THE NEW AQUATIC ROADS OF JACKSONVILLE

Sometimes, a hard lesson from Mother Nature, can reteach public transit 101. In a generally low laying Coastal Port City like Jacksonville, having just experienced a week of endless rain, an elevated train system like our Skyway isn't looking like such a stupid idea after all. In fact if this storm experience proved anything, it's that leaving our monorail system 1/3 finished is mega dumb. Funny thing is, three of the 4 unfinished lines of the Jacksonville Skyway would go into the hardest hit flood areas. Riverside/Brooklyn, San Marco, and Springfield, all look like inland seas and it's only going to get worse as the water that fell on Central Florida makes it's way north on the St. Johns River - only to "stack up" in the narrows downtown. Meaning the worst of the flooding could still be ahead of us in the areas that can least afford it. A Skyway tied to new development, streetcars, commuter rail and bus transit, routed on the dryer high roads, would do wonders for mobility in the next few weeks. But City Hall doesn't want to hear about Skyway's, or other pie-in-the-sky projects. We'll study the problem and for the price of the study we could buy every citizen of these inner neighborhoods a canoe.

JaxPort Reaches For Number One

New Cranes (on the left) are still on a barge, while being transferd to join their sisters on the shore.


The economy has crashed, and money is tight everywhere, across the American heartland, the prices of new homes are about equal to the Florida market in 1990. South Florida tourism has suffered, and the State is scrambling to make do with a tight belt. The fuel situation has caused many in the old American oil patch to go back to work for the first time since the 1980's. Things are looking better out on the rigs, but the nation is hardly beating a path to their doorstep. Here in Jacksonville we are an island of explosive growth in a sea of doom and gloom, and JaxPort is lighting that fuse.



On a once-sleepy strip of Dames Point overlooking the St. Johns River in northeast Jacksonville, crews are busy with the biggest contract in Jacksonville Port Authority history — the construction of a terminal for Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, which will provide the first direct container ship service between northeast Florida and Asia.


On the land, the crews are laying rails 100 feet apart for hulking new cranes that can lift up to 50 tons of cargo at a time. In the water, dredges are scraping out a turning basin to make room for larger ships that will eventually triple Jaxport’s container capacity.


Another new terminal, for Seoul-based Hanjin, is also in the planning stages — along with a boatload of infrastructure projects. Those include an intermodal facility where containers will be transferred onto trains, and a deepening of Jaxport’s shipping channel to 45 feet — by itself at least a $400-million prospect. “The opportunities are lining up,” says Rick Ferrin, Jaxport’s executive director. “If we play them right, we’ll be one of the top 10 container ports in the country.”



While talking on the phone to my oil driller son in Oklahoma, and hearing him complain about the civic jealousy that has sent the OKC talk show hosts into a Jax-Bash routine on such subjects as "small town", "no sports", "no future", "terrible football"... And so it was as the Florida Highway Patrol closed down the Broward/Dames Point suspension bridge. Concerns over clearance gave them a 5 foot safety margin at low tide. I watched as they docked the massive cranes next to the earlier arrivals, which are already in place. Two more enter our port in October or November.

Already companies from around the world are scrambling to our door as distribution centers, warehousing and terminal facilities boom. Thousands of new jobs in the making. Not amusement park, hotel or minimum wage jobs either. This is Jacksonville, the City that works and smells like money. I was standing in miles of new pavement, as if awaiting the first of some million containers per year that will will soon arrive. I chuckled, that two or three of those containers might even find their way to some Oklahoma City Wal-Mart, perhaps a container of footballs, or Jacksonville Jaguar jerseys, I hope they can afford to buy them.

After all, it's not Oklahoma City, headed for the status of 3Rd Largest Atlantic Port, or that the world is already calling

"The Port of Gold"

Can Simple Vintage Trolleys Morph?

morph, originally uploaded by bobissouthern.

Dallas, Vintage streetcars suddenly perform as modern machines.

Vintage Trolley Becomes Modern Transit.

“I am coming, I am coming! Hark you hear my motors humming? For the trolley’s come to conquer and you cannot keep it back;And Zip! The sparks are flashing as the car goes onward dashing;Yes the trolley’s come and conquered so look out and clear the track!”

Thus did a late 19Th century author describe the advent of the electric streetcar, an event that literally changed the way Americans went to work and play and moved about the cities. Jacksonville boasted one, then two, four, six or more fairly large streetcar companies, all of which eventually folded into the operations of The Jacksonville Traction Company. Today we are faced with another major change in individual mobility, $4-a-gallon gasoline is causing JTA, and many other Americans to rethink the way they get around and to look more to public transit to fill the void.

As an industry that is historically underfunded and equipment-hungry, many operators are struggling to meet the demand. How does a small transit operator with a fleet of vintage electric streetcar equipment rise to meet this challenge? In the case of McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) in Dallas, Texas, a $1-3 million dollar a mile, mostly volunteer organization, we decided to examine just what it was that it did, and who it was. The answers enabled them to reaffirm their identity as a vintage operator, while plotting a course to meet the demands and expectations of new customers and take advantage of 21st century technologies.

Throughout the past year as we have seen gasoline prices spiral upward and McKinney Avenue also noticed steady ridership increases during the regular commute times. Ridership for 2008 is up 20 percent over the same period last year. In particular, they have seen a large increase in the number of passengers transferring to the streetcars from light rail stations of the regional transit authority (DART). These numbers, taken in conjunction with on-car surveys, told MATA that they were experiencing a basic change in their ridership demographics. Dallas took a hard look at what the commuter passengers expected their streetcar system to do for them.

Early in the year it was decided to air condition the fleet of vintage streetcars. A grant from the Sue Pope Foundation enabled MATA to begin addressing this issue, and in May the first air-conditioned 1920 Birney safety car in the world rolled out of the shops to the delight of our riding public. Four other cars will follow during the course of the summer, and the further addition of AC traction motors, solid-state controllers and resilient wheels over the next two years will enable them to increase safe operating speeds, decrease headways and provide a higher level of comfort and service to the riding public while maintaining the ambiance and look of the antique cars. The ambiance alone merits note, as completely missing from the scene are the large expanses of wood stained plywood seen on the faux trolley's of Jacksonville. This is REAL craftsmanship, wood and stained glass, velvet, and brass, tongue and grove perfection and vintage wavy glass windows.

A recent trip on the large "Turtle-Back" Streetcar in Dallas, with it's fancy RV style AC unit running full tilt, was proof of the success. The car was comfortable, and roomy, there was no loud noise, no bang or clatter, just the hum of the motors beneath the floor and the air compressors tale-tale thump-thump-thump when we paused. The streetcar is right in the flow of traffic in a Dallas equal of San Marco, Springfield or Riverside. The major developers have stampeded to the fixed route transit and converted the old brick warehouse and shanty town into an upscale marvel of reclaimed buildings and life. Something we so desperately need in Jacksonville.

Greenhouse gases, NOC emissions, global warming and, on a more visceral level, the cost of gas at the pump has caused Americans to re-ask the question of the World War II generation, “Is this trip really necessary?” It should cause each of us, as Jacksonville citizens, to ask some important questions about what kind of transit we want and how our various City and State agency's, can re-equip ourselves to do the job ahead of us.

Roll up your sleeves folks, it’s a big job and there’s work to do! We Must have rail to compete and perhaps to survive.

BRT vs LRT vs CR vs BUS vs AUTO...?

KEEPERS OF TRANSIT AQUARIUMS IN JACKSONVILLE?

In response to several articles that have labeled rail transit, light rail and streetcars as "political graf", an interesting side by side comparison has been done. Does the highway based transit really work "Just like rail only cheaper?". In balance, keep in mind that NO WHERE would I suggest that Light Rail or any rail take on the transit for Jacksonville by itself. Can't be done without the buses, and frankly a Light Rail Lite BRT system, one that extends the reach of those trains, or streetcars, is just what the doctor ordered. We need them ALL.

When we resort to claims that transit XXX is going to be the save all of the world, and transit YYY must go, it reminds me of a famous Evangelist. Billy Sunday, once said, in consideration of our no longer going out and winning folks for Jesus, rather we were stealing members from each others churches. "Lord, we are no longer fishers of men but keepers of aquarium's." Ditto for the single mode transit lobby.

From the Orphan Road:

King County = Seattle, Washington
vs
Washington D.C.

For an example of how rail can more more people more cheaply, we need only look to Washington DC. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the operator of DC Metro, spends almost exactly the same amount of money as King Country Metro does, $560 million to $580 million. Except for that $560 million DC metro moves almost a million people a day on rail (three times what KC metro moves per day with its buses) and the WMATA agency provides buses that carry another 120,000! It’s only possible because of the investment put in place years ago, and residents there can reap the benefit of a reliable, traffic-separated transit system that’s relatively cheap.

And DC's population density is roughly the same as Seattle's, so it's not like they've achieved this amazing transit ridership simply by crushing everyone into Manhattan-style apartments.

VALDOSTA TRANSIT Coming Soon!

WILL THIS MEAN A NEW AGENCY TO WORK WITH FOR JOINT PROJECTS ? YOU BET IT WILL, ONE MORE VOICE NEVER HURTS.

Above: Amtrak train in North Florida, doing a modern "Royal Palm" imitation. Below: Vintage Royal Palm Ad showing Valdosta and Jacksonville, Macon, Atlanta, Chattanooga and Cincinnati.

Valdosta, Ga., Gets Ready to Ride With Transit System

Kari L. Sands
The Valdosta Daily Times

GEORGIA - After much planning and several meetings, the city of Valdosta's transit system plan is well under way to develop a more efficient public transportation system to address the needs of Georgia's 10th largest city.

Though a great amount of planning has been done, the city of Valdosta still has several steps to take during the development of the city's transit system, including types and size of buses, location of pick-up points, and funding.

However, the city hopes to see buses rolling in as early as 18 months as federal funds have already been applied for, according to Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Coordinator, Corey Hull.

"The next step is to hire a consultant to perform the actual implementation study or report. The MPO is in the process to do this. The study or report will be detailed to show routes, the number of buses, personnel, maintenance and other pertinent information," said Hull.

Over 18 months ago a feasibility study was conducted, and it was clear from the consultant point of view that a transit system would be beneficial to the urbanized area, according to City Engineer Von Shipman. The MPO is taking the lead on the city of Valdosta's transit system project since it will involve the use of federal funds to cover a portion of the cost.

"The current effort to implement a public transit service in Valdosta has been in active for about five years. In 2006, the Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization conducted a study to determine the feasibility of implementing transit services in the Valdosta Urbanized Area," said Hull. "This study found that the introduction of transit service would have a fairly high probability of success based on ridership potential and public desire for transit services for access to work, shopping and medical trips. During the hiring of a consultant to aid in the development of the transit plan, we will be seeking public participation on final route and stop locations, marketing strategies and operations plans."
Valdosta Mayor John Fretti is also optimistic about the timeline for the transit system's implementation.

"The federal government has allocated funds for the last couple of years to assist in the capital asset purchases of buses, a terminal and maintenance facility. Through the MPO, we are in final negotiations with a company to implement this system and have a functioning fixed base bus system in around 24 months," said Fretti.

Fortunately, the designation of Valdosta as a metropolitan city has made the MPO eligible for federal funds for both implementation and operations, although it is certain that ridership fees and local subsidies will be needed, according to City Manager Larry Hanson.

"To secure federal funding for implementation of the system, a implementation plan must now be developed which will include the routes, times of operation, the number and frequency of the pick-up points, and the participation of interested parties," Hanson said. "The MPO has conducted and completed interviews with professional firms and is presently negotiating with the firm selected as the most qualified."
Shipman also said that it should be understood that funds generated by those who use the system will not make up the shortfall received from the federal government.

"This will require local governments to come up with the balance of the funds needed. A final decision on this matter can only be made after the implementation report is completed and funds are budgeted," said Shipman.

Transit ridership is up around the country by 28 percent, according to Fretti. "With fuel prices so high, there may not be a better time to provide transit for our citizens to use for work and recreational commuting. Our time has come."

"We believe the transit system will help the entire area by reducing traffic and pollution, improving access to jobs and services, and supporting the needs of a growing city, county, University and Technical college. It is a major part of an overall transportation plan to reduce the emphasis on vehicles and single trips and encourage the cooperation of all governments and all involved parties to improve our overall quality of life," said Hanson.

The MPO has worked with the city of Valdosta, Lowndes County and other transportation planning partners to work to implement public transit services in and around the Valdosta Urbanized Area. The information received from the public and contained in the recently adopted Transportation Master Plan will be used as public transit service is implemented in Valdosta. The official timetable for the transit plan is still in the planning stages, but buses could start rolling as early as 18 months or the process could take as long as two years.

Blogger Comment: INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY to extend a hand over the State Line into Georgia and pick up a friend, to push for Regional Rail, Commuter Rail and the return of the famous Royal Palm-Royal Poinciana-Ponce De Leon Trains between Jacksonville and Atlanta, via Valdosta. Any good transit agency in a states 10Th largest City is bound to get some attention, toss in Florida and Jacksonville and we could push this idea over the top. Macon? Atlanta? All Aboard!

To see more of The Valdosta Daily Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/

Refusal To "Super Size It" Can Be Good For Our Health

A mini-metro train runs inside the new Red Star Macalline Mall on Shanghai's Zhenbei Road. Photo (China Foto Press)

SKYWAY CONCEPTS 101

Every day I hear the cry's, "Why can't we do something about the suburban sprawl of Town Center, Bay meadows, Deerwood, Southpointe..." The list is endless. My reply has always been a simple, WE CAN! For years and years, I have played with a concept of an inhouse transit system for a long shopping mall like our own Regency Square, or the new sattelite downtown jungles that are spinning off into mini self contained cities within a city. My ideas have ebbed and evolved from miniature monorails, now called Personal Rapid Transit or PRT systems, to vintage albeit small streetcar's rolling through a green landscaped garden running the length of the route. A few years back a mall in Southern California, hooked up with a major theme park ride engineering and building firm and put the streetcar right down the avenue. "As-if "our own Town Center would think out of the box like that, the California success has been unprecidented, luring stores and crowds that might have otherwise gone elsewhere, just for the experience.

Now the official China News Agency has released photos of a spiral metro in a 6 floor Mall in Shanghai. The following is their glowing report. But looking beyond the glitz and gloss of the typical Communist articles, one can still see many possible applications of this very idea right here in Jacksonville. Micro-systems to feed into commuter rail, light rail, streetcar or BRT transit, mall systems, and office park-apartment distributers, running on clean electric energy from any number of green sources.

Shopping can be fun but exhausting, especially for girls wearing high heels.
So how's this for a solution - what if ladies could browse through stores while
on a train? Sounds bizarre? Believe it.A newly-opened home furnishing mall in
Shanghai features an in-house metro train that can take shoppers to any store
inside the 6-story building, the local News Times reported Monday.The
14-meter-long train runs on a spiral rail and is the first of its kind in the
world, the newspaper says.Besides the train, the leading furniture chain Red
Star Macalline offers more creative shopping concepts. The building's interior
design features many trees and water landscapes, supporting its claim of being
China's first park-style shopping complex."It's an absolutely different
experience here," a visitor surnamed Liu was quoted as saying. "It feels like a
forest park."

HOW BAD DOES JTA SMELL?

By Robert Mann

In Jacksonville for years the cry of the masses is that our "buses stink," they are dirty, filthy, smell like body odor of the unwashed masses, tattered, inept, unreliable, uncomfortable and often downright rude. A broken welfare transit system, home for the homeless, drug dealers and hookers, is certainly no place for an up and coming employee or executive.

But how true is that image? Has the transit of the masses been so neglected so as to sink into an irretrievable ninth circle of Hell?

Consider our role models, both our parents and relations. An editorial in Mass Transit Magazine last year looked at vacation season and asked if any of us had ever been on a public transit vacation? The author then took the extension to the extreme in stating that even Hollywood Movies and Recordings, avoid public transit in general, and buses in particular.

I had to say, I do remember traveling on a Greyhound Super-Scenic Cruiser sometime back in the early 1960's. As I recall, the passengers seemed to all share an obvious economic depression, but the polished driver sang all the way south. Helping little old ladies aboard, and overweight beach bums with their blankets and packs. The old route ran down Florida's scenic highway A-1-A from Jacksonville and the Beaches, to St. Augustine, Marineland, Flagler Beach to Daytona Beach. Often in easy sight of the Atlantic Ocean surf, or the many colorful shops and hotels that dotted it's route. But the whole experience had the cloud of some depressing due for the company axe, a prediction in my young mind, which turned out to be quite accurate. Almost every hamlet had it's stop, and it seemed to be well patronized in it's once daily, down and back schedule. Then one day, it simply was no more. It was as if the tides had washed it away like so many grains of beach sand. Driving the route some years later, I was listening to Harry Chapin's song "Take the Greyhound, it's a dog of a way to get around..."

A-1-A is much wider in most places today. The hotels are more grand, the restaurants are national and international chains. Even the tiny airport or two south of Jacksonville, are now regional jet ports. While Marineland and it's hotel have faded, St. Augustine and the dozen or so State and National Parks this little trip passed through sure haven't. In fact, when I made that trip, Jacksonville had a population of about 202,000 persons. Today the City is the third largest populated place in any of the east coast states.

So was it really Hollywood? Recall if you will that the "Bob Newhart," show, started and ended with stunning images of Chicago's CTA trains. Then there was Doctor "Patch Adams," who took the bus to find himself in a mental hospital. "Trains, Planes and Automobiles," and movies such as "Airplane," had us rolling on the floor laughing at the overall shortcomings of the transportation industry. Anyone remember Mr. Ralph Kramden? Ralph Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason, on the famous 1950's TV comedy, "The Honeymooners," Ralph was a bus driver for the fictional Gotham Bus Company. Though he was never seen driving a bus (except in publicity photos), but was shown multiple times at the bus depot. Ralph was frustrated by his lack of success, (apparently being a bus driver even carried a stigma in the 1950's) and often developed schemes designed to earn him and his wife a quick fortune. Ralph was very quick-tempered, and frequently resorted to insults and hollow threats of violence.

So while the Hollywood jury is still out on the bus business, our own local JTA has had a year of bad press. Bus drivers tossing passengers off the bus, fights over fares, refusal to carry passengers, complete lack of "ANY TIME" information, non-existent route maps, and now a roving Gnome who is blogging a journal of doom, "30 days with JTA," that will now be expanded to 90 days after a near fist fight with a cursing, irate, driver. The driver stopped at an unmarked stop across the street from a marked location. Perhaps the sign was simply missing, or perhaps for traffic reasons it was never placed. However JTA information told our stalwart passenger to flag down the bus. He did as he was told, and stepped aboard only to catch a full broadsides of foul language and demands that he get off the bus, walk the two miles to the next stop, or, the police would be called to eject him. As his journal has caused a constructive discourse with JTA management, he was immediately back on the cell phone to JTA information and soon talking with the supervisor.

Needless to say it got even more ugly when the driver still yelling, told him, "Oh I'm sure your talking to my boss, you can tell him to XXXX too!"

Is it an obvious case of "The Jacksonville Transportation Authority Stinks," with service boardering on the tenth circle of hell? Not at all. JTA is in transformation from a large southern city system, to an international city metro. Certainly there are bumps along the way, but managment is doing exactly what it should be doing with this case, this journal, this rider and information. It is meeting en-masse, and not just for damage control, but reaching for real solutions. Listening to what the public is saying. Sweeping changes are coming to the bus portion of JTA, and I'm confident they will be quickly followed by monorail (The Jacksonville Skyway), light rail and commuter rail, additions and improvements. Things happen for a reason, and no matter how beautiful the new Gillig BRT model buses, if the driver's attitude chases away the would-be patrons, then the bus "stinks".

Our solution is not simply that new vehicle smell on the same old machine, but a complete re-thinking of the industry. Out of the Box, and even perhaps out of the old bounds. There is that route down A-1-A just waiting for some lucky service to pick it up and market those beach side resorts. This is Florida's First Coast, home of the nations oldest city. Today all of that falls within the bounds of the Jacksonville Metro Area and the potential reach of JTA or a joint venture of JTA and another franchise, such as Trailways or a charter carrier. We are talking fare free in Jacksonville, preboarding tickets or passes, fun buses, day trips, and maybe even singing drivers. All along the booming coast we have construction, new jobs and massive port expansion. Home to more fortune 500 companies then any other two Florida Cities combined, we have a new, urban and financially powerful workforce. There is national exposure in our Arena and Arts, and our NFL Jaguars or the home of the PGA at Sawgrass, have changed our posture. No longer can we afford to operate the old bus system of the past and JTA knows it. We still have miles upon mile of untouched roadway, and untouched beach sand... I say it's time that Jacksonville and JTA build some castles in the sand. Any of you old enough to remember the Chapin Greyhound song, will recall, he ended it in reflection of his bus trip... "A thought for keeping if I could, It's got to be the going not the getting there that's good."

DON'T CONFUSE US WITH FACTS IN JACKSONVILLE!

Watch Out Jacksonville, Here it comes again... Why we MUST leave the roads...
Wouldn't Edgewood at Roosevelt look sweet with Commuter Rail?
Imagine the advantages to adding Modern Streetcars to our Monorail System Downtown...
In spite of a unified outcry from the community leadership, our politicians are still throwing up the red signals. No amount of logic seems to matter, but as if it did, I'll print some more!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

People want transit, politicians lag behind
More evidence that people want to end the dominance of the auto....

A recent poll found that given a hypothetical $100 to invest in transportation, Americans said they would spend $62 on trains and rail, buses, bike paths, and sidewalks, and only $38 on roads. (Source: Harris Interactive poll [+/- 3 pts]). In other words, Americans want to spend 63% of transportation dollars on bicycling, walking and public transportation, nearly tripling the 22% now spent. Philadelphia Bicycle News

More From The Center for Transportation Excellence
•
85% of all transportation costs in the U.S. are related to private automobiles.
•
A $10 million investment in public transportation results in a $30 million gain in sales for local businesses (3 times the public sector investment in transit capital).
•
A recent study by the University of North Texas found that the new DART (LIGHT RAIL)system in the Dallas region has already generated over $800 million in development, and that the full system is projected to generate $3.7 billion in economic activity upon build out.
•
A recent survey by Jones Lang LaSalle in its Property Futures publication found that 77 per cent of New Economy companies rated access to mass transit as an extremely important factor in selecting corporate locations.
•
A regular rush-hour driver wastes an average of 99 gallons of gasoline a year due to traffic. The average cost of the time lost in rush hour traffic is $1,160 per person.
•
A study on U.S. government spending and its impact on worker productivity estimated that a 10-year $100 billion increase in public transport spending would boost worker output by $521 billion, compared with $237 billion for the same spending on highways.
•
AAA members who rely almost exclusively on automobiles for their daily transportation needs, would still opt to spend more money on public transit than on new roads, according to a recent survey.
•
Almost half of all Fortune 500 companies, representing over $2 trillion in annual revenue, are headquartered in America’s transit-intensive (RAIL SERVED) metropolitan areas.
•
America’s families spend more than 19 cents out of every dollar earned on transportation, an expense second only to housing and greater than food and health care combined.
•
American families spend 18% of their household budgets on transportation, making it the second largest household expenditure after housing.

•
Americans living in transit-intensive areas save $22 billion each year by using public transportation.
•
An assessment of the economic benefits of the services provided by the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) (HERITAGE STREETCARS) found a benefit-to-cost ratio of more than 13 to 1 when both direct and indirect benefits were considered.
•
An estimated 14 million Americans ride public transportation each weekday and an additional 25 million use it on a less frequent but regular basis.
•
Around Washington D.C. 40% of new building space in the 1980s, worth $3 billion, was built within walking distance of a Metro (RAIL) stop.
•
Between 1997 and 1999, an estimated 4,500 housing units and some 9 million square feet of commercial-office floorspace were added within walking distance of the Tasman West LRT corridor.
•
Building more roads isn't always the answer to this growing problem. Each of the cities in the TTI study would require an average of 37 more lane miles to keep pace with just one year of increased traffic demand.
•
Business output is positively affected by transit investment. A sustained program of transit capital investment will generate an increase of $2 million in business output. After 20 years, these benefits increase to $31 million.
•
Drivers in one-third of U.S. cities spend more than 40 hours a year (an entire work week) in traffic that is not moving.
•
Every dollar that U.S. taxpayers invest in public transportation generates $6 or more in economic returns.
•
Federal transportation grants for State and local governments totaled $4.4 billion for transit or 14% of all transportation grants in 2000. Federal transportation grants to State and local governments amounted to $26 billion or 80% of the total in 2000.
•
Four in five Americans believe that increased investment in public transportation strengthens the economy, creates jobs, reduces traffic congestion and air pollution, and saves energy.
•
If one in 10 Americans regularly used transit, U.S. reliance on foreign oil could decline by more than 40%, or nearly the amount of oil imported from Saudi Arabia each year.
•
In 1999, public transportation vehicles used 856 million gallons of fossil fuels and 5.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity - which is less than 1% of all energy consumed in the U.S.
•
In 2000, Americans took 9.4 billion trips using public transportation, an increase of 3.5% from the previous year - the equivalent of more than one million new trips each day.
•
In 2000, Americans took 9.4 billion trips using public transportation, an increase of 3.5% from the previous year - the equivalent of more than one million new trips each day. During the same year, ridership grew twice as fast as the U.S. population and outpaced growth in other travel modes.
•
In 2000, America's public transportation systems employed 350,000 workers to operate, maintain and manage all modes of transit. A full 50% of this workforce serve as operators or conductors.
•
In 2000, total federal spending on transit was $5.3 billion or 11% of all transportation spending.
•
In Los Angeles, .80 of every $1.00 spent on public transport gets recirculated in the region, translating into $3.80 in goods and services. Conversely, .85 of every $1.00 spent on gas leaves the region.
•
In suburban Philadelphia, the total increase in residential real estate value in neighborhoods with train service is estimated to be over $1.45 billion.
•
In the last five years, transit use has increased faster than any other mode of transportation.
•
New urban expressways cost up to $100 million per mile while rail and bike facilities cost on average $15 million and $.1 million, respectively.
•
Of the nation's top 50 metropolitan areas, all but (JACKSONVILLE) were planning a New Start project, adding to a existing system or have a new system under construction.
•
On average, a typical state/local government could realize a 4%-16% gain in revenues due to the increases in income and employment generated by investments in transit.
•
Public transportation customers are diverse: People age 65 or older represent 7% of riders; 18 years and younger , 10%; women, 52%; White, 45%; African-American, 31%; Hispanic, 18%; and Asian and Native American, 6%.
•
Public transportation is a $32 billion industry that employs more than 350,000 people.
•
Public transportation ridership has increased 22% in the last six years.
•
Since 1980, three subway systems, 68 light rail systems and 1240 bus systems have been added to U.S. communities.
•
The adjusted cost of congestion in the 75 areas studied by the Texas Transportation Institute has tripled in the past twenty years to $68 billion in 2000.
•
The amount of fuel wasted in traffic annually in the 75 major urban areas studied in TTI's Urban Mobility Study would fill 114 supertankers.
•
The annual cost of driving a single-occupant vehicle is between $4,826 (for a small car) and $9,685 (for a large car), depending upon mileage. The annual average cost for public transportation for one adult ranges from $200 to $2,000, depending upon services used.
•
The average annual income of rail commuters is more than $50,000 and most own two cars.
•
The National Safety Council estimates that riding the bus is over 170 times safer than automobile travel.
•
The poorest quintile of American households spend 36% of their budgets on transportation, while the richest fifth spend only 14%.
•
The value per square foot of commercial space near Metrorail stations in Northern Virginia has jumped more than 600 percent since the first station opened in 1977.
•
Three-quarters of Americans support the use of public funds for the expansion and improvement of public transportation.

BLOGGER NOTE: In Jacksonville, these are no longer Bus vs Rail vs Skyway arguments, with fuel prices in the stratosphere, this is now a matter of common sense and urban survival.

Thanks to; Center for Transportation Excellence

Philadelphia Bicycle News

Metro Jacksonville for Photo Help

AN ELECTRIC LESSON FOR JACKSONVILLE

DENVER AND THE WEST

DENVER RTD

By Jeffrey Leib Denver Post Staff Writer

BLOGGER NOTE: Please be aware that this article is intended for Jacksonville Residents that "know where Denver is..." (*see note at bottom of article)

Blitzed by an overwhelming demand for electric-powered FasTracks commuter rail, RTD directors unanimously voted Tuesday night to reject diesel power in favor of electric for trains to Denver International Airport and Arvada/Wheat Ridge.

A parade of government officials, civic association heads and neighborhood residents approached the Regional Transportation District microphone to promote electric trains as cleaner environmentally and more likely to support development near rail stations.

Electric rail between Union Station and DIA will save travelers at least five minutes on the trip when compared with diesel, cause "less pollution and less noise" and connect more efficiently at the airport terminal, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper told RTD directors before the vote.

On the roughly 24-mile-long DIA line, with its number of stations, an electric train gets the travel-time savings because it accelerates more quickly than a diesel counterpart, according to RTD's analysis.

Arvada Mayor Ken Fellman warned transit agency directors that "I will face a backlash" from constituents if RTD switched to diesel power for Gold Line trains after electrified rail was promised to Arvada residents in the 2004 FasTracks vote.

Voters approved the $4.7 billion transit expansion that year, but since then, the cost of FasTracks has escalated to $6.2 billion, in part because of an unusually steep rise in the cost of construction materials.

The increase led RTD officials to examine cost-savings measures and an early study showed the agency could save up to $100 million in constructing the Gold Line and DIA train with the switch to diesel by eliminating the expense of overhead electrification.

More recently, RTD updated that analysis, showing that electric rail will actually be cheaper to construct and operate on a long-term basis, since diesel- fuel costs are expected to outpace the expense of electric power. This is especially true if private companies and investors get involved in building and operating the rail lines.

Keith Howard, president of Sunnyside United Neighbors Inc., spoke in favor of electric rail for all four FasTracks commuter rail lines and he welcomed the vote to support electric for two of them, the Gold Line and the airport train.

"It's prudent to take the long view," Howard said. "The board was wise to make a decision in the framework of decades."

RTD still must decide which technology to use on FasTracks commuter rail lines to Boulder/Longmont and north Adams County.

The 2004 FasTracks plan that voters considered assumed both lines would be diesel-powered, but RTD directors said they will wait for results of ongoing environmental studies of both lines before voting on the train technology.

(*NOTE: No insult intended. Just for fun you might recall the NFL coach of the Denver Broncos before their first big meeting in Jacksonville with our Jaguars. The Denver coach made the infamous quote, "Hell, I don't even know where Jacksonville is..." After the Jaguars not only beat Denver but slaughtered their team, one of the Jaguar players grabbed a microphone and asked the Denver Coach on national TV, "Do you know where we are now coach?")

NC TRIANGLE PULLING AHEAD OF JACKSONVILLE?

TRIANGLE TRANSIT AUTHORITY IMAGE OF DMU UNIT AND STARTER LINE



Commuter Rail System Coming to the Triangle?
NORTH CAROLINA PULLING AHEAD

Raleigh, N.C. — Could existing rail lines ease Triangle traffic problems? That’s the focus of a new study by the company that owns a lot of right-of-way in the state.Plans for a light rail system stopped when federal funding fell through. Many said it was too expensive. Now, one group wants to know if a commuter rail system could run on current tracks.When it seemed like any chance of a local rail system was off track, the North Carolina Railroad Co. decided to take a another look.“I think there is a strong consensus that commuter rail will come. It’s just a matter of when and how,” said Scott Saylor, NCRR president.The company is paying for the study to see if existing lines could be used in a commuter rail system. The study will examine the cost of converting tracks to be shared by commuter and freight trains.“It will tell us how much infrastructure would need to be added and how frequently the trains could run along with the freight trains,” Saylor said.The company is looking into the possibility of running four commuter trains in the morning and another four in the afternoon. The study will look at 174 miles of commuter lines – one section from Goldsboro to Burlington and another section in the Piedmont. It will examine stops 5 to 7 miles apart and possibly one at the airport.“I think it would be great,” said Raleigh City Councilman Philip Isley. “We clearly need something like that, the problems we've had with the TTA and its limited destinations.”The original Triangle Transit Authority light rail proposal included building two new tracks. The TTA plans to follow this new process closely.“In talking with the North Carolina Railroad, we've made it clear that we want to participate at a level that will allow us to understand the results when they are produced,” said TTA General Manager David King.The North Carolina Railroad Company is looking for consulting engineers to conduct the study. The company hopes to have results by the middle of next year and plans to present the final numbers to local government, businesses and transportation groups.

CURITIBA'S BRT MELTDOWN!

Photos: Curitiba Brazil, LIGHT RAIL to the rescue

Photos: Curitiba Highly praised BRT

The Road to Curitiba

By ARTHUR LUBOW
Published: May 20, 2007

Today, Curitiba remains a pilgrimage destination for urbanists fascinated by its bus system, garbage-recycling program and network of parks. It is the answer to what might otherwise be a hypothetical question: How would cities look if urban planners, not politicians, took control?

Although the children who paint on Saturday mornings are no longer needed to protect the downtown shopping street from cars, the battle to keep Curitiba green is never-ending. Indeed, some say it is going badly these days. The rivers, once crystalline, reek of untreated sewage. The bus system that has won admirers throughout the world appears to be nearing capacity; what’s more, Curitiba, by some measures, has a higher per capita ownership of private cars than any city in Brazil — even exceeding BrasÃlia, a city that was designed for cars. Curitiba’s garbage-recycling rate has been declining over the last six or seven years, and the only landfill in the municipal region will be full by the end of 2008. Jorge Wilheim, the São Paulo architect who drafted Curitiba’s master plan in 1965, says: “When we made the plan, the population was 350,000. We thought in a few years it would reach 500,000. But it has grown much bigger.” The municipality of Curitiba today has 1.8 million people, and the population of the metropolitan region is 3.2 million. “I know the plan of Curitiba is very famous, and I am the first to enjoy it, but that was in ’65,” Wilheim continues. “The metropolitan region must have a new vision.”

It is often said of Curitiba that it doesn’t feel like Brazil. Depending on who’s speaking, that can be intended as a compliment or a criticism. Populated by European immigrants in the 19th century, Curitiba has a demographic makeup that is largely more fair-skinned and well educated than that of Brazil’s tropical north. It is also unusually affluent. Unlike São Paulo, with its startling extremes of wealth and poverty, much of Curitiba to an American eye looks familiarly middle class. Even the scruffy used-car lots have a seediness reminiscent of Los Angeles, not the Rio de Janeiro of “City of God.” The city, especially the large downtown, is very clean, thanks to municipal sanitation trucks and the freelance carrinheiros, or cart people, who pick up trash to sell at recycling centers.

Curitiba’s rapid-transit buses can move 36,000 passengers an hour, a cheap alternative to a subway system.

Despite its development as a city for public transportation, Curitiba is said to have more cars per capita than any other city in Brazil.

During my visit to Curitiba in March, the city was the host of an international biodiversity conference. While I hadn’t known of it when I scheduled my trip, the coincidence was about as remarkable as finding a design show to greet you in Milan or a wine festival under way in Bordeaux. Environmentalism is the heart of Curitiba’s self-identity, and the municipal government is always devising new schemes that showcase the brand. The rest of the world has caught on, if not yet caught up. Ecological awareness is architecturally trendy. This year’s winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize is Richard Rogers, a longtime proponent of mass transit, lower energy consumption and ecologically sensitive buildings. Commercially, real-estate developers from Beijing to Santa Monica are brandishing their LEED certificates (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) as they market condominiums and office suites to green-minded consumers. While it is unusually ambitious, the 25-year plan that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, proposed last month for New York is part of an international wave of recognition that cities must live more responsibly, especially when it comes to their effusions of climate-warming gases and their excretions of mountains of solid waste. Bloomberg’s most contentious idea — a “congestion tax” on cars entering traffic-clogged districts during peak hours — has been working for more than four years in London (and more than 30 years in Singapore) to increase the numbers of people using public transportation. Interestingly, Curitiba adopted an opposite approach, brandishing a carrot instead of a stick. The city planners suspected that public transportation would attract more users if it was more attractive. And that reasonable assumption turned out to be correct.

The efficient buses that zip across the Curitiba metropolitan region are the most conspicuously un-Brazilian feature of the city. Instead of descending into subway stations, Curitibanos file into ribbed glass tubes that are boarding platforms for the rapid-transit buses. (The glass tubes resemble the “fosteritos” that Norman Foster later designed for the metro in Bilbao, Spain.) Curitiba has five express-bus avenues, with a sixth in development, to allow you to traverse the city with speedy dispatch. In the early 1970s, most cities investing in public transportation were building subways or light-rail networks. Curitiba lacked the resources and the time to install a train system. Lerner says that compared with the Curitiba bus network, a light rail system would have required 20 times the financial investment; a subway would have cost 100 times as much. “We tried to understand, what is a subway?” he recalls. “It has to have speed, comfort, reliability and good frequency. But why does it have to be underground? Underground is very expensive. With dedicated lanes and not stopping on every corner, we could do it with buses.” Because widening the avenues would have required a lengthy and costly expropriation process, the planners came up with a “trinary” system that embraced three parallel thoroughfares: a large central avenue dedicated to two-way rapid-bus traffic (flanked by slow lanes for cars making short local trips) and, a block over on each side, an avenue for fast one-way automobile traffic.

When the bus system was inaugurated, it transported 54,000 passengers daily. That number has ballooned to 2.3 million, in large part because of innovations that permit passengers to board and exit rapidly. In 1992, Lerner and his team established the tubular boarding platforms with fare clerks and turnstiles, so that the mechanisms for paying and boarding are separated, as in a subway. To carry more people at a time, the city introduced flexible-hinged articulated buses that open their doors wide for rapid entry and egress; then, when the buses couldn’t cope with the demand, the Lerner team called for bi-articulated buses of 88 feet with two hinges (and a 270-passenger capacity), which Volvo manufactured at Curitiba’s request. Comparing the capacities of bus and subway systems, Lerner reels off numbers with a promoter’s panache. “A normal bus in a normal street conducts x passengers a day,” he told me. “With a dedicated lane, it can transport 2x a day. If you have an articulated bus in a dedicated lane, 2.7x passengers. If you add a boarding tube, you can achieve 3.4x passengers, and if you add double articulated buses, you can have four times as many passengers as a normal bus in a normal street.” He says that with an arrival frequency of 30 seconds, you can transport 36,000 passengers every hour — which is about the same load he would have achieved with a subway.

Unfortunately, the trends of bus usage are down. While the system has expanded to cover 13 of the cities in the metropolitan region, charging a flat fare that in practice subsidizes the trips of the mostly poorer workers who live in outlying areas, bus ridership within the Curitiba municipality has been declining. “We are losing bus passengers and gaining cars,” says Luis Fragomeni, a Curitiba urban planner. He observes that, like potential users of public transport everywhere, many Curitibanos view it as noisy, crowded and unsafe. Undermining the thinking behind the master plan, even those who live alongside the high-density rapid-bus corridors are buying cars. “The licensing of cars in Curitiba is 2.5 times higher than babies being born in Curitiba,” he says. “Trouble.” Because cars are status symbols, attempts to discourage people from buying them are probably futile. “We say, ‘Have your own car, but keep it in the garage and use it only on weekends,’ ” Fragomeni remarks. And the public-transport system must be upgraded continuously to remain an appealing alternative to private vehicles. “That competition is very hard,” says Paulo Schmidt, the president of URBS, the rapid-bus system. During peak hours, buses on the main routes are already arriving at almost 30-second intervals; any more buses, and they would back up. While acknowledging his iconoclasm in questioning the sufficiency of Curitiba’s trademark bus network, Schmidt nevertheless says a light-rail system is needed to complement it.

To read the complete 6 page article on how this "recycle city," is fighting for it's life, click:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/magazine/20Curitiba-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ei=5087&em&en=76ecdf33645cffa5&ex=1179892800

Passenger Rail Making Money? They said it couldn't be done!

Photo: Station - Gare De Lyon, France, on the outside not unlike Jacksonville Terminal

July 15, 2008

French Trains Turn $1.75B Profit, Leave American Rail in the Dust
by Ben Fried

The Guardian reports that SNCF, France's national rail company, is taking advantage of a boom in ridership to make aggressive plans for expansion. While SNCF positions itself to help ease the impact of high fuel prices on the French public, what are American leaders preparing to do? Drilling offshore and taking a few hits from the strategic petroleum reserve aren't going to cut it.
Over in France, all the new riders have SNCF chairman Guillaume Pepy thinking big:
The state-owned SNCF delivered a net €1.1bn (£875m) profit last year and first-half figures, due next week, are said to be sparkling. Pepy envisages up to 80m extra passenger trips this year or an increase of around 8%.

"This change will speed up because we are facing a twin energy and environment crisis," he says, pointing to surging fuel costs and growing personal worries about carbon footprints. "People want sustainable mobility and, in France, more trains and more SNCF."

The growing number of passengers is maxing out the current system, which Pepy sees as an opportunity, especially in a time of escalating fuel prices. He wants to double the size of SNCF's high-speed network by 2015, make rail stations into multi-modal hubs, and capture market share from energy-intensive air and road travel.

The new SNCF chairman sees rail stations, mainly in the regions, becoming new transport (and commercial) hubs not just for trains but for buses and trams -- "all those places where people don't want to bring their cars."

SNCF executives believe rail can take market leadership from air and road on journeys up to four hours long and point to the success of Eurostar (part owned by the group) in increasing traffic so far this year by around a fifth on the back of shorter journey times between London and Brussels/Paris. You can even get to Marseille from Paris in little more than three hours.
Contrast to the attitude among many politicians and opinion leaders here in the U.S. -- typified by this Wall Street Journal op-ed -- which views public management of rail systems skeptically, to put it mildly. Congress may be taking a long-overdue step toward investing more in Amtrak, but that is triage compared to the direction SNCF is heading in, as high-speed train service in
Europe widens its already considerable performance lead over American intercity rail.

MASS TRANSIT MIX - A HUGE LESSON FOR JACKSONVILLE

WHAT WOULD A STREETCAR AND SKYWAY DO FOR JTA BUSES?

Trends Blur Line Between Bus and Train
Elisa Crouch and Ken Leiser
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

MISSOURI - For years, many St. Louis transit riders fell into one of two camps.

After it opened in 1993, MetroLink appealed largely to middle-income riders who used light rail to get to college campuses along the tracks, to office buildings in downtown St. Louis, and to special events at Busch Stadium, the Trans World (now Edward Jones) Dome and the Kiel (now Scottrade) Center. Most had cars in the driveway.

Bus riders were generally working-class, and many of them had fewer options when it came to getting around. The bus was more a necessity than a choice.

But the latest research put together by the Metro transit agency shows some erosion in those class divisions.

Part of the reason is the way today's MetroLink is fed by the bus system.

MetroLink operates as more of a hub-and-spoke network these days, where buses feed the trains - and vice versa. That means many traditional bus riders use the trains for parts of their trips. There also are more bus transfer centers, including those at Hampton Avenue and Gravois Road, Broadway and Taylor Avenue, and Ballas Road and Highway 40.

Growth of the MetroLink system and new express bus service has extended the reach of transit as well, making it available to more people.

Another reason, of course, is that gas prices have shot up to nearly $4 a gallon. So the group of people who see transit as a necessity - or a bargain - has grown a bit.

Half of today's bus riders say they have a car, truck or motorcycle in their household, according to preliminary findings of this year's onboard customer survey. In 1993, about 70 percent of bus riders said they either didn't have a car available to them or didn't drive.

In this year's survey, 3 percent of bus riders reported household incomes of $100,000 or more. By way of comparison, 8 percent of MetroLink riders were part of that income bracket.

Most bus riders have Internet access (61 percent), own a cell phone (70 percent) and use text messaging (58 percent), according to the survey.

Thirty percent of bus riders have been riding less than two years. Those newer bus riders, according to the survey, tend to have slightly higher incomes than established riders.

"We've seen a lot of the kind of stereotypes of these rider groups kind of disappear as time has gone on," said J. Todd Hennessy, manager of market research at Metro.

"It's a more diverse system," said Jessica Mefford-Miller, the agency's director of research and development.

Tom Shrout of Citizens for Modern Transit said that he had heard the knock that MetroLink was at odds with the bus system, but that he had never subscribed to it. "The bus system was in free fall until MetroLink opened," he said. "The ridership on MetroLink helped stabilize the bus system."

Shrout says a transit system that appeals to more people stands to be more robust than one that does not. He points to development popping up along the Forest Park-to-Shrewsbury MetroLink line as evidence of that.

6,000 New Jobs Unloaded At Tri-Pack Terminal

JAXPORT welcomes first direct Asian container serviceMOL container chip arrives in Jacksonville six months ahead of schedule July 7, 2008 -- JAXPORT officials, Mayor John Peyton and members of the Jacksonville City Council gathered at Blount Island Marine Terminal on July 7 to greet the first Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) container vessel to call on Jacksonville.
The event marks the arrival of the first direct cargo service between Jacksonville and Asian markets. The MOL Vision arrived six months ahead of the scheduled opening of the new 158-acre TraPac Container Terminal at JAXPORT’s Dames Point property. The Vision traveled from Ningbo, China through the Panama Canal before reaching Jacksonville, its first U.S. port of call.
“This is truly a momentous occasion,” said JAXPORT Executive Director Rick Ferrin, who was at the dock to meet the MOL vessel. “The arrival of this ship marks the true beginning of all-water service from Asia to Jacksonville through the Panama Canal, which will be a major economic stimulus for our region.”
As the future base of MOL’s U.S. South Atlantic port activities, TraPac will offer state-of-the-art post-Panamax container handling systems with a yearly capacity of 800,000 containers.
MOL noted that increasing development in South Georgia and North Florida is quickly making Jacksonville one of North America’s rising stars of international trade. With nearly 50 major distribution centers within miles of JAXPORT and 17,000 acres of available building and expansion capacity, JAXPORT is fast becoming the premier South Atlantic port for shippers looking to take advantage of its strategic location.
The TraPac Container Terminal at Dames point will double JAXPORT’s container handling capacity. In addition the terminal is expected to create 6,000 new jobs and generate $1 billion in economic activity for the region

BECOMING PRO-ACTIVE, AMTRAKS MISSING MARKET PART ONE

INCREDIBLE MISSING AMTRAK MARKET

By Robert Mann

From Coast to Coast, Amtrak provides fast comfortable trains. After 30+ years of bare bones financial support from the US Government, Amtrak has finally secured a veto proof majority to give the system funds to get things up and running, repair the broken pieces and even look at limited expansion. Included in the expansion are plans to assist States and local transportation authorities to secure matching grants, and funding for new trains. Some rules provide for small starts while others allow entire groups of states to band together in massive corridor-like efforts.

To the railroad historian, one of the more mysterious facts of Amtrak, was it's replacement of the once rich Midwest-Florida market with just one train, "The Southwind". Even up until the time of Amtrak in 1971, the railroads had maintained a fairly rich selection of trains in this area. "The City of Miami" was one such train with a record for being sold out. And yes, the "City" was a sister of the famous "City of New Orleans" as they shared about 50% of their route miles. Another little known route was the (Montgomery) "Champion". A tiny connecting train that clicked off the miles over the old Atlantic Coast Line, nee Seaboard Coast Line, between Jacksonville - Waycross - Valdosta - Dothan - Montgomery. In Montgomery it met the flagship of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad's "Pan American" as it raced south from Louisville - Nashville - Birmingham - Montgomery and headed off for Mobile - Biloxi and New Orleans. Never to be confused with the flagship "East and West Coast Champion" trains of the New York - Tampa and Miami market fame, this tiny little train kept the rails polished. It was a nightmare era, a railroading holocaust, a time when through sleeping car first class trains, became coach only. When names that carried meaning, special dining and lounge cars, special services and extra fares, became nameless, numbered and inept endurance tests. The former through patron from Detroit to Miami, might find him or herself wandering across the Midwest on the Penn Central to get to a station in Louisville for a sprint to Atlanta on the Hummingbird. The 23 hour layover in the wrong part of town brought to you by the crash and burn of the industry.

Upon reaching Atlanta, the Dixie Flyer to Jacksonville had just been discontinued, so one would wander over to catch the Central of Georgia Railroad, "Nancy Hanks" to Savannah. The Nancy was at least well kept, even though stripped of her mail contract, she was down to a couple of express cars and a single coach. Finally hooking up with the Silver Meteor, Star, Palmetto, Champion or Everglades for Jacksonville and points south, the railroads assured the return trip would be via National Airlines.

As Amtrak entered into this unstable sinking business, it is said that government teams combed through every route, every ridership number, track capacity, on-time performance, market potential and some such. When the smoke cleared, they chose the "Southwind" route and twisted Penn Centrals arm into running the Louisville - Chicago segment for their new railroad, after all, as the slogan said, "We're making trains worth traveling again..." Sadly they conveniently left off the part about Louisville to Chicago at a gut rocking 15 miles per hour.

No one it seems turned the pages back just a few years prior to Amtrak's rough founding hours. No one noticed their had been a brisk Florida market at one time, not so long ago. In fact in the early 1960's it was possible to book a Pullman room direct on through trains from Jacksonville to New Orleans, Montgomery, Birmingham, Memphis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Cleveland etc. Other railroads, namely The Southern Railway (today's Norfolk Southern) and many other routes had just been cleansed of the passenger train menace just a few years shy of Amtrak. The boys in Washington never heard the words: St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco), or Kansas City Southern, Central of Georgia, or Georgia Southern and Florida. In that oversight they missed entire families of trains and routes. One of the most promising was that of the old Southern Railway, in conjunction with connections north of Cincinnati, that operated an incredible pair of Midwest - Florida trains, apparently never to be considered again.

I'd like to reverse that trend, wake up the United Rail Alliance, and the National Association of Railroad Passengers, as well as Amtrak, FDOT, GDOT, JTA and the cities involved to push for the return of one or two of these three famous flagship trains. The Royal Palm, Royal Poinciana, and Ponce De Leon, gathered cars from throughout the northern Midwest. Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, Toledo, Buffalo, Dayton, Indianapolis and herded them into Cincinnati Union Terminal. Usually taking all or parts of 3 connector trains and forming one great streamliner at a time, the process was repeated 3 times daily Southbound and likewise, broken into 3 connecting trains, 3 times daily Northbound. South of Cincinnati, all the way through Lexington, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Macon, Valdosta, Jacksonville and all the way to Miami, one great train could cover the schedule. Jacksonville Terminal comes into play if you consider that the train could be broken up again here for both coasts of Florida. One train doing the work of 6, by breaking into, or consolidation from sections en-route. 3 trains doing the work of 18, reaching all across the Midwest, and considering bi-directional operation. That could grow to 3 northbound and 3 southbound trains daily each breaking up or consolidating, equals 6 trains doing the work of 54! Talk about bang for the buck, and this is a route no one has looked back at.

Ponce De Leon, Royal Poinciana or Royal Palm, pick the name you like the best and lets turn up the heat on the "NEW" Amtrak. It's way past time to return the glory to Jacksonville Terminal.

Amtrak took over nearly all rail passenger service in 1971
Illnois Central is part of Canadian National Today
Kansas City Southern remains independent and freight only
St Louis - San Francisco (Frisco lines) is part of Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Georgia Railroad is part of CSX today and freight only
Southern Railway merged with Norfolk and Western to form Norfolk Southern
Atlantic Coast Line is the original parent road of todays CSX
A tale of two cities, by Charles Dickens
Georgia Southern and Florida is part of Norfolk Southern and freight only
Louisville and Nashville was owned by Atlantic Coast Line and is part of CSX today
Pullman was a hotel company on rails broken up by the government in an anti-trust case
National Association of Railroad Passengers is a citizen lobby group which recently proposed a major reshaping of Amtrak route miles, yet completely missed the Southeast.
United Rail Alliance, is a pro passenger train group based in Jacksonville.