Do you wish Jacksonville had Commuter Rail?

[Bewler]

get a hover craft

I think catapults are the way to go. All you'd have to do is carry a really large pillow with you at all times to ensure a safe and comfortable landing. After being launched in the air to your destination you can simply sit back on your big fluffy seat, take in the beautiful view, and enjoy the ride to convenienceville.

[JaxNole]

Pogo stick.  Low material cost, portable and green.

Plus, HOA friendly.

[thelakelander]

Where was that last picture taken?

Looks like Southside, looking North toward Atlantic Blvd on the FEC... Lake?

It was taken, looking north from River Oaks Road.

[mrbeary]

Yes!!!

[Ocklawaha]

Just came from the TPO in St. Augustine Library. The Library was packed, the TPO room was EMPTY, a total of maybe 8 persons showed up for the whole 2 hours. We'll never see the improvements we need if we can't at least motivate people to get off their sofa's and be heard.

Damn, I'm glad we aren't fighting the Red Coats to establish our country today! Nobody would show up at Lexington or Concord.

OCKLAWAHA

[mvp]

Just heard there were 12 people there.  Ock - thanks for attending.  There are many more/different transit projects under consideration now than ever before in the history of Jax...with a lot of the credit going to all at MJ who got involved.  You not only took the time to research and write about it, you also made the effort to go to the committee meetings and public meetings. 

Now is the time to show up and well as speak up - tomorrow 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Jax Main Library - and we'll get it on film!

   

[Ocklawaha]

Thanks mvp, hope to see you there tomorrow.

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

I plan on being there for at least a little while.

[A-Finnius]

I think bringing a commuter rail to Jacksonville is a great idea.  I drive from downtown to Baymeadows and 9A everyday and it is miserable, especially in the rain.  The traffic is one of the main reasons that I became interested in moving to Riverside in the coming months. 

With that said I'm also afraid JTA would botch the project.  If a commuter rail comes to Jax it has to be accessible to everyone otherwise I'm afraid the rail would fail.  To me Jacksonville feels like one large suburb and if a Jacksonville commuter has to drive three miles to get to a station; chances are they'll drive right past the station and continue on their way to work.  If I live on 9A and baymeadows and I have to drive to I95 to get to my nearest station, then pay to park my car, then wait for a train (which I also have to pay for); then I might as well just stay in my car for the commute.

Being that I've lived in Florida my whole life, I'm not that familiar with mass transit but I believe Chicago does a great job with the "L".  When I stayed in Chicago, I stayed in Rosemont which is quite a distance (northwest) from the city center but I was still only a five minute walk from my hotel to an "L" station.  I was able to take the "L" to Wrigley Field and the White Sox Games with little effort.  Wrigley was kind of difficult because you had to go into downtown, switch lines and then head north again but all that really did was take my money into downtown where my friends and I would hang out before going to Addison for the game.   

[stjr]

If I live on 9A and baymeadows and I have to drive to I95 to get to my nearest station, then pay to park my car, then wait for a train (which I also have to pay for); then I might as well just stay in my car for the commute.

Finnius, your concern about intermodal transfers is one of the reasons I also don't think the $ky-high-way has a future here.  I believe most commuters would fall into your camp.

Who wants to commute from the suburbs, exit the commuter mode, take an escalator (if it even works) to the $ky-high-way, wait again for another arrival, take it across the river, exit it, take an escalator down (again, if it works), and walk to a location that likely won't be close to your station since they are so few in number about Downtown?

Connectivity to the $ky-high-way for this reason is a red herring to me.

We need modes that take you from the suburbs straight into the city with enough stations downtown that we can walk to work or at least connect to a mode like buses and/or street cars that come by the commuter station every 5 or 10 minutes during peak times and maybe 10 or 15 minutes otherwise.  I don't think the $ky-high-way could keep pace with that in combination with offering the number of destinations buses and/or street cars could.

[Bewler]

That’s a very good point Finnius and I’m afraid that would be the biggest obstacle for making a successful Jax rail. You mentioned that when you were in Chicago you were just a five minute walk from the nearest station. That’s a perfectly reasonable walking distance, let me guess, the layout was mostly grid style right? Unfortunately for us most of our outer suburbs were designed utterly horrible for anyone who prefers walking. Winding roads and dead ends can make what should be a 5 – 10 minute walk two or three times that long.

[thelakelander]

I would not call it an obstacle unless someone is trying to get rail out to all parts of Duval County overnight.  Imo, get the urban core right (reconnect the dense neighborhoods with downtown via streetcar) and a couple of commuter options (commuter rail or Amtrak corridor service) out to burbs with congestion issues (i.e. Orange Park, etc.) and go from there.  We're no where near Chicago's status and will not be in our lifetimes.  However, we can be competitive with second tier peers like Charlotte, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Nashville, etc.

[A-Finnius]

Imo, get the urban core right (reconnect the dense neighborhoods with downtown via streetcar) and a couple of commuter options (commuter rail or Amtrak corridor service) out to burbs with congestion issues (i.e. Orange Park, etc.) and go from there. 

I agree with this; but if JTA can't get the Commuter Rail in downtown working efficiently then how do we expect them to successfully expand to the burbs.  I've never ridden the so called $ky-high way but it seems that a lot of people on this site complain about it.  I like the riverside trolley but can anyone tell me how it serves the actual residents of Riverside or Springfield?  The hours stink, I think it runs 5 hours a day and none of the stops seem to actually be in a neighborhood.  It appears to me the trolley is there to simply take Suburbanites who work downtown to lunch everyday.  Which is of course good for the riverside economy but wouldn't the trolley better serve downtown residents if JTA expanded service to at least King street in riverside and up to 1st & main at the edge of Springfield, as well as increase the hours of service.

[CS Foltz]

Well it sure would help if the "Urban Area's" were set up and designed with mass transit in mind! I made the SE Library meeting of the TPO and was impressed with the possibilities! Water travel with ACV's not really a good idea since Billy Bob in his 8' wooden John boat won't show up on radar. Now the rail end is looking really good with the exsisting trackage in basically 3 directions. Key points will be off and on and where and by what! Not sure BRT system is the best solution unless we build a heck ofa lot of roads to go with it......light rail or a trolley system maybe the best option instead of building more roads.....still thinking about that one!

[Tripoli1711]

I also agree that if commuter rail were the first mode to be implemented, it would fall flat on its face.  Streetcar is the logical first step.  Integrating Riverside to Springfield through Brooklyn and Downtown with streetcar would rapidly take off IMO.  The success story would lay the groundwork for changing the mind of John and Jane Q. Commuter.  "Hmm... that streetcar works pretty well.  I wish they'd extend a train out by me.. I hate driving up (insert road) every day to get to work"