How To Love BRT

[Metro Jacksonville]

How To Love BRT



If Jacksonville fails to get Bus Rapid Transit, it would be a tragic failure.  As it is, currently with long headways, the JTA system is ineffective in all but rush hour service. However, because Metro Jacksonville and Jacksonville Transit Blog have expressed support for commuter rail, streetcars and light rail doesn't mean we stand against all BRT.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/932

[jeh1980]

Wait a minute!  I thought MetroJacksonville hates the idea of BRT. What done happened?!

[thelakelander]

I like wearing shorts in the summer, but I would not wear them to church for a Sunday service.  However, this does not mean I hate shorts.

We never hated the concept of bus rapid transit.  It just does not make sense the way JTA has proposed it.   Why pay double for an inferior service to parallel rail, if rail is cheaper?  Instead use the modes to complement each other.  We can do this by rail becoming the regional mass transit trunk line and having BRT corridors set up to feed riders in from area that aren't rail accessible.  For example, instead of BRT running down Philips, run a passenger rail line down that corridor.  Then use some form of BRT to run along corridors like JTB to connect that rail spine directly with destination points like Southpoint, Deerwood Park, SJTC, UNF and the beaches.

[Abhishek]

This is a good post, especially the last part about the people who defend BRT. We wont get anywhere with such mentalities.

Thanks for taking a stand, MetroJax.

[Clem1029]

As a Cleveland native, I was surprised to see the Euclid Corridor project mentioned here, although it does make for a good comparison. I want to provide a little context to the EC route to give everyone and idea of exactly what is along that orange line, if nothing else than to compare that line with some of what JTA and MetroJax are proposing.

Looking at Euclid Ave downtown from it's start at Public Square to about where it crosses I-90, the following are either right on the street, or a 5 minute walk:

Tower City Center (this is basically the hub of downtown - it's a mall, has 2 high end historical hotels (Ritz & Renaissance), all of the public transit rail lines come through here, including the local downtown Waterfront line connecting to the Flats, Browns Stadium, and the Rock Hall and Science Center, with walkways connecting it to Gateway (Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena, direct connection to one of the two outdoor concert venues downtonw) and the new courthouse). If you're taking public transit into downtown Cleveland, Tower City is a very likely destination.

BP Building, Fifth Third Building, Key Center, etc etc - basically 90% of all the downtown Cleveland office space is within a 5-10 min walk of Euclid.

East 4th Street - a newer (last 5 or so years) entertainment district including House of Blues, an unbelievably good restaurant/comedy club/martini bar, a higher end bowling alley, and a bunch of other restaurants.

Playhouse Square - Cleveland theater district, has 4 or 5 historical theaters that see a lot of national shows come through. It's one of the biggest theater districts outside of the New Yorks and Torontos.

Cleveland State University - Cleveland's public downtown university.

You basically have all of that along the first 2 miles of Euclid Ave. However, once you get past CSU, things get a little hairy. The comment from the article that "...East Cleveland, which few locals will argue is the city's roughest, most rundown and unsalvageable parts of the area" is an absolute truth. Most people (and particularly westsiders like myself) don't hit East Cleveland unless is absolutely critical. It's a pretty depressing drive. I understand the argument that the Euclid Corridor project might improve the area, but I don't buy it. I'll address that more towards the end.

With all of that said however, there IS a good reason to make that drive from time to time. You see that little jog to the northeast about midway through the route? That's the Cleveland Clinic - widely regarded as one of the best medical centers in the world. The drive to the Clinic is astounding - you get outside of downtown and it's the most economically depressed urban drive you've ever been on, then BAM - here's this world class medical center. The Clinic campus is huge, and there's an Omni Intercontinental hotel there as well. Again, definitely a viable destination for a transit project.

From there to the northeast, you get a somewhat improving view. Where Mayfield Road intersects the corridor you've got small cultural pocket areas like Coventry and Little Italy. You also have two more universities - Case Western Reserve University (it might just go by Case now...most locals (and former locals) like myself still refer to it as Case Western) and John Carroll University, both of which are well regarded schools (Case especially is an outstanding engineering university). If my memory is not failing me, along that route you've also got the hall that's the home of the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the museum district.

So yeah...there's a LOT going down along the Euclid corridor, even considering the issues from downtown to the Clinic. Even from my limited descriptions, it's obvious it's a corridor that could desperately use some sort of transit system.

Here's my problem with the Euclid Corridor project - outside of the major players (most of which I listed above), the project OBLITERATED local businesses. Let's be honest - stuff like Cleveland State or Tower City aren't going to go anywhere. But the construction for the project was an absolute disaster. When I visited a year ago, the construction was horrendous, traffic routing was miserable, and it was obvious that it was keeping people from coming downtown, and the result was not only destroying local stores because of the lack of traffic, but even small business relocated from downtown to the inner ring suburbs (Lakewood being a big location - they were one of a few inner ring suburbs that put a ton of incentives out for small business to relocate there). The big boys stayed, but when you've got an economically depressed city as it is (and Cleveland is hurting big time), overspending on a project that might provide a boost down the line, but during the project drives people and business out of the city anyways is NOT a good use of funding. And when you blow up the small business portion of the route for the corridor downtown, explain to me how exactly the project is supposed to revitalize the East Cleveland area between Cleveland State and the Clinic?

Don't get me wrong - there's still an outside chance this project could work out. Let's be honest here (and this isn't meant to be an insult around here, just stating it as I see it) - downtown Cleveland, far and away, has more to attract people to come in and enjoy than Downtown Jacksonville. I'm not saying Jax couldn't get there eventually, but looking at right now, Downtown Cleveland wins. So there's always going to be a draw for people to come in...as such, they might utilize the EC project more, and you might see the EC redevelop into something big. More likely, ridership is going to stay way low, they'll have spent way too much on the system, and the business that left won't be coming back.

So let's bring this back to the JTA BRT discussion. I understand the idea is going to be a bit larger than just the EC project, so a direct comparison will be tough as I don't think Jax has a one shot corridor like Euclid that has so much along it, which is good and bad. The EC project could get pushed because the old bus route along Euclid was one of the most popular in the city. Are JTA's proposed BRT lines along the most traveled routes in the city, or are we in a Field of Dreams "if you build it they will ride" mentality here? If it is along a highly traveled route, how do they plan to deal with the inevitable business impact that construction for a massive BRT system will entail? And if it's the Field of Dreams scenario, help out a newbie - where has extending a BRT system where there's no popular bus route drastically increased ridership to justify the expense?

I've totally bought into the rail + Skyway + BRT/Streetcar feeder concept around here. I think the Euclid Corridor project could have greatly benefited from that approach. For JTA though, I think this all boils down to a simple question -

How do you prevent causing even MORE sprawl during the years it will take to construct the BRT system?

[Jason]

Great article. 

Jeh1980, as Lake said, the stance of MetroJacksonville has never been against BRT as a whole, just against the way it is being suggested here in Jacksonville.

Beach, Atlantic, Southside, Normandy, 103rd, and parts of Blanding are all great corridors to implement BRT.  They are not very dense but serve large populations.  These routes could connect directly to the intersecting rail lines.

[Ocklawaha]

jeh1980
October 31, 2008, 5:49 am
Re: How To Love BRT

Wait a minute!    I thought MetroJacksonville hates the idea of BRT. What done happened?!

NO! NO! NO! Please understand, as the Jacksonville Transit Blogger, and I think I can speak for MJ folks on this:

1. We hate waste

2. We hate the idea of building two parallel systems for the same passenger.

3. We hate the idea of making a bus a train, and a train a bus - WON'T WORK.

We LOVE Transit MIX. The more the better. Layers of transit running at different angles - one from another.
In short a matrix.

We LOVE the idea of a SE, SW, N, and E, corridor, but we already have rail on all but the East line, so why waste? Why reinvent the wheel?

The North line has taken shots from us because at its worst, it doesn't go where people live-work-play. At best it is an express line down I-95, that connects Gateway Mall and Downtown. I believe you will see a change to a surface street - one that can tie into rail somewhere on North Main or perhaps Shands. If you do, I know Jacksonville Transit Blog will be onboard for the ride.

The Southwest line has taken hits because at its worst, it's just a duplication of a railroad mainline (50-79 MPH) that we already have. At its best, it serves BLANDING, so run it from the railroad down Blanding and watch us support it.

The Southeast Line, is under fire because at its worst, it's under the Skyway through San Marco (rendering it useless) and also just a duplication of a railroad just 1 city block away. At it's best, it's an area where we could test the FTA feelings on moving the whole corridor to JTB. This is something that was in the long range plan anyway. So let's run it from the railhead at JTB all the way to the beaches. I'm waiting for the bus at JTB and HODGES!

The East Line, has been tormented because at it's worst, it's an elevated freeway for buses over the Arlington Expressway, yet its sorely needed. At best, it would use HOV and Service Roads, and perhaps blow through from Atlantic Beach to the industrial area of Westlake. It is both the most wanted BRT route and the most wanted LRT route. Depending on the decision on the Matthews bridge, it could be either in the future. But for now we can test the waters with a lower dollar Light-BRT route, then decide where we want to spend a half Billion.

So what do we do with all the new buses with less immediate BRT? We redeploy them to close the headways on the routes we already have from every 30 and 45 minutes to 15 minutes. We add community based transit*, we shoot for the stars with a fully blended transit mix. BRT - BUS - RAIL - STREETCAR - SKYWAY.

*Community Based Transit: Call it transit around your zip code, centered on things such as River City Marketplace, Gateway Mall, Town Center, Avenues, Regency, Beaches etc... Also the "community" part also speaks to blend. For example the Skyway would look great going to the FEC at Atlantic for a rail-bus-skyway interchange station. But it would NOT FIT - Springfield, Avondale, San Marco, Ortega etc. And those communities would look great with vintage streetcars - which is why its now also in the mix.

Give me BRT to Hodges and JTB, Rail downtown, and BRT up a surface street to Shands/VA center, and EVERY TRIP I MAKE will be on JTA. Count me in.

[ProjectMaximus]

I read the transit blog regularly, so, lol, it disapoints me whenever I see a new article and then it's just a repeat from the other site. 

Nevertheless, good argument...let's see some BRT ways (especially out to Arlington and the Beaches) feeding into the three main commuter rail lines!

[Driven1]

good update ock & lake.