells went ballistic and we shut down the dump and ordered a bulldozer to dig where it was thought to be... About 5 hours in the blistering sun, dead dog guts, and God knows what else we were nowhere. The historic trolley barns "got in the way of the new Acosta Bridge" and thus they had to be torn down... only to find out that they weren't in the way after all and so we built a Skyway Maintenance Facility on the same ground (as-if we couldn't have recycled the barns built in the 1800's). Lastly a city hit squad went out and found the 4 remaining streetcar bodies that we had located and reduced them to sawdust and razor blades "because if the federal government knew we were preserving streetcars they wouldn't give us the free money for the flying automated albatross."  Kind of makes one think that if they were giving our city an enema...where would they stick the hose?  

OCKLAWAHA

[duvaldude08]

So, for the first time ever, someone finally demanded that JTA present a plan that actually works before they get to play with more taxpayer assets. JTA must be shell-shocked, I bet they're pissed and don't have a clue what to do.

RIGHT! Mr. Brown is racking up cool points with me already. Its time for the city to stop making should bad decisions and allowing JTA to jerk us around. Because if we tell them no, then they will be forced to redo the plan altogether and do it right this time. I love it.

[Ocklawaha]

THREAD SPLIT - bus-skyway discussion now on 'TO HELL ON A JTA COACH - DT-LOOP' thread.

OCK

[duvaldude08]

Well Well Well looks like JTA is scarmlbing. I pulled this quote from Jacksonville.com today:

"The center is expected to cost $180 million, but JTA is updating its plans and that dollar amount might soon be revised. "

The better revise it or this thing wont get built thats for sure.....