Amtrak San Joaquin Corridor Service

[Metro Jacksonville]

Amtrak San Joaquin Corridor Service



The San Joaquin is a 318-mile Amtrak corridor passenger service serving central California between Sacramento, Oakland and Bakersfield.  With as many as 12 daily trains coming in and out of Bakersfield, it is an example of what the proposed Amtrak/FEC project could turn into for Jacksonville.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-oct-amtrak-san-joaquin-corridor-service

[JeffreyS]

With Amtrak's Southeast HQ in Jacksonville we should be able to embrace their service. I want to ride the WIFI train.

[ralpho37]

Let's get this done.

[Captain Zissou]

With Amtrak's Southeast HQ in Jacksonville we should be able to embrace their service. I want to ride the WIFI train.

I didn't know they were headquartered here.... That makes it seem even more obvious to get this going.  Why are we lagging so far behind other cities on getting this underway.

[Ocklawaha]

Skyway of the future, so goes all fixed route transit...

It would seem that the Genius of Jacksonville, has come into the open in recent City Council meetings. We'll probably scrap the Skyway, rather then push it into population or producer communities. We are still blasting away at Bus Rapid Transit, but take comfort in the BRT slogan, "THINK RAIL - RIDE THE BUS!" or "Just like rail - only CHEAPER!"

We've seen JTA drop bus lanes on Blanding, and that promised service enhancements amount to what? One bus every 30 minutes? One or two bus lines with crap for schedules, and we remove an entire lane on one of our busiest roads, how is that going to be anything "like rail". JTA still believes that seizing Jefferson and Broad downtown, Boulevard to Gateway, Lem Turner to I-295 north, Philips to JTB, and the Arlington Expressway, is the future of transit in the city.

When it comes to Streetcars, Light Rail, Skyway, or pogo sticks, their mouths are moving but nothing is coming out, "JTA think." Amtrak, Commuter Rail or any rail including monorail, gets a lively statement in their committee meetings, "Rail is Rail!" BRILLIANT!

The argument that we can't do rail because people in Jacksonville, will not use public transit, is a crock of crap... They don't use it because we don't have it. A single bus every 45 minutes is not service, rather it is a basic accommodation, nothing more.

Take down the Skyway and we supply every anti -transit nut case in the city to point out and say, we built rail and nobody came to ride... Well duh! Try finishing the damn thing while the Federal Railroad Commission or the Federal Transit Administration are handing out blank checks. Shovel ready? Hell this thing is more then that, tear it down and you have sacrificed ALL FIXED TRANSIT for another couple of generations. As we fumble along, watch other Florida/Georgia towns catch and pass us, as we back down the track.

OCKLAWAHA

[JeffreyS]

It is bad that we did not have an expansion ready plan over the last 2 decades. You can't just wait for a transit friendly administration to come around and then make plans. When the stimulus was announced we should have been able to dust off our skyway plans and send them in. Hopefully our streetcar or commuter rail plans will be ready if the transit push continues.

[Ocklawaha]

Yep! Including LODI, which from the 1960's until today, KNOWS the train is the better choice... A bit of memory lane:



LODI - Lyrics - CCR

Just about a year ago, I set out on the road,
Seekin my fame and fortune, lookin for a pot of gold.
Things got bad, and things got worse, I guess you will know the tune.
Oh ! lord, stuck in lodi again.

Rode in on the greyhound, Ill be walkin out if I go.
I was just passin through, must be seven months or more.
Ran out of time and money, looks like they took my friends.
Oh ! lord, Im stuck in lodi again.

The man from the magazine said I was on my way.
Somewhere I lost connections, ran out of songs to play.
I came into town, a one night stand, looks like my plans fell through
Oh ! lord, stuck in lodi again.

Mmmm...
If I only had a dollar, for evry song Ive sung.
And evry time Ive had to play while people sat there drunk.
You know, Id catch the next train back to where I live.
Oh ! lord, Im stuck in lodi again.
Oh ! lord, Im stuck in lodi again.

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

All I can do is look with envy!