Until at least a million people, Buses are the only way

[Metro Jacksonville]

Until at least a million people, Buses are the only way



The following article, published in the Winter of 1967 describes the planning and opinions of Alan W. Voorhees report on Transportation.  Voorhees plans were adopted by the city consequently, and this article gives insight into the DNA of transit planning for the past 50 years.

Sometimes keen, sometimes alarmingly thickheaded, the report was nonetheless the cornerstone of all our policy since then.

Join us as we parse this plan, its successes and failures, what parts we would have changed and kept, and how to go forward now.

These essays were commissioned by Eve Heaney, the brilliant and surprising female Editor of Jacksonville Magazine, which was, (and still is) the publication of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-jul-until-at-least-a-million-people-buses-are-the-only-way

[lindab]

I really appreciate this article since I have wondered for years about the origins of that particular mantra about no transit until the magic density number is reached.

[mtraininjax]

Wow, people inhabited downtown at one time....

[Dog Walker]

Well this area is now over the magic million mark so lets get started with the streetcars and commuter rail!  Hurray!  We've made it!

[cline]

Jacksonville Mag is not published by the CoC.

[stephendare]

.Mass Transit Systems.

"Until we are at least 1,000,000 population (about 1990), " Voorhees says, "the bus system is the only way to move people at a reasonable cost.  Right now we must concentrate on improving this system of bus transportation service, extending routes, stepping up frequency and greatly expanding direct cross town routes.

"Meantime for the next 20 years we can be thinking about reserving right of way for future systems.  First we must crystallize planning.  A right of way that looks good now might not look so good in terms of tomorrow's growth.  A study now will result in better forecasting of traffic and a savings in rights of way acquisitions.

"Several needs are obvious, however.  When appropriate, we ought to get  a downtown to Beaches route and a connection to the new airport.  We'll also need them along expressways as they are developed.

This is exactly what we did.

Its amazing really, how we got exactly what we planned for.

As I noticed in all the Eve Heaney articles, on things stands out.  The really did plan what happened, they were just working in a new and developing field, and they had no way of seeing some of the outcomes.

[Lunican]

The exact same things are being said today, which is discouraging because it has amounted to absolutely nothing being done to improve mass transit. We've been "thinking about" reserving right of way for 50 years now.

[stjr]

This article appears to me to be a coded message for planting the seed for the Dames Point Bridge (servicing the "north and east" areas of town, which then were mostly swamp) and justifying the connecting I-295/9A Beltway which services the "needs" of the Beaches, Airport, port facilities, cross-town connections. etc. while totally missing the dreaded and "shrinking" downtown area.  " 'We're going to do something about this.'  says Voorhees."
And, so it was done.

Call me cynicial but I would suggest this article had some serious special interests and political motivations behind its publication.

[stephendare]

Do tell, stjr.

[Ocklawaha]

Stjr, it was really a coded and secret message about massive SKYWAY expansion... How else to get to the Beaches from downtown since in the end we didn't save the rail or mass transit right-of-way's.

Smile

OCKLAWAHA

[Gwefr]

"Until we are at least 1,000,000 population (about 1990), " Voorhees says, "the bus system is the only way to move people at a reasonable cost.  Right now we must concentrate on improving this system of bus transportation service, extending routes, stepping up frequency and greatly expanding direct cross town routes."

The bus transportation service is still very inefficient. See, my boyfriend had to move back in with his parents after getting laid off and having a hard time finding a new job. Plus his car just totally died on him and he has no $$ to even think about fixing it. Then he finds out the buses don't go *anywhere near* his parents house. (they live right next to I-95 on Old St Augustine Road) This has made it that much harder to find a new job in this screwed up economy. And this is not the only part of town that has no buses running through it. This city needs to actually fix the bus problems before we even think about building a bunch of fancy ways to get around

[Ocklawaha]

"Until we are at least 1,000,000 population (about 1990), " Voorhees says, "the bus system is the only way to move people at a reasonable cost.  Right now we must concentrate on improving this system of bus transportation service, extending routes, stepping up frequency and greatly expanding direct cross town routes."

The bus transportation service is still very inefficient. See, my boyfriend had to move back in with his parents after getting laid off and having a hard time finding a new job. Plus his car just totally died on him and he has no $$ to even think about fixing it. Then he finds out the buses don't go *anywhere near* his parents house. (they live right next to I-95 on Old St Augustine Road) This has made it that much harder to find a new job in this screwed up economy. And this is not the only part of town that has no buses running through it. This city needs to actually fix the bus problems before we even think about building a bunch of fancy ways to get around

Voorhees, couldn't have been more wrong! Cities with balanced and mixed mode transit have been far ahead of the learning curve for years. This Mixed Transit theory has worked even in cities much smaller then Jacksonville. 

In real world experience, the mix of transit types always over produces the single mode choice. Currently we are stretching schedules to put buses on Beach to Cecil, and Orange Park to Airport, like routes. If we had a completed Skyway, Streetcars and Regional Rail, those same buses could cut their trip lengths in half or more. We could then redeploy our large bus fleet (3rd in FL behind MIA and FLL) as neighborhood transit. This new form of Community Transit sends the buses on a frequent schedule circuit around each community within the metro area. For example the bus that would then pass your home would also pass your bank, your department stores, your grocery and your Rapid Transit Station. The remaining routes that would still go into town could be made more efficient via a BRT/HOV lane concept. The way to get buses and get them more frequently is to get RAIL.

 
OCKLAWAHA