If I remember my lessons correctly, aren't those bus stops in Julington Creek Plantation really only there to support the low wage workers for the residents who live there? I mean, someone has to clean these houses.
From the conversations I had with the average resident of this town and the lessons they taught me, asking them to take the bus is like asking them to risk their lives to take a cheaper form of transit. Why risk their lives when they have a car?
Risk their lives to ride a bus? What planet did you drop in from? We simply are 'not there yet' and hopefully in spite of being a city with violent crime that exceeds most South American cities, unless you count rogue deer stampedes, our buses are pretty safe.
US...In partnership with the Youth Crisis Center, all JTA buses serve as a Safe Place, providing transportation to immediate help and shelter for runaways and teens in crisis. With JTA's participation, Jacksonville boasts the most Safe Places in any community in the United States.
THEM...November 13, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Most Dangerous Bus Route in New York City Identified The most dangerous bus in New York City is the M101 bus, according to The New York Post. Buses on this route crashed 268 times in 2009. The 12-mile route circling between Washington Heights and the East Village is one of New York's longest and busiest.
DETROIT -- Death threats, beatings and even stabbings are not uncommon on at least five of the city's bus routes , fueling a mix of fear and anger among drivers and riders who are clamoring for a police presence.
Since the start of 2006, the first full year after Detroit cops stopped policing the buses , more than 50 people have been assaulted -- five of them stabbed, according to drivers' reports obtained by The Detroit News. One driver was dragged off the bus , pummeled and stabbed with an ink pen. Another miscarried after an armed man hijacked her bus . A four-person brawl sent two passengers to the hospital with stab wounds.
"It's to the point where you're afraid to ride at night," said Shirley Newman, 57, a frequent passenger on the Detroit Department of Transportation coaches.
The violence -- most prevalent on busy routes such as Grand River, Greenfield and Woodward - - comes as the City Council and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration battle over bus security.
Your non-transit using friends would do well to give any of our buses a try, I think they'd find they are quite comfortable, and they'd capture hundreds of hours annually by letting someone else do the driving while they caught up on the friendly hand held device.
Your theory seems to be, "Since nobody wants to ride but the 'dangerous poor people,' we shouldn't support this system." My contention remains the same, the day that Julington Creek Plantation/Fruit Cove residents residents learn that the kids can get to the soccer field without the SUV, or to The Avenues, or Town Center, personal trips would skyrocket. The day that the breadwinners realize they can board a nice bus in Ponte Vedra/Nocatee/WGV and step off in front of the office on Bay Meadows Way, those routes will quickly change the perceived face of JTA. Granted it MUST BE MARKETED, and sold to the public so everyone realizes when/where and how the bus runs, but that is about all the bus side will need to radically change their demographics.
THANKS TO squid for the input on the Julington Creek 'bus shelters'. This has to be the closest thing to a turn key quality bus route in Florida, and it sits unused except for the kiddies and occasional sore footed joggers.
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