| Bus Rapid Transit vs. Commuter Rail |
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| Wednesday, 12 July 2006 | |
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WHY COMMUTER RAIL & JACKSONVILLE MAY BE THE PERFECT FIT WHY COMMUTER RAIL & JACKSONVILLE MAY BE THE PERFECT FIT
 Avenues Walk would be the potential terminal destination for the 30 mile starter line.  Simple concrete platforms could be constructed underneath the entry bridge to provide commuters direct access to the Avenues Walk mixed-use development and Avenues Mall. The S-Line  The S-Line is a 4.5-mile former CSX rail line that snakes through the Northside, from just north of the Prime Osborn Center up to Gateway Mall. The most important aspect of this right of way is that it is already owned by the City of Jacksonville. It also keeps a potential commuter rail system from interfering with the rail yards adjacent to the Beaver Street viaduct. Although no funding is in place, the city has plans to convert this right-of-way into a rails-to-trails jogging path. Given that the ROW is a minimum of 50’ in width, it could easily serve both with proper planning. Unlike BRT, this line also has the power of putting riders within walking distance of Edward Waters College, Shands, the farmer’s market, and Gateway Mall. In addition, it can be the catalyst for affordable housing infill development, something that BRT’s Northern extension will not be able to successfully do. ADDITIONAL PHASES Phase 2 – The Red Line  While the Blue line was selected as a potential Phase 1, given the destinations located along the route, a close second is what we will refer to as the “Red Line”. This 20-mile segment of CSX’s mainline tracks would provide an alternative route for Clay County residents traveling between Fleming Island and Downtown. The beauty of a multi-county system is that cost could be shared between counties making the entire system more affordable and beneficial to all. Photo: St. Augustine aerial Phase 3 – Extending the Blue Line  If St. Johns and Nassau Counties are willing to come to the table and share in the costs, the blue line can easily be extended. Both areas would benefit greatly from commuter rail because terminal stations would be located within short walking distance of their tourist friendly historic districts. This means that not only will these cities have access to the airport and downtown Jacksonville, everyone in the region will have direct non-vehicular access to their tourist districts. Furthermore, both terminals offer great sites for potential transit oriented development. Park n Ride stations could also help with the rapidly developing areas north of the airport and in Northern St. Johns County. Furthermore, both terminals offer great sites for potential transit oriented development. The Beaches In the future, as the city develops, additional lines extending to remote areas such as Cecil Commerce Center could also be included. Although our existing rail system covers most of the local region, a majority of the Southside and the beaches are excluded. Because no freight rail lines run in these areas of Jacksonville, it is impossible to run commuter rail to those locations. However, with the BRT money saved from implementing commuter rail on existing tracks, it could be used to apply the bus rapid transit’s techniques at major intersections and along major highways, such as JTB or Beach Blvd.  In Minneapolis, expressway shoulders were put to use as bus lanes. With the current widening project underway on JTB, this feature could be a possible affordable solution to providing faster service to the beaches, as well as paying fares before boarding buses (to decrease boarding time) and occasional queue jumpers at major intersections. The difference between this proposed plan and JTA's current BRT plan is that this method takes advantage of existing rail lines, leaving areas not served by rail (and outside of BRT’s 29 mile service area) as prime candidates for express bus service, in the short term, rather than never. |
October 12, 2006, 2:44 pm
BRT in Bogota
As a Jacksonville "native" offering advice on transportation in Colombia, I couldnīt agree more. Medellin and Cali, both highly industrial modern cities, and both about Jacksonville size, built rail rapid transit. Cali, as it sits in a broad valley combined the best of LRT (Light Rail Transit) and HRT (Heavy Commuter Rail Transit). Their system has several routes, some operating as regular passenger trains but using electric LRVīs (Light Rail Vehicles) in train, with a single operator in the lead vehicle. These routes enjoy private right of way over glass smooth track. The key to the system is after entering downtown the city has the option of breaking the train into several independent LRVīs which fan out on transit malls (and yes) as well as city street trackage. Thus you have a quiet, modern vehicle which can circulate around downtown, then join with other similar vehicles and sprint out of town as a fast passenger train to the suburbs. Medellin on the other hand, is pinched in a narrow valley and has a single long double track HRT system. It is similar to the extended Jacksonville "Blue Line" and is elevated in the downtown area. A cross town link also extends from downtown at a right angle to the mainline as far as one can go across the valley. This cross town link has a terminal at the foot of the mountains that could be a model for JIA, St. Augustine, Flemming Island, Fernandina or ANY other end point terminal. Both Medellin routes run at high speed between stations in normal 3 car trains and 6 car rush hour trains. While both of these systems are clean, fast, quiet and use standard railroad track; Bogotaīs BRT system has become a National Joke. The capitals system cost more then the rail transit alternative, it is bumpy, smells bad and each articulated "mega-bus" pours on the diesel smoke when they accelerate. They also failed to consider pavement has a short life span and thus the systems ride quality really suffers. While it is true that the busses CAN get off their private roadway or reserved lanes and tap the suburbs, it is equally true that with rail transit, busses can be freed from mainline service and provide those connections without major fleet expansion. The BRT vehicles even though they are very large, they are still smaller then the rail cars. None of these big vehicles mix well in traffic and their use in traffic lanes should be highly restricted, thus the big flexible advantage of busses disappears when mixing with automobiles. There also seems to be a basic human reaction to the safety and certainty of a fixed rail route as their ridership far exceeds the bus in almost every case worldwide. Letīs hope Jacksonville does not follow Bogota into this bottomless BRT money pit.
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