NEW AMTRAK BILL - ALLOWS A DREAM

PHOTOS: Top-Last run of the Kansas City-Florida Special, Jacksonville-Birmingham-Memphis-Springfield-Kansas City

Middle: Map showing historic routes still viaable

Bottom: Typical Amtrak Medium-Short Distance Train



"Now leaving Jacksonville for St. Louis, Birmingham, New Orleans, Wilmington, Norfolk, Atlanta, Nashville, Louisville..." Just a dream? Not anymore. The age of bringing back the great trains and routes is upon us again. Will Jacksonville and her Southern sisters lead the Nation?

Now that Washington has finally gotten off of it's collective wallet and funded Amtrak, I thought it might be useful to take a look back across the years and select 20 star performers to return to Northeast Florida.

TO AND FROM THE EAST COAST - NORTH AND SOUTH :

THE CHAMPION - Ft. Myers-Tampa-Orlando-Jacksonville-Charleston-Richmond-Washington-New York-Boston

THE MIAMIAN - Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Daytona-Jacksonville-Charleston-Richmond-Washington-New York-Boston

THE PALMETTO - Venice-Sarasota-Tampa-Orlando-Jacksonville-Charleston-Richmond-Washington-New York (Connecting Section - Wilmington)

THE SILVER METEOR - Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Orlando-Jacksonville-Raleigh-Richmond-Washington-New York-Boston

THE SILVER STAR - Miami-Ft. Lauderdale - Orlando- -Raleigh-Richmond-Washington-New York

THE CAROLINA SPECIAL - Jacksonville-Columbia-Charlotte-Washington-New York

THE TIDEWATER - Jacksonville-Charleston-Portsmouth-Norfolk

TO AND FROM CHICAGO AND THE MIDWEST:

THE ROYAL PALM - Jacksonville-Macon-Atlanta-Chattanooga-Knoxville-Cincinnati-(Chicago) (Cleveland) (Detroit)

THE PONCE DE LEON - Jacksonville - Macon-Atlanta-Chattanooga-Knoxville-Cinninnati-

THE HUMMINGBIRD - Jacksonville - Atlanta - Nashville - St. Louis - Kansas City

THE CITY OF MIAMI - Miami-Ft.Lauderdale-Daytona-Jacksonville-Birmingham-Memphis-Chicago

THE DIXIE FLYER - Jacksonville - Waycross-Manchester-Atlanta

TO AND FROM THE WEST:

THE SUNSET LIMITED- Jacksonville-New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio-El Paso-Phoenix-Los Angeles

THE SUNBEAM - Jacksonville-New Orleans-Baton Rouge-Shreveport-Dallas-Ft.Worth

THE GULF WIND - Jacksonville - Tallahassee - Mobile - Gulfport - New Orleans

WHAT IS A POTATO CHIP TRUCK? OR PCT-"TROLLEY"

Those ridiculous looking Imitation Trolleys

They ride like cantaloupe trucks and the reason is they are not far removed, in fact most are not built on transit bus platforms at all. Welcome to Jacksonville's unique faux trolley world

Jacksonville Transportation Authority is a laughing stock among locals as they continue to buy, plan and market their "Trolley" gimmick. As IF the citizens of Jacksonville were fooled. EVERYONE knows these buses built on the frames of glorified Potato-Chip-Trucks are NOT TROLLEYS. They are not even Trolley Buses. They ARE an insult to the intelligence and image of our City. Instead of being the City with the States Largest Streetcar (real Trolley) system. We are becoming a mecca of the plastic and foam imitation on rubber tires, hold the rail and electric wires please. No one at JTA thinks we are worth spending a few extra coins for a real streetcar trolley. By the way, I have a firm quote that would give us two REAL and brand new streetcars for a bit under $1 million dollars. The FTA thinks they have a life span of between 35 and 100 years. Those little fake looking, amusement park rejects, are costing us over a quarter of a million a copy and they'll last only 12 years or 500,000 miles. Sad that City hall won't blow the whistle, sad that JTA has never seen a highway vehicle they didn't love, sad that our fleet of "Trolleys" will park if a REAL fuel crisis hits. Only Cities with electric shuttle buses and REAL streetcars will be mobile when the gas pump turns off. Those cities will be able to use the power from hydro-electric, natural gas, wind, solar, low sulfur coal or landfill methane to power their economy, Jacksonville will be in the dark. These are vehicles only Frito-Lay could love. I'm embarrassed every time I have an out of town visitor that notices one. PLEASE don't judge us by these stupid little trucks, Jacksonville is better then this, REALLY!

Photos:

1. The infamous JTA PCT-Thinks-It's-A-Trolley

2. It's kissing cousin, the Potato Chip Truck (note the wheels, tires and wheelbase)

3. Engine and chassis assembly for the PCT-Trolley, NO RAIL VEHICLE here.

House and Senate Pass VETO-PROOF Amtrak Bill

Amtrak funding bill approved by House
Measure passes by veto-proof margin, allocates nearly $15 billion over next 5 years

By Sarah Karush The Associated Press
5:50 PM EDT, June 11, 2008

WASHINGTON - A nearly $15 billion Amtrak bill passed the House today as lawmakers rallied around an alternative for travelers saddled with soaring gas prices.The bipartisan bill, which passed by a veto-proof margin of 311-104, would authorize funding for the national passenger railroad over the next five years. Some of the money would go to a program of matching grants to help states set up or expand rail service.Besides the $14.9 billion provided for Amtrak and intercity rail, an amendment to the bill would authorize $1.5 billion for Washington's Metro transit system over the next 10 years.The White House has threatened a veto, saying the bill doesn't hold Amtrak accountable for its spending. But similar legislation has passed the Senate, also with enough support to override a veto.

"Nothing could be more fitting to bring before the Congress today, on a day when gasoline has reached $4.05 a gallon across the United States on average," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., a longtime Amtrak critic who teamed up with Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., on the legislation.Amtrak's previous authorization expired in 2002. The railroad's supporters say a new authorization will allow Amtrak to make long-range plans and take advantage of what they say is a growing appetite for passenger rail.Unlike the Senate version, the House bill includes a requirement for the Department of Transportation to seek proposals from private companies to create a high-speed service that would take travelers from Washington to New York City in two hours or less. The idea has long been championed by Mica, who says the United States must catch up with European and Asian countries on high-speed rail travel.Critics say the proposal would undermine Amtrak by peeling off its most valuable asset, the Northeast Corridor.But Pennsylvania congressman Bill Shuster said provisions such as the one that open the door to private investment should help ease the concerns of fellow Republicans who have balked at supporting Amtrak.But those provisions could complicate things when the House tries to work out a compromise bill with the Senate.Amtrak said it was pleased that both the House and the Senate had acted."This reflects strong support for intercity passenger rail service, and we look forward to working with Congress as they move forward to reconcile a final authorization bill," spokesman Cliff Black said.The Bush administration and other Amtrak critics want to see the company move toward self-sufficiency, but Amtrak supporters say passenger railroads around the globe require government subsidies and point to the large sums of federal money spent on highways.A bid by Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., to send the bill back to committee to add an alternative fuel study was rejected."In the areas where American budgets are being hardest hit by gas prices, consuming 16 percent of gross incomes, they have very little access to Amtrak," Davis said. "How does this bill help those Americans deal with our energy crisis?"Amtrak's boosters say the high cost of driving has made people eager for more and better rail service.A record 25.8 million passengers took Amtrak in the last fiscal year. The railroad expects ridership to approach 28 million this year, Black said.May was the biggest month in Amtrak's 37-year history, with total ridership up 12 percent over last year and ticket revenue up 16 percent over last year. Black said Amtrak's marketing research indicates that about half the increase can be attributed to gas prices.The bill is H.R. 6003.

What Did Bus Rapid Transit Do For Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh Bus Way and Sky Bus System

No one is saying that this is due to embracing Bus Rapid Transit, but they keep referring to mistakes made over the last 50 years. Turn back the pages and see what was the single biggest change in Pittsburgh Transportation. Granted the Steel Mills have closed or moved away. The industrial base is gone, but the new urban talk is of the successful remaking of Pittsburgh. A success? Yes, the City has held it's population better then most older "Rust Belt" industrial towns. It has remade it's image and emerged as the sparkling "new" city where the 3 Rivers meet. So in spite of the apologists theory's, I wouldn't lay this blame on population or business decline, tempting as that may be.

Finally, Pittsburgh Railways, the electric Trolley system has been reduced to rubble in those same 50 years. Once one of the most extensive electric railway systems in America, Pittsburgh started pioneering the "Sky Bus" and "bus ways" back in the early 1960's. Dozens of Trolley lines were torn out for what would become known as BUS RAPID TRANSIT or BRT. Sky Bus would go on to become a giant white elephant known as the Downtown Peoplemover. Frankly, people bailed off the system like rats from a sinking ship. When the "new trolley era started" under the banner of LRT or Light Rail Transit, Pittsburgh reluctantly Begin to cancel sky bus, the busway's, and save the remaining rail. In an attempt to convince the streetcar patrons that Pittsburgh had recreated itself with Light Rail, they decided to go with very expensive subways in the downtown. They moved the streetcars off of the surface streets, perhaps clinging to the flying bus as the technology of the future. Through all of this the fractured Super-Bus network kept on running. The new show piece for Mass Transit and darling of Detroit. Everyone predicted that the Rail Revival was just a temporary fad, a hiccup of distraction in the very few cities where it still held ground.

Here we are, 50 years into the New Trolley Era, and nearly 75 cities have returned to the rails. Very few bought into the BRT or Sky Bus like systems, a move that had to be disappointing to the bus industry. Finally the industry re-packaged it's image, copied Light Rail vehicle designs and features, and started making bus systems that were really more like a cafeteria of bus concepts. Bus Rapid Transit or BRT was born of this cafeteria, but no one can really define what "it" is. Being a collection of ideas that vary from city to city, no one is likely to nail down the definition either. Pittsburgh, is not a case of a rail beats bus argument, as that is a zero-sum gain. It is clearly a case of horrible misjudgement in what the public wants and will use.

Industry pundits will be asking "What did Bus Rapid Transit Do For Pittsburgh". The answer is likely to be very negative, and THAT will be a tragedy of monumental proportions. BRT and LRT should be complimentary, with the smaller vehicles (Bus) feeding the larger system (Rail) from the suburbs. A function of vehicle capacities, speed, flexibility and ease of capacity expansion. Forcing a bus to be a train might seem to be a great idea to some. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way in Pittsburgh, and it won't in Jacksonville either.

Pittsburgh Officials Blame Longtime Errors for Transit's Peril

Jim Ritchie, Pittsburgh Tribune Review

In a 10-year period, Port Authority of Allegheny County lost nearly 5 million riders -- yet operated 78 more buses a day. The agency's expenses climbed during the same period by 64 percent -- or nearly $130 million, according to Federal Transit Administration data from 1996-2006, the most recent available. The numbers capsulize the problems driving the mass transit agency toward turmoil, as it reaches a virtual stalemate with its drivers' union on how to cut labor costs in a contract that would start July 1।

Recent efforts to generate more fare revenue and cut costs by slashing routes and trimming management benefits were not enough. "If we keep doing for the next 10 years what we did for the last 10 years, we're going to hit the wall," said authority CEO Steve Bland, who was hired in May 2006 to help fix the agency's problems। "It would appear through the mid-1990s that service was just sort of added. It was sort of the concept of, 'If we run it, they will come.'

"That wasn't the case। We have to be more strategic."

About 9 percent of the county's 1.2 million residents, or 110,000 people, use public transit. Without the system, low-income residents lacking vehicles would be stranded and commuter routes to Downtown businesses would become congested by cars, transit advocates say.

Transit Space Race Time-Line

WHY RUN WITH THE BIG DOG'S OF THE AMERICAN EAST COAST ?

Quick Quiz: Which are America's REALLY big East Coast Cities? Name me the top Ten Eastern Cities by population...

Natoinal Population Rank - East Coast States Rank

1. New York City
6. Philadelphia
11. Jacksonville
19. Baltimore
20. Charlotte
23. Boston
25. Washington
34. Atlanta
43. Miami
55. Tampa

Forget Tampa (Shallow Bay and one railroad), Miami (No room to grow and 300 extra miles to market), Atlanta (no port). Bet YOU wouldn't have guessed it, but in the EAST we are the NUMBER 3, of the "Big 3". In land mass we are number one.

This fact and the map in the sidebar "Here comes the Zeppelins" story, says it all. We are in position to take the hub of World Transportation. The recent rush to our docks prove us a very Big Dog Indeed. Call it unbridled boosterism if you wish, but watch us land 3 of the Worlds largest steamship lines within the year. But I'm not going to say who they might be. Count Von Zeppelin? Are you watching?

JTA moves forward with Southside BRT, Damn the FACTS...Full Speed Ahead

San Marco - Ortega - Riverside - 5 Points - Riverside Streetcar Station?

I hear it all the time, "Bob, what do you mean, little like the JTA stop's but with a dash of old Jacksonville classic?" Well they say one picture is worth 1,000 words so this is my final word on the (beats the heck out of Tampa - Memphis - Little Rock - Dallas - New Orleans) JACKSONVILLE STYLE streetcar station. This drawing could have come from our own Ortega collection, but JTA dumped that file back in 1984, (forget HELL!) So I dug up another rendering for your enjoyment. This is Resident Park, San Francisco, 1913. Now place this next to the historic districts and watch the rush into downtown. Hope this clears the air of Small but Classic!

Hey if you have a rendering or idea, send it over, I'll be glad to post it.

ANSWERING KANSAS CITY FROM JACKSONVILLE

INCOMING!

KANSAS CITY ANTI-RAIL LOBBY ATTACKS LIGHT RAIL AND THE JAX BLOGGER FIRES BACK

The so-called Citizens Transportation Committee is at war in Kansas City trying (with help from City Hall) to kill a citizens ballot vote that put Light Rail into a plan that only included KC Transits BRT plans. The BRT went flaming into the garage, then the City Council overturned the peoples vote! OUTRAGE! Court cases threatened and suddenly Light Rail is back on track only now there is a "new" group of very vocal citizens against light rail. Interesting? You bet. Suspect? Oh right out of the General Motors handbook of 1932...

So just for fun let's play a game here. Jacksonville and JTA could take this same approach, they could come back from a "Streetcar" and "Commuter Rail" study with horrible tales from the Kansas City group. What if this were JTA or the Jacksonville Citizens asking these questions, how would you and I answer them?

FROM AN IMAGINARY CTC ("Citizens Transit Committee") - JTA REPORT... (WE DEMAND ANSWERS TO THIS)

1. The inclusion of all elements of transit into the discussion of a city’s transportation plans.
2. The early inclusion of all segments of the population in transportation discussions.
3. The use of standardized methods of route comparison.
Beginning January 1, 2008, the CTC presented a series of questions to the Light Rail Task Force. Each question was supported by additional comments and reference sources when available, but only the questions are included here.

Question # 1 - January 1, 2008 Why does the Task Force continue to work with erroneous construction cost figures? You are using $50 million per mile for light rail and $40 million per mile for streetcars. Evidence shows that your $50 million per mile figure for light rail is very low and your $40 million per mile for streetcar is very high.

The CTC seems a bit confused. We NEVER said Light Rail would cost us $50 million a mile in Jacksonville (or elsewhere for that matter). Certainly it COULD if we built it in a subway or on a Skyway like structure, but not as we plan it. In fact the contractors think Modern Streetcar Track can be built down the center of streets such as Water Street for as little as $5-10 Million a mile and that includes the overhead wire system and cars. Light Rail would cost more due to larger vehicles and more weight, but even for private right-of-way and all double track it shouldn't surpass $30 Million a mile.

Question # 2 - January 2, 2008 Why does the Task Force completely ignore operating costs? Operating costs are a continuous expense to taxpayers. Citizens should have this information available before they enter the voting booth to decide the fate of light rail.

Fair enough, we currently pay about $17.00 per Skyway passenger, and our bus system carries only 5% of the working city at some cost to taxpayers. Modern Streetcars on the other hand operate in the area of $1.00 - 2.00 per passenger in subsidy. Heritage Streetcars, that is historic or replica historic cars often do much better. In post Katrina New Orleans, the Streetcars are in the black and massive expansion is in the works. Operating and Maintenance (O&M) costs are lower for streetcars then for buses.

Question # 3 - January 3, 2008 When will the Task Force discuss light rail crime? Crime is a real problem both in terms of quality of life on the trains and in actual dollars.

Frankly we are very concerned about this, the Rosa Parks Center, the driver less and conductor less Skyway leaves patrons to their own devices most of the day. Bus driver and passenger crime happens with some regularity at JTA bus stops. A Streetcar system, would have double the defense. We would have station shelters, which while far smaller then the Skyway could have central camera surveillance 24/7 and we would run Streetcars with Motormen and on occasion, roaming Conductors for added security. That equals about double the man power available to a JTA bus patron and Camera=Police presence.

Question # 4 - January 4, 2008 Why does the Task Force continue to discuss “Fast Streetcars” when no such device exists? Since the early 30s, all streetcars have operated at a top speed of around 45 mph. This includes historic, traditional, and modern streetcars. In urban environments, all hard rail transit vehicles that operate at ground level operate at speeds of 17 to 20 mph. Only when operating below the traffic as a subway or above traffic as an elevated are transit vehicles able to escape the speed restrictions caused by mixing with automobiles and pedestrians.

We have mentioned this before in the local press. The old JCCI study that labeled streetcars as slow, clunky, little more then tourist toys was completely wrong. (For NASCAR-LIKE evidence of what street railway equipment is capeable of doing see the side-bar article on "Those old and Slow Trolleys"). Frankly the motors that power any Streetcar or Light Rail Vehicle can be made to run at speeds none of us would be comfortable with. Did you know the 300 MPH trains in France are the same basic technology as streetcars? Where it gets interesting is where do you want our streetcars to hit 50 or 60 MPH?

Main Street? Water? Park? San Marco? Hardly. We can still outrun the cars on I-95 by using some private right-of-way such as that of the old F&J (Maxwell House) branch that connects downtown with Gateway Mall and doesn't go down a single street. So if your driving on North Main and the lights flash, the gates go down, all you'll hear is a faint "Woo" type Interurban Horn, and a classic streetcar will whoosh past at 45 MPH. Fast enough.

Question # 5 - January 7, 2008 When will the Task Force discuss construction disruption times as it impacts local business? All small businesses are concerned with anything that interferes with customer access to their business.

Unlike Highways and Busway's for BRT, streetcar construction usually is done in segments of 3 or 4 city blocks at a time and about 30 days from cut to finish per segment. Thus no business should be without easy access for more then 1 - 2 months.

Question # 6 - January 8, 2008 After the Task Force establishes a final route, when will local business owners at the station sites be advised that eminent domain may be required for their property?

No streetcar station should be so big as to require anyone's property. The needed right-of-way and station sites are already in place all along the streets and railroad grades of Jacksonville.

Question # 7 - January 9, 2008 When will the Task Force examine your recommended routes to insure they serve those most in need and provide the greatest benefit to the most people?.

The first goals will be to create a downtown double loop that allows cars to move to all of the hot spots in Jacksonville Development. Courthouse site, La Villa, Prime Osbourne/Transportation Center, Water Street, Landing, Omni, Hyatt, Cathedral and Stadium districts. Add to that the need to reach out and touch the neighborhoods such as the Riverside, 5 - Points, San Marco, Springfield communities. See the chart above for a Conservative estimate of the growth that our new - OLD streetcar system would promote in downtown.

JUST ANOTHER SLEEPY SOUTHERN PORT? NOT!

From a tiny native American canoe that doubled as a ferry which crossed the St. John's River at the "Cow Ford" in the heart of todays metropolis, Jacksonville has bloomed all along it's waterfront. Quick quiz? Which of all groups employ the most people and drives the economic engine of America's First Coast? If you guessed the
military, insurance, finance, or factorys you would be wrong. JAXPORT our booming international window on the world is the unstoppable king that dominates our City.

LOST STREETCAR OF THE WEEK

A feature of lost transit around the America's (A whole woods full of dumped Trolleys in MD?)

Happy passengers, busy commuters, holiday shoppers are now but ghosts, the door opens, but nobody cares anymore. Wasps and mice have populated the forlorn car bodies. Sometimes gone, sometimes nearly hopeless, and occasionally completely rebuildable, how many of these long lost rail cars will find their way back to civilization? to museums? or the tender loving care of historians and preservationists? How many others will simply fade into the elements from which they came?

LOST RAILROAD?

A new feature of lost transportation around the America's

Quick where is it? Anyone know? Anyone care? What is it? It is a General Electric 44 Ton Center Cab switcher in Navy gray. Now? Okay. When the Jacksonville Traction Company built it's Interurban line out to Black Point on the St. Johns River in what was then Camp Johnston, it was far out in the Country. Things could have been much, much worse. The original property for what is now NAS JAX was at Camp Blanding! The Army was content to make a land swap for some property closer to a major port and rail center turning 1/2 of Camp Blanding into a State Park and Forrest. Thus the current site of NAS. The Yukon Baptist Church (still standing across from the base) was moved from the Black Point Community. Other houses were removed to Yukon, or what was then known as Dewey Park. The Atlantic Coast Line built a wooden station at Yukon, a twin of the one in Orange Park. (Oddly the Orange Park Station was torn down years ago but the Yukon depot was moved to a private business location on the East side of the hill just South of the Orange Park Mall, off Blanding). The Dough boys had only 2 ways to get out to the base with any reliable transit. Five or six ACL trains each way a day dropped whole companies of recruits at Yukon depot. Finally the Trolleys reached the base, and not only gave the boys a way into town, but a ride every 15 minutes for a quarter! When the tracks came up after the great Streetcar Conspiracy of GM - Firestone - Standard Oil infamy wiped away our transit lines, the Navy moved onto the old Trolley tracks. For the next 40-50 years the base expanded and worked it's very own self contained railroad system. Nobody ever knew the North Gate access, which ran along the front of the hangers and exited through the new "Truck gate", was part of the Trolley system. Military Intelligence being an oxymoron, the Navy decided to abandon the old railroad system and by the 2000 it was but a memory. The locals will always remember it as "The Navy Train" and part of it's route even ran in front of the base for a mile or so and passed on the East side of the Yukon Depot. Freight was interchanged with the ACL. Often sensitive cargo would have passenger cars or cabooses full of armed marines on either end of the "mystery cargo". For all the Millions of times I talked to the crew, rode the Navy engine, and was even presented with a map of the "system" by a base commander, I never took a photo. NOT ONE! My map is long lost and so is my own special little railroad. Like thousands of others that dot the country, it died just 20 years before it was needed again. Sad our hindsight is always 20/20. This artistic version is as good as it gets. And YES, if YOU have a photo or memorbilia from our "Navy Train" please contact me, it would mean a lot.

Union Station is it Transportation Center or Social Darwinism?

A REAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER OR SOCIAL DARWINISM IN JACKSONVILLE

Belgian Railways are hard at work with passenger expansion programs. One has to wonder how a tiny country-state in the European Union can do such things and mighty Uncle Sam and his lovely daughter Florida can't. Miami, Tampa and Orlando are also working on true one-stop centers for Transportation. Ocala's is up and running, and Miami's will share airport-rail-metro-bus all in one place, amazing foresight. We keep talking about Jacksonville Transportation Center, yet our plans are scattering it all over LaVilla. Thus it will not be a "Center" in the classic sense, more like a Transportation Neighborhood. In a still somewhat parochial city like Jacksonville, the bait or carrot, seems to be "Amtrak". We'll move Amtrak back to the old station, and send all of the JTA buses (the stick) and Monorail down there to get those unfortunate passengers out. Meanwhile, Greyhound, (the big-dog stick) will bite and send it's coaches out of downtown. Thus in one swoop, we move Amtrak from a horrible location to a better position, offer escape, and get the "smelly bus patrons" out of our path. Is this Transit Planning or "social engineering?" We wiped out a prosperous African-American business district and very historic neighborhood for this. Now we have a "moonscape" on the West side of downtown and nothing to show for it. Could it be we WANT to scatter these various passengers and NOT bring them into a true center? Could it be this won't be where right meets left, rich sits with poor, and lions and lambs all converge in peace? Why would a City with millions of ground passengers annually, want to run those dollars away from either the City Core businesses, The grand old Union Station, (which contains acres of space for malls and shops) or a centralized tourism generator? Suspect - YOU BET! Watch this Darwinism carefully to see if the powers that be keep the useless "Convention Center" in place until the rail and bus stations are up and running. Just long enough to FORCE us to scatter out the masses of "undesirables", then suddenly the whole convention show will leap out for the downtown or the stadium district. Watch this closely, as our hypocrisy seems to know no end. Apocalyptic planning on a grand scale. Someone prove me wrong please! I would hate for these foriegn guests label us the City that is Minorität frei. It would appear that the Belgians don't have these problems. Perhaps, they just like everybody to come together, smile on their brother and love one another right now..." Antwerpen Central (pictured) and the North-South Junction projects are part of the Brussels-Amsterdam improvement program.

The River the City the Sea

Standing His Post, originally uploaded by Digit_AL.

The spirit of moving is an eternal factor in Jacksonville as the river flows northward toward the sea. Our bronzed sailor stares forever toward new and exotic horizons. He'll turn his back on his home port for months on end, until the day the whole city rejoyces over his ships return. Welcome home to Jacksonville.

What is and What isn't a Trolley?

Photo 1: THIS IS NOT A TROLLEY

Photo 2: THIS IS A TROLLEY

What is...and isn't...a trolley?
This (Revision) from the Sacramento Bee Newspaper - Oct 2007

On the ongoing plans to build a streetcar line between Sacramento and West Sacramento prompted quite a few comments. One thing I notice is that, for many people, it isn't at all what a streetcar, or a trolley, is.

The term "streetcar" refers to fixed-rail transit that is run on city streets, rather than on separated grades like a railroad. The term was originally used to describe horse-drawn cars operating on rails, but can also cover cable cars, steam dummies (small steam locomotives intended to pull cars on city streets) and electric trolleys. Because horse cars, cable cars and steam dummies were all supplanted by electric trolley cars, the terms "streetcar" and "trolley" are pretty much identical.

The term "trolley" comes from the pole used to connect an elevated high-voltage power line to an electric vehicle. One of the earliest prototype electric streetcars had a four-wheel device that hung from the overhead wire, connected via a cable to the car, referred to as a "troller," is probably the origin of the term. Trolley poles came in various forms, using either a wheel or a shoe at the end of the pole to ensure good connection to the wire.Trolley vehicles normally run between 24 to 50 feet: about the size of a LARGE modern bus, but generally wider. Speeds vary, but for the most part trolleys run at 20-40 miles per hour.That being said, what ISN'T a trolley?

What about Jacksonville's new Riverside Trolley? The problem is, this ISN'T A TROLLEY. It is intended to look like a certan type of trolley, if you kind of squint, but it fails for several reasons. For starters, it's still a smoky, noisy bus. Second, it runs on wheels instead of rails, and therefore doesn't run as smoothly. Third, because it has no fixed path, its schedule and route can change at the whim of the operating company, thus it gives little security to land developers who want to encourage transit-oriented growth that the transit won't vanish in the next fiscal wind.

Finally, this isn't a trolley because "quaintness" is not a required feature of a streetcar. Modern streetcars (and even some historic ones) aren't necessarily long on charm, wood paneling or quaint design (even though many of them are.) They're a vehicle built for a purpose, and the purpose isn't to look cute (even though many of them do): they exist to move people.

Many people assume that LRVs (light rail vehicles) were the modern version of trolleys/streetcars. While it could be said they evolved from the Trolley roots, they are wrong. LRVs are intended to run primarily on private right-of-way rather than city streets, are typically 60-80 feet long and intended to run as multi-unit vehicles, are capable of higher speeds (up to 50-70 mph) and are intended for inter-city and suburban service. They are the historical replacement for the interurban, which is a type of transportation virtually unknown in modern society. Interurbans operated like LRVs do now: they run on streets in cities, but their real strength is in open country and private ROW where their larger size and faster speeds aid commuters. But a city trolley isn't usually intended to do that.

The classic example people think of when you refer to trolleys is the Pacific Electric (aka the "Red Car") of Los Angeles and Orange County,(See the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" for the sad-comic-true story) but that was an interurban system. Streetcar service in Los Angeles was covered by the Los Angeles Railway (aka the "Yellow Car"), a physically separate system (originally a cable car system, they operated on 3'6" cable car gauge instead of standard 4'8/5" gauge) owned by the same person (Henry Huntington.) Why would Huntington, a financial wizard on a par with his uncle Collis P., operate two "redundant" electric railroad systems in the same area? Because he realized that they served two distinct and separate roles! LARY streetcars moved people around in downtown Los Angeles and adjacent neighborhoods: PE interurbans moved people around throughout the greater Los Angeles area, in between cities.

In some parts of the country, the line between Trolley and Interurban blurred. Often the Trolley served as something of a rural or regional Interurban. In the Southeast, lines such as the massive Jacksonville Traction Companys, Camp Johnston (NAS JAX) and Ortega, routes even called for heavier more Interurban like Trolley cars. In fact Jacksonville had a fleet of restroom equipped, bar and lounge section, "Observation-Lounge" Trolleys. Also a common practice in the American South was to use grade separation on the Trolley lines themselves, often in the downtown area's. These routes were laid with treated hardwood cross-ties and then covered in lush landscape and grasses. Jacksonville's Main Street, Palmetto Avenue and Pearl Street lines are just three example of this construction that was billed as "The most beautiful Trolley Line in the World."

Vision for Jacksonville Traction Company, Inc.

VISION FOR THE JACKSONVILLE TRACTION COMPANY, INC.

Imagine a string of pearls illuminating one of the greatest downtown waterfronts in the world. Each pearl is a world-class destination: culinary, cultural, historical, recreational. Now, imagine that the string is a destination in itself—attractive vintage vehicles from around the world, each with its own rich history, each representing a great city or country. That string of pearls is Jacksonville Traction Companys vision for the proposed Water Street-Downtown historic streetcar line.

The idea of the revival of the original JTCO is decades old. But a comprehensive vision for the line is especially timely now, in the wake of soaring fuel costs, vacations close to home and the rebirth of Jacksonville's core. This measure would return the question of downtown urban Transit to the private sector and allow for rapid construction and completion along our booming transportation corridors. Among these improvements is a major streetcar and transportation museum, as well as a Trolley based Theme Park. The JTCO-line, as proposed would serve as a primary landside distributor of bus, Skyway and any BRT passengers and well as the anchor for all downtown tourism.

President JTCO