Web site pushes alternative to bus rapid transit

[thelakelander]

By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS,
The Times-Union

When Ennis Davis moved to Jacksonville from Lakeland about four years ago, the state of the city's transit system wasn't something he focused on.

That changed when he sat through a Jacksonville Transportation Authority meeting on its Bus Rapid Transit proposal - and came away with the belief that the idea would kill downtown, divide neighborhoods and, ultimately, fail to attract riders.

"It's just not well thought out. Instead of using transit to bring people together, it's driving them away," said Davis, one of the three men behind MetroJacksonville.com, which has become a locus of anti-BRT/pro-rail sentiment.

That belief has set up a fight between the Web site and JTA, between those looking for downtown nightlife and those looking to fund construction projects, between citizens and bureaucrats, between insiders and outsiders.

To be clear, it's difficult - perhaps impossible - for anyone to convincingly say whose plan is right.

Across the country, bus and rail proponents alike come equipped with data-filled charts and examples of cities where their favored system is doing well. Both sides say the other lies.

Locally, JTA's bus-based system is the one vetted by the professionals, but the authority itself says it has no idea how much it will cost. The proposal by the main group of opponents comes with in-depth maps (and cost estimates), but, at the end of the day, hasn't gone through the governmental sausage grinder.

Site born of frustration

The plan has been well-received on MetroJacksonville, although the founders of the site say the topic is one they just stumbled into. In fact, although the Web site now has 55 transit-related postings - making it the largest single topic covered - the trio didn't particularly have an opinion on transit options in the beginning, they said: Unlike many BRT opponents around the nation, they didn't have a presupposition that rail was the way to go.

The site started by the men - Davis, Daniel Herbin and Steve Congro - spun out of a defunct forum that discussed Jacksonville development issues, particularly berating the mayor over issues like the stalled courthouse project. Like Davis, Herbin moved to Jacksonville from elsewhere, arriving from Ovedio around the same time Davis did. Congro is the local voice, growing up at the Beaches, attending Nease High School and Jacksonville University.

The early days of the site focused on development in the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods, leavened with doses of political commentary. BRT began a cause celebre when the men saw the proposals for downtown routes and began to think about what missing parking spots and rapidly moving buses on city streets would mean to nightlife development downtown.

That's when they started posting things like "JTA is about to choke ArtWalk to death" - a headline on the site over a story about merchants in Berkeley, Calif., who are complaining about dust and exhaust from express buses in that city.

That's when they started attracting rail experts and streetcar fanatics, putting together a loose coalition that has now met with a range of city officials, including city council members and the mayor.

MetroJacksonville not alone

Although the MetroJacksonville group have organized the strongest opposition against BRT, they're not the only ones worried about what the system would do to a downtown that many have poured time and money into revitalizing.

"My concern is where this will impact the streets that we're trying to create as a walkable downtown," said Terry Lorince, executive director of Downtown Vision, a nonprofit that promotes downtown as "an exciting place to live, work, play, and visit."

Downtown Vision sent JTA a letter advocating the Authority use the Skyway and trolleys downtown, reserving buses for long-haul traffic bringing people in from the suburbs.

But JTA officials say they're not opposed to rail based systems - or, indeed, any form of transit that is practical and affordable. Instead, they say, they're opposed to amateurs who are unaware of political realities, particularly when it comes down to paying for a multi-million dollar transit system.

"We didn't just wake up one morning and say 'Let's do buses,' " said Mike Miller, JTA's director of external affairs. "I'm not sure we need to persuade them so much as make sure they understand the limitations. We have tried to illustrate why light rail is not viable."

JTA says it wants cooperation

For its side, the MetroJacksonville trio say they're not ignoring the reality of politics, but they think that JTA is simply engaging in realpolitik: Under the Better Jacksonville Program, JTA has $100 million to acquire right-of-way for rapid transit, and the BRT opponents think the Authority is happy to simply bank the downtown land it's able to purchase with those funds, not really caring if a full-fledged BRT system is ever built.

"Twenty-seven years from now, we'll have a partially built BRT thing, just like the Skyway," Herbin said. "We'll be stuck with two dysfunctional systems."

But with eight years of planning behind them, JTA officials see the BRT system taking hold, first - around 2010 - in downtown, and then spreading through the rest of Jacksonville, where it could perhaps hook into other modes of transportation.

"BRT is out of the box first," said Scott Clem, JTA's strategic planning and research director. "We have a waterborne study under way. We're looking at rail. If we can provide a rapid and convenient alternative to automobiles, I think people will use it. Our challenge is to find the right mode for each situation."

During that process, said Miller, with the JTA, the Authority would be happy to have opponents sit down at the table.

"They could be much more influential if they would do it as a cooperating entity in our program," the JTA spokesman said. "There's nothing we would like more than a blogging organization that would support transit."

timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4103

This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120907/met_223793685.shtml.

[jbm32206]

You guys deserve a major thumbs up for all of your efforts! Not only because there have been many fantastic ideas and suggestions on the transit issue...but showing that you know what the hell you're talking about. Now, if only JTA would wake up and smell the knowledge that's been discussed here!

[thelakelander]

"We didn't just wake up one morning and say 'Let's do buses,' " said Mike Miller, JTA's director of external affairs. "I'm not sure we need to persuade them so much as make sure they understand the limitations. We have tried to illustrate why light rail is not viable."

After two years of meeting with JTA, they still can't figure out the difference between urban commuter rail and light rail.  We'll explain the difference in more detail for tomorrow's article.

"BRT is out of the box first," said Scott Clem, JTA's strategic planning and research director. "We have a waterborne study under way. We're looking at rail. If we can provide a rapid and convenient alternative to automobiles, I think people will use it. Our challenge is to find the right mode for each situation."

Right now, the BRT plan has four legs going through four different types of communities with different street layouts, traffic patterns and densities.

If Scott's statement is true, then you'll realize that buying additional ROW and building dedicated busways through urban residential neighborhoods, next to existing rail with capacity, may not be the right thing to do in some of these corridors.

"They could be much more influential if they would do it as a cooperating entity in our program," the JTA spokesman said. "There's nothing we would like more than a blogging organization that would support transit."

We've sat at the table for two years now.  We've played Mr. nice guy only to have our serious concerns downplayed.  Most here love transit and agree that its needed, in some form, as much as the next guy, but we aren't willing to back a poor plan, based on faulty logic, that could bankrupt this community and make it the transit laughing stock of North America.  

Maybe its time to take this thing to the next level?  After all, who says JTA has to be a part of this?  Maybe its time to look into the concept of creating another transit authority to properly address what JTA refuses to do?

[spidey]

Nice plug for you guys at metrojacksonville.  Congrats.

Thanks for posting the "rebuttal" to the article Lake.  That was helpful.

[Lunican]

"We didn't just wake up one morning and say 'Let's do buses,' " said Mike Miller, JTA's director of external affairs. "I'm not sure we need to persuade them so much as make sure they understand the limitations. We have tried to illustrate why light rail is not viable."

Mike Miller is right. Despite what everyone thinks, the BRT plan didn't just come to them overnight. It took them seven long years of very strenuous planning to hatch this plan. It's a little disappointing it's not further along than it is, but I guess that's for the best.

As far as illustrating limitations, JTA has got that down to a science.

[thelakelander]

They never mentioned why urban commuter rail would not be feasible.  Probably because some have no idea of what it is.  After all, there was the one meeting where a consultant declared "it doesn't matter...rail is rail."  When you think about all the technologies out there, that's like saying the cost between a Honda Civic and a Lexus doesn't matter because a car is a car.

[Lunican]

JTA is still unable to answer the simplest of questions regarding their plan. How much will it cost? We don't know. Where will it go? We're not sure. When will it be finished? Probably 2025. Will people ride it? We think they will.

The last cost estimate JTA gave to the Times Union was $750 million. Now, they are less embarrassed to just frankly state they have no idea what it will cost instead of throwing out another number like that.