JTA's New Bus Routes

[mtraininjax]

So by your own definition, every paved road in the Jacksonville MSA is a "boondoggle?" Every Library ever built, a boondoggle? Every police, fire and parks department a boondoggle? Roosevelt, 103RD St, Arlington Expressway, Blanding, Hecksher, San Jose, JTB... Where in your mind does boondoggle start and responsibility end?

Did you know that according to the JCCI report of 2008, 67% of the respondents reported that their daily commute was 25 minutes or less? Does this constitute an expensive rail system, such as the one in Tuscon at 297 million dollars for only 3.2 miles of track? How long would you suppose it would take you to drive or better yet, to walk 3.2 miles? Do you think we need to spend millions on something when people's commute is so short?

Average Skyway ridership decreased from 2400 riders to 2200 riders that same year. In the year 2000, the Skyway had about the same number of riders. The Skyway's final price tag was 184 million dollars in 2000 dollars. I'd call that the mother of all boondoggles. Responsibility begins and ends with fiscal responsibility of taxpayer dollars. The Skyway is an expensive lesson of wasted resources.

Mayor John Delaney said it best in 1995, when he called the Skyway a "turkey" and a "disaster".

[TheProfessor]

Let's talk about what we have got in our city---THE BUSES....and how we can improve the system.  The skyway needs to be left as only an inner city people mover.  Any new night rail should be a system independent of the skyway.

[mtraininjax]

Sorry, we can't you see the skyway was designed to work in downtown, in the so-called congested streets of Bay, Water, Main, Laura, and we supposedly needed the skyway to help with congestion. The problem is that the leaders 30 years ago thought downtown would have more residents than it does now, and there would be less flight to suburbs. Another in yet many bad planning moves....

So the Skyway is part of the bus system, buses feed to FCCJ to help people get around downtown. I can't remember the last time I saw a JTA bus on Hogan Street, or Laura for that matter, the fact is that they dump people at the FCCJ station and from there use the Skyway. Its all connected one way or another.

[thelakelander]

^Actually not.  A large number of bus routes use downtown's streets before branching out on their specific routes.  If we wanted to fully integrate the skyway into the bus system, buses would make ONE or TWO stops in downtown depending on the route.  Those stops would be at the FCCJ and Kings Avenue Stations.  All downtown trips in between would be served by the Skyway and faux trolleys.  That, along with making the skyway into a two line system (CC to Central & Kings to FCCJ), would probably double skyway ridership without doing anything else.

Let's talk about what we have got in our city---THE BUSES....and how we can improve the system.  The skyway needs to be left as only an inner city people mover.  Any new night rail should be a system independent of the skyway.

I think the recent changes will improve the existing bus system.  For further improvement, I'd suggest implementing proposed BRT corridors, on existing streets, now with the current system asking for federal stimulus dollars to pay for additional bus shelters and fuel efficient buses.

[mtraininjax]

"additional bus shelters "

Too bad the narrow minded politicians and citizens did not allow the JTA to build the bus shelters using the private money for advertising. Short sightedness!

[thelakelander]

^I agree. 

[Doctor_K]

I think the recent changes will improve the existing bus system.

I sincerely hope so, Lake.  However, with a lot of those routes still having 40+ minute headways, there's not going to be too much new incentive to hop a ride on one.

That, coupled with the L9 route change, means I can no longer utilize the bus for my daily work commute.  They lost a passenger with that one.

[thelakelander]

Oh, I agree.  They still have a long way to go.  Personally, I don't think the overall image of mass transit in Jax will change until a serious investment in the development of a rail corridor is made.  Until then, we're just bathing, buying a dress and putting lipstick on a pig.

[Doctor_K]

I'll agree for the most part.

I've yet to see or hear a single JTA commercial on TV or the radio talking about bus route changes.  All I hear is "without JTA, there'd be no JTB..." and blah, blah, blah. 

A serious culture change is needed at JTA first, then a new ad campaign.  Or maybe just a new ad campaign.  Baby steps might produce more baby steps, as it were.

[mtraininjax]

You can't get rail until you get new leadership. The mayor does not want it, the governor does not want it. Until you get new leaders who can raise the funds, its just a lot of hot air.

[Doctor_K]

I agree, mtrain.  But I'm even talking about just the *bus* route changes. 

I've heard/read/seen *zero* from JTA about it.  Advertising or otherwise.  And I don't even know that they advertise their still-substandard website, as it's only there you're made aware that *anything's* changed at all.