4 mass transit projects comparable to the U2C in price

[thelakelander]

Billed as a project that will take Jacksonville and downtown to the next level, the conversion of the Skyway into a one-of-a-kind autonomous transit system called the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) has become a popular topic around town. Either people tend to love it, hate it or have feelings but keep quiet for political and job securities sake. Nevertheless, how it compares in costs to other recently completed mass transit projects across the country and how taxpayers can get more value for their investment are rarely discussed in those conversations. To jump start that conversation, here are few mass transit projects across the country that were recently completed for a similar cost per mile.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/4-mass-transit-projects-comparable-to-the-u2c-in-price/

[Charles Hunter]

But ... but ... those aren't INNOVATIVE ... they are ... transportation projects! We need to be INNOVATIVE. We need to change the name of the agency to the Jacksonville INNOVATION Authority! Our next project - Jetson Flying Cars and a Rosie the Robot in every home!

[thelakelander]

Nope! While they don't communicate with dumpsters, they are proven mass transit solutions that have the ability to move thousands of more people at a cheaper cost and actually stimulate true Transit Oriented Development. They're also already acceptable to the FTA. We'd just have to be willing to be okay with placing a higher priority on operating mass transit locally instead of trying to compete with Silicon Valley.

[Jax_Developer]

Keep that foot on the gas.. greater Jacksonville needs to see these articles!

[jaxlongtimer]

Keep that foot on the gas.. greater Jacksonville needs to see these articles!

Jaxson needs to regularly copy all threads and articles on this subject to other media, the City Council, Mayor's office, State legislators and Federal funders.  They need to know and hear these cogent arguments for killing this project.  JTA is going to embarrass itself bigtime and I am guessing those behind this are gambling they can hold on to their jobs just long enough to earn rich pensions before retiring.

[Jax_Developer]

Totally agree with you jax. I’ll say with no evidence that the Jaxson seems to have some fans in the higher up rings. Maybe not on the forums but they engage on socials. Hence why I guess I think these articles might really help the dialogue. We’ll see!

[marcuscnelson]

Isn't this still using the old ($49 million) number instead of the new ($66 million) number? Also it's laying out the cost per mile as for a single-directional loop instead of for the corridor?

[thelakelander]

Yes, this article, which was an editorial to Jax Today last week, is already out of date. The price keeps jumping so fast on this U2C project, it's getting hard to keep up.