HOW TO LOVE BRT

Phoenix, AZ

Cleveland, OH.

Mexico City, Mex.

HOW TO LOVE BRT...

It’s a bad thing if BRT in Jacksonville doesn't materialize. I couldn’t state this any more strongly. We need as much transit as we can get; our buses are currently ineffective in all but rush hours. Just because I prefer rail over BRT doesn’t mean I’m against BRT, I just prefer rail to BRT. In all of my rants I have tried to point out that I think it’s a bit telling that we never seem to get that cheap BRT that we are promised by the anti-rail crowd. That doesn’t mean I would prefer these bus projects canceled.

If we could get more bus service in any form, that would be a net good thing. I would ride a JTA bus to work every day when I worked at Trailways, and it was great. It came to Monument Road at Atlantic a few blocks from my house, and droped me off right in front of my office, at the bus station. In order to provide service like that, the bus has to stop a couple dozen times between my house and my office. That’s what buses do really well: providing local service. Rail can’t do that level of local service very well. It’s a good thing we aren’t asking it to.

Saying buses are cheaper than rail in the long run is a misleading argument. We’ve discussed this ad nauseam here, here, here and here. The two sentence version: Buses are suited for one sort of transit, rail for another. BRT is trying to get buses to do the type of service rail is best suited for, which never seems to really work. The most common anti-rail argument is that investment in rail is regrettable because we can get BRT to do the same thing for less money.But the very crux of the argument is dishonest, because no one has ever seen this BRT that can do what rail does. We’ve seen BRT that can’t do what rail does, Boston’s Silver Line and LA’s Orange Line. And we have seen BRT that costs almost as much as rail (see the Silver Line), or more then rail (see the Euclid Corridor). But we’ve never seen BRT that can do what rail does.



Euclid Corridor BRT Opens


The Euclid Corridor BRT opens this weekend in Cleveland making it the third true BRT line to launch in recent years (Orange Line and Eugene EMX). Expectations will be high, err low. Projected 2025 ridership stated in the Plain Dealer is 15,000. That's a far cry from the previous projections of 39,000 cited by the FTA (Echo's of our own Skyway's 50,000 daily rider estimates). Given the amount of destinations and jobs on the line I doubt it will take long to get to 15,000.They basically reconstructed the street and are running the same buses as the Eugene system, (buses which weigh more and cost almost as much as modern streetcars). It's also another case of a project in the FTA process opening over 10 years after conception. I thought BRT was supposed to be cheaper and quicker to implement? Though if it started today, the project wouldn't even be funded under Ma Peters. It got a Medium Low in Cost-Effectiveness and a promised cost of $21 million per mile. Which ended up being $29 million per mile. I thought the reason for BRT projects was because they are more cost-effective. Basically what this proves is that the FTA doesn't want to spend money on projects that give transit its own Right-Of-Way. No not painting lanes on the street, but a true separation from other traffic that makes it more effective. Today, its required to get a medium in Cost Effectiveness.




So why does JTA just keep hammering on the same BRT routes and plans? Simple, they are already in the Federal pipeline. Those projects that do not currently have a rating of "medium" in cost-effectiveness would automatically be precluded from funding recommendation by the FTA, notwithstanding the merits of other criteria applicable to those projects. This is part of the cutdown in projects that has been going on lately. It's recently dropped from 85 projects in the pipe before the 2005 "medium" enforcement to 2007. Not counting small starts, this year only has 31 projects in the New Starts report.Lest you think that projects are rightly being cut, it should be noted that Denver's Southeast Corridor, Charlotte's South Corridor, the Los Angeles Orange Line, and the Minneapolis Hiawatha Line all had a Medium Low ratings. Those projects have all passed their projections yet would not have been funded under the current process. Anyone else tired of cost-effectiveness being used as a blunt object to bludgeon the alternatives that will truly get people into transit, including rail AND true BRT? Let's see how this line goes. I still wish it would have been rail and electrified, but it's an improvement in the corridor, one that the FTA would not approve of these days.

The BRT subject in Cleveland during the planning and building of the Euclid Corridor BRT line, Rightly or wrongly, has been fairly controversial with locals - you can see what I mean by looking at the comment section on any Plain Dealer newspaper article written about the EC project. Some of the criticism comes from a misunderstanding of who funded the project and where the money came from. Other criticism comes from the idea that building the EC meant that we squandered resources that could have been used for a better transit project. It is true that EC replaced an existing bus line on Euclid Ave. It is also true that the old bus line was horribly crowded, slow, and inefficient. A primary selling point of the EC is that it connects the city's two biggest employment centers: downtown and University Circle. Of course, they already have the Red Line (heavy rail) that connects those two neighborhoods (although the stations could be relocated to better serve that end; and one of them is currently planned to be rebuilt).The alignment of the BRT line is one of the biggest disappointments. The alignment that was built continues down Euclid Ave. into East Cleveland, which few locals will argue is the city's roughest, most rundown, and unsalvageable parts of the area. It is also an area that is already served by the Red Line. Not unlike Jacksonville's BRT plans that run under the Skyway or along side railroad tracks. It would have been exciting to see an alignment that turned south and east at University Circle and provided transit service to neighborhoods like Cleveland Heights and University Heights. It would have also certainly been more exciting to have a new electric rail line (whether light or heavy) down Euclid Ave. and into neighborhoods that currently lack good transit service to University Circle and downtown. Ridership expectations may not necessarily be high, as the PD claims, but the stakes certainly are high. Critics are ready to pounce on the project and officially label it as a failure and waste of valuable resources.

Cleveland’s Mr. Calabrese, is the push behind the Euclid BRT, he parrots the JTA line on BRT just being a stepping stone to rail. "Bus rapid transit lines can be designated and more buses can be tacked on if the service starts to grow. If the volume grows to a point, then some of these vehicles can be linked together. And then tracks can be laid".

Suddenly a bus system has become a fully fledged light rail system. If the volume grows some of "THESE VEHICLES" can be linked together? Buses? Really? Where has this happened? Where have they just slipped rails under the bus and got instant light rail? Can you image this happening on the Arlington Expressway or I-95 North BRT alignments? Someone please tell me which lane the trains will be in. The fact is, the BRT proponets are being dishonest with the public. They know the only thing even close to this is when the Cuirtiba, Brazil, BRT system failed to meet demand (after being the model for both Cleveland and Jacksonville) forcing the City of Curitiba to build a new Metro Rail System.

I don’t think light rail is cheap, I think light rail, especially vintage streetcars, or modern streetcars (in that order) is cheaper than the alternatives. Even more so in Cities like Jacksonville where many lightly used railroad branchlines or abandoned rights of way can be accessed for transit. Roads are very expensive. Adding the outter beltway, just the Federal contribution is $69.2 Million. Adding the new interchange at I-10 and I-95 is another $148 Million. Completing a widening redesign to accommodate FDOT’s budget on a 2-mi segment of Interstate 275 just west of downtown Tampa in the Westshore Business District. Construction of the first phase of this project will cost $277.5 million, begin in 2007 and wrap up in 2012. Ultimate construction cost will exceed $500 million. Each of those cost considerably more money per mile than light rail does, just the new viaduct and 520 bridge in Seattle, will each cost more than a billion dollars per mile. None of these will move as many people as light rail would. Light Rail is cheaper to operate per passenger miles than buses are, which is why you want riders going long distances to do so on rail. Exclusive lane BRT around here is not going to work if the current routes pass review. Even if BRT and the expanded interstate highway fails, congestion and fuel will continue to eat into bus funding, making buses ever more expensive to operate per passenger mile. This is why buses are better suited for local access than rail, and rail is better suited for longer distances than buses are. Investment in light rail will pay off spectacularly, because we’ll be able to put buses that are used for long-haul service back to where they are effective, into shorter local service. Once riders get on rail, they become much cheaper per over the distance, we save money, and can improve service. Light rail isn’t cheap if you have no buses, and buses aren’t cheap if they are asked to do what rail should be doing.

I am very much pro-bus, which is why I took the bus to work everyday when I could drive, thank you very much. However, I do have a problem with the Mike Miller, JTA, et al. argument that, every thing being equal, buses can do what light rail can do cheaper. It’s a dishonest argument, and the first bit of proof that BRT is not cheap is provided by the fact that we don’t seem to be able to get any cheap BRT.

The only people I can imagine who would be happy that Jacksonville Commuter Rail, Streetcar or, a Skyway expansion, might not arrive are the anti-everything set, who claim to be in support of BRT, but, of course, if it comes time to vote on funding, they'll be more then happy to vote no. They might be happy because they can continue to make the the argument that BRT will be cheaper than rail, and instead of having an example to compare light rail to, they can continue to compare high dollar subways to BRT systems in far away places like Lima, Peru and Bogotá, Colombia. They know full well that BRT can’t do what light rail can, and they can remain against any form of transit mix that actually works.

Special Thanks:

The Overhead Wire

City of Cleveland

Cleveland Plain Dealer

JTA

Mr. Mike Miller

Mr. Rob Pitingolo

The Toledo Blade

APTA

Seattle Transit Blog

Light Rail Now

FTA

transit

BICYCLES, SCOOTERS AND SEGWAY'S ON THE SKYWAY

We have an ongoing discussion in Jacksonville about allowing bicycles on our Skyway (monorail), even though thousands of riders have brought aboard wheelchairs, shopping carts and baby carriages. Yet bicycles, especially in the urban core, usually come with experienced commuter-riders, or student-riders. They are perhaps the least likely to go on some imagined rampage down an elevated track with 440 volts AC hanging off the side. What we haven't considered is a policy that includes bicycles, Segway's AND scooters of different variety's.

For those not familiar with the Jacksonville Skyway system, it is a Bombardier Monorail system of 2.5 miles and 8 stations. It crosses the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville, which is a major shipping channel. The monorail cars are small, with a capacity of about 20 persons each and only have seats on the ends. Otherwise the lightly used system, is wide open in the center for all manner of passengers or cargo, with just enough standee poles to make things safe. This blog sees no reason why we should not follow San Francisco's lead on this issue.

ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO – Bicycles are not the only two-wheelers jockeying for position on Caltrain cars.

For the last several months, the transit agency has been discussing whether to allow the increasingly popular Segway scooters onto trains, said spokeswoman Christine Dunn.
The initial idea is that only disabled people with permits would be allowed to bring the 100-pound devices aboard. The scooters would be hoisted onto train cars much like wheelchairs, which are propped on lifts manned by transit personnel, Dunn said.
The push to accommodate the battery-operated devices comes as Bay Area Segway dealers report a spike in sales. Jim Heldberg, owner of Pacifica-based Segway of San Francisco, estimates that 3,000 of the scooters are currently zipping around the Bay Area. Their popularity continues to grow as commuters hunt for alternatives to gas-guzzling cars, he said.
Caltrain officials also say the scooters will not cause train delays. The “dwell time” at stations — when trains stop before leaving — is enough to accommodate the Segways without delay, Dunn said.
“I think one of the issues we have is storage [of the Segways]. … Where are we going to put them?” she said. “The other would be safety. You don’t want them getting away from people on the platform or onboard trains.”
BART has dealt with similar issues. In June, a rider lost control of a Segway at the 24th Street station in San Francisco, sending the scooter into the path of an oncoming train. The scooter was struck, which halted service for more than half an hour, BART spokesman Linton Johnson said.
The accident, which raised safety concerns, led to a 45-day ban of Segways on BART trains. During the ban, the agency’s board of directors developed a new policy that requires Segway riders to obtain a permit. Initially, up to 50 permits are being offered.
It’s not known how many permits would be offered to Caltrain’s Segway riders.
At issue is how the scooters would safely squeeze into train cars at a time when Caltrain is reporting record ridership. The transit agency is already struggling to make room for bicyclists that get stranded on platforms during peak commute hours.
“We are still developing our Segway policy,” Dunn said.
At this point, she said, what Caltrain directors have determined is that the Segway — which will be classified as “mobility devices” — will be required to meet standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The devices can be no greater than 30-by-48 inches, with a total weight, including the occupant, of no more than 600 pounds, Dunn said.
The Segway draft policy will be presented to the Caltrain board of directors Nov. 6. A similar policy will be presented to the SamTrans board the following week.

transit

SOMETHING ROTTEN IN CLEVELAND?

Just down the shore from Cleveland, the Toledo Blade reports some "truths" on the new Euclid Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Line. Of course Cleveland claimed "It's just like rail, only cheaper", and the familiar battle cry, "TOD just like rail". But is it really? Cleveland put out two proposals, one for a double track rapid LRT system - partly in a subway, and compared it with buses running in exclusive lanes. Hum? Rail $100 Million a mile and Bus $30 Million (a bit more per mile then expansion of JTA's Skyway) so they ran to the bus. They claim to have just as much TOD as any new rail line, but is it true? A survey shows that nearly 75% of this TOD is NOT PRIVATE. It's City, County, State and other government type service centers and office buildings. Unless you count a MacDonald's Restaurant, hardly the super-booster on the tax rolls they are claiming. Meanwhile over in Toledo, they are watching "big brother" Cleveland, and do THEY have something to say.

IT'S A BUS? IT'S A TRAIN? IT'S BOTH
Cleveland’s bus rapid transit line is expected to launch in October, running a 9.4-mile loop. MATTHEW EISENBLADE STAFF WRITER

Our system has almost every attribute of rail except rail,” said Joe Calabrese, chief executive of the Cleveland transit authority. “If you operate a system that is perceived to be simple to use, has great frequency, is safe, and is clean, you will attract new riders. I am confident we will attract new riders.”

Local possibilities

Mr. Calabrese, who credits former Cleveland Mayor George Voinovich for championing the project as mayor, governor, and now U.S. senator, said the scalability of bus rapid transit makes it a viable option for cities the size of Toledo. He calls the system “BRT Light” when cities pick and choose the elements that gel best with their existing infrastructure.Toledo and other similarly populated cities could take advantage of the Federal Transit Administration’s recently overhauled “Small Starts” and “Very Small Starts” programs, which offer up to $75 million in funding for small bus, rail, or ferry projects. James Gee, general manager of the Toledo Area Regional Transportation Authority, which operates more than 40 bus routes a day in the city and most of its suburbs, agreed bus rapid transit could work in northwest Ohio. “Even if we start small and build a smaller line here in Toledo, we could see the resulting increases in private development,” he said. “It does take a leap of faith, but as other cities have demonstrated if you do take that leap with public dollars, private dollars will follow.”

Along for the ride

While bus ridership in both Toledo and Cleveland has grown in recent months, diesel costs have ballooned. And those fuel bills threaten the revenue and viability of busing systems across the country. “Many systems around the state, instead of adding service when demand is at an all-time high, are probably going to be cutting service,” Mr. Calabrese said.“My diesel bill went from $5 million in 2003, to $12 million last year, to $21 million this year, and it should be about $24 million next year.”In Toledo, TARTA will cut its bus service by 7 percent on Aug. 24, a decision that has caused outcries from local riders.Aside from rising fuel prices affecting expansion possibilities, Neil Reid, director of the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center, warned transit officials to consider the American comfort level with buses.“Most people in Toledo, people say under 50, probably have never ridden a bus before or only on sporadic occasion,” he said. “People probably just don’t consider that an option.”The issues may cut deeper than simple unfamiliarity.Busing systems in many cities have been painted as ferries for the poor. Alan Plattus, director of the Yale Urban Design Center in New Haven, Conn., said dismantling a classist attitude — as has been done in many European countries — may be as important to the success of buses in America as the routes they follow.“The bus system has gotten to be a class system,” he said. “Middle class people who might use the bus instead of taking a car trip don’t do it.”For many urban planners, busing systems also have become the figurative poor man’s light rail, a shot below the mark for cities focusing on asphalt instead of track and relying on tenuous data promising real estate development around buses.John Norquist, president of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Chicago, agreed developers are more likely to be attracted to areas along rail stations or lines where the city has signaled its intention to make large, nearly indelible investments.“Light rail is good because it’s permanent,” he said. “People say with buses they’re good because they’re flexible, but they could disappear at any moment.”Light rail — the term applied to streetcar systems such as trolleys — is nothing new.The Richmond Union Passenger Railway came online as the first large electric street railway system in 1888, displacing horse drawn buggies. Many cities, including Toledo, decommissioned their streetcar systems in the 1950s as the country began its migration to the suburbs and the automobile industry flourished.

Finding the right path

James Seney, former executive director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission, said old streetcar lines in Toledo fit the layout of the community and may be a guide for rail revampment.“What makes urban rail work is when you create transit routes that have clusters of neighborhoods on them,” said Mr. Seney, the former mayor of Sylvania. “You should design [routes] based on your existing neighborhoods and tie that into the growth of downtown businesses, rather than trying to capture a larger area.”Though Mr. Seney said new tracks would be needed if Toledo decided to move forward with a rail plan, he admitted “the old guys logistically were correct.” The push toward rail is being seen in other U.S. cities.About 100 years after its invention, light rail experienced a heavy resurgence. Most of the United States’ busiest light rail systems today were built or intensely renovated in the last two decades, including lines in Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis; Denver, and Dallas. Even smaller cities such as Little Rock, Tacoma, and Galveston, Texas, have invested in light rail systems since the turn of the century.The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston shuttles over a quarter million people per day on its green and red lines, making it by far the largest light-rail operation in the country.

BLOGGER NOTES:

Putting our faith in BRT for our main or trunk line transit is a serious error in Jacksonville. We have corridors where BRT makes good sense, in fact perhaps many more miles then what JTA planned in the original study. Blanding, JTB, Arlington Expressway, Edgewood, University and Lem Turner, just a few that come to mind.

The scary part of this story is we have just worked out that the Skyway at 26 miles would cost about 1/2 of the projected BRT system. Commuter Rail and Streetcar are much cheaper then either and as ridership grows, both have the ability to form trains and use cheaper electric power. So the question is, why not send our excellent planners back to the boards to draw up plans for an ultra-light-rail-lite-BRT network extending in all directions from Skyway, Streetcar and Commuter Rail?

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A SKYWAY CALLED REPULSIVE

What did $184 Million buy? All of the red lines. But it goes much deeper then that, it bought access to all of the yellow lines too. It also bought and paid for a maintenance facility for a large railroad, Positive Train Control, a complete signaling system, full automation, full surveillance, instant communications and automatic dispatching. It paid for a monorail railroad yard, the rights to the center cars of this design which we own outright. It paid for an impressive soaring bridge with double track over the St. Johns River - no small feat in the swift flowing extreme depths of the twisting narrows downtown. The same spot where a US Navy frigate was tied up last weekend, and before that the research vessel Atlantis. This map just demonstrates some of the lines that are being actively watched, if not planned by JTA.


Love this photo, it was evening and a rather ferice storm had just past. Everything was fresh and washed the the fall weather in Jacksonville unlike the rest of Florida is seasonal. So while Orlando, Tampa and Miami sweltered in 90 degree heat, we enjoyed one of those evenings of eternal 72 degrees.


Are there any plans to move forward? Oh yes, just blow off the dust and belly up to the bar. This is the inter modal center planned for Brooklyn Park. Brooklyn is a historic neighborhood on a bluff, south of Jacksonville Union Terminal and Mc Coy's Creek. This station would be located between the Skyway rail yard and Riverside Avenue, across the street from the Florida Times-Union Publishing Company.



At the Rainbows end, I caught the 2 car shuttle heading for Riverplace Station just after a thunder storm. Had to climb a wall for this shot which probably caused no small consternation back in the control-monitoring center, but with the help of a very kind homeless man, we cleaned the window inside and out and I got my shot. In celebratory thanks my new friend got his Skyway fares.

Some of that investment went inside the operations center, a center that once inside is jaw dropping impressive, even for a hardened railroader. Here is a cross between NASA's "VAB" or Vehicle Assembly Building and railroad shops of the FEC's Bowden Yard. Great pride shows throughout as the employees all seem on first name basis, jokes flew around the room and yet one could eat off of the polished floor. This shop is so well equipped that the Skyway Train in this picture is under it's own overhead Monorail - one that can move it around the shop. The bright work, painted surfaces, lettering and layout would make a fireman blush.

What is Positive Train Control? The best way to describe it to the layman would be to say it's running a railroad as if it were a computerized toy train. Here the operator on the left and the monitor - station manager and voice of the Skyway is on the right. There is room for two more positions here as the system grows, and it would be easy to add four new people. A system map in the the upper center, it shows the movement-size-speed-direction-track and signal indication of every train. Around that map are 72 computer camera screens, including aboard every train car. We would never have to buy this building and all of it's treasures again, they are ours to use.

We mentioned growth, did you know the system could handle 30,000 passengers per hour per direction according to Steve Arrington of JTA. Of course we need the center cars and we could order them in sets of 1, 2 or 4 so our trains could range from 2 - 6 cars long. The gates are also already in place at the stations, we simply need to punch them out, but everything is in readiness.

A SKYWAY CALLED REPULSIVE...

THE JTA Skyway is a monorail in Jacksonville, Florida, in the United States. It is operated by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. The course of its 2.5-mile dual track includes the Acosta Bridge, spanning the St. Johns River, which divides downtown Jacksonville. Each train is automated by SCADA, can have two to six cars, and travels at up to 35 miles per hour. Fare between any of its eight stations is 50 cents.The idea of a Jacksonville people mover dates back at least to a 1971 report for the Jacksonville Area Planning Board. Work began in 1984, and the first leg opened in 1989. The second phase and third phases, including the river crossing, and conversion to monorail, were completed by November 1, 2000. The total cost of the system $184,000,000, much of it paid through Federal Grants.Old Skyway original route map here:The Skyway has been one of the biggest points of contention in Jacksonville. Many critics say it goes "from nowhere to nowhere", yet it was never finished. Some community activists have suggested that extensions into neighboring communities like Riverside, San Marco, and Springfield would improve the line's usefulness. Further, it has been noted that the Skyway would attract ridership from the proposed (but unbuilt) East Line, which would resolve the issue of Jacksonville's future rail transit system being one of the few in the country that does not serve its local sports district.According to figures from APTA, average weekday ridership in first quarter 2008 was 1,700, about 30% below the previous year's figure.

It's certainly easy to sit back and make light of the Skyway, everyone seems to be guilty at some point. Robert Mann a Transportation Supervisor with Trailways Bus System joined with Jacksonville Journal Editor, the late George Harmon, in launching an all out attack on the Skyway plans as soon as they became public knowledge. The two were promoting a combination Light Rail and Heritage Streetcar system that would have been the first of it's kind in the country. Based on the San Diego experience of the same time period, and our ultimate investment in the Skyway, we could have built 32 miles of rail for the cost of 2.5 Skyway miles.

Even former Mayor Jake Godbold, who pushed the project over the top says we should have never have built it. Perhaps the only thing worse then building any unproved fixed transit system, is half-way building it. In the case of the Skyway it seems the City and the original critics have swapped positions. As the wildly optimistic ridership projections of JTA began to crumble from 50,000 to 30,000, 17,000, 10,000 and finally 7,000 daily riders, to a reality of about 3,000. Then the jokes started and the splashes made by the politicians bailing off this sinking ship could be heard in Washington DC. Indeed the City went into damage control when international press attention was focused on the half built transit system. "A hotel wasn't built", "downturn in the economy," "downtown failed to develop", everyone inside had an excuse. Everyone outside couldn't resist one more swipe at Jacksonville. JTA no longer had a voice and the vultures were already circling. Even the FTA in Washington when speaking about the Skyway claimed they didn't know where Jacksonville was. Today fear paralyses all party's at a time when the worst thing we can do is sit on the Skyway as-is and hope for the best. This is done by a well meaning political machine that doesn't want to appear irresponsible for the stewardship of the City's limited budget. They feel they would appear irresponsible as the media has continued the attack started on the Skyway in 1980. No one has taken pause to consider the fallacy of attacking our only green, fixed, clean, electric, traffic free source of transportation in a world of soaring gasoline prices.

The following is a typical excerpt from the press, though I didn't reprint the entire article, the writer actually ended it with the word on monorail systems, "None of them make a profit." Incredible.

Skyway ridership remains sparse
Passenger count on the downtown rail system has dropped by almost 20 percent in the past two years.
By LARRY HANNAN, The Times-Union
Jake Godbold lobbied for the Skyway when he was Jacksonville mayor. He looks at the elevated rail system today and said his support was misplaced.

"I keep thinking it will catch on, but so far, it hasn't," said Godbold, who was mayor from 1979 to 1987. "We just don't want to give our cars up."
Former Mayor John Delaney, who was critical of the Skyway when he first ran for office, jokes that he has now mellowed to the point he thinks the Skyway can work for Jacksonville.
"For some special events, like the Super Bowl, it's been very nice," said Delaney, who was mayor from 1995 to 2003. "It's also been an asset to downtown development, even if there aren't many people who ride it."
Almost 20 years after the first portion of the Skyway opened in 1989, the 2 1/2-mile downtown rail system remains an underachiever. Ridership has dropped by almost 20 percent in the past two years.
In the first quarter of 2008, the system averaged 1,700 riders a day. That increased to 2,000 a day in the second quarter, which Jacksonville Transportation Authority attributes to more people accepting a fare increase from 35 to 50 cents that occurred in 2007. But for a system that was once expected to attract 38,000 riders a day, an increase to 2,000 riders is still underwhelming.
In fiscal year 2007-08, expenses were $4.5 million for the Skyway and revenue was $407,000. About $1.7 million of those expenses were paid for by a recurring grant awarded by the federal government, and JTA paid the rest at a loss of more than $2 million.
Robert Mann, a retired transportation consultant and a longtime Skyway critic, said the fundamental problem with the Skyway is it doesn't go anywhere. Expanding it so it can go closer to Five Points, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and San Marco is the way to make the system viable, Mann said.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority still sees it differently.
The key to increasing ridership isn't in expanding the Skyway, it's in complementing the existing Skyway with other transportation options, said Scot Clem, JTA's strategic planning director. Those options include a new bus rapid transit system and efforts to bring commuter rail from the suburbs to the city. Major expansions to the Skyway, Clem said, are just too expensive.
Minor expansions
JTA is considering minor expansions to Riverside and Leila streets and might also try to extend the Skyway from its current endpoint at Kings Avenue to Atlantic Boulevard.
JTA is also studying the feasibility of commuter rail. Executive Director Michael Blaylock has previously expressed optimism that people living in the suburbs would be willing to take a light rail system into the downtown area.
Light rail usually means streetcars or trams. Some light rail cars run on streets, while others require tracks to be built. Although the JTA has studied similar systems in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., it is unclear how much a commuter rail system would cost here. It is also unclear if local officials possess the funds or the political will to build a new transportation network.
The city is also working toward a new rapid transit system that will put more buses on the road, Clem said.
Steve Arrington, director of engineering for JTA, said there were a lot of plans for downtown development in the late '80s and early '90s, when the city built what was then called the Automated Skyway Express. Most of that development didn't happen.
The development that has happened in the last few years was not constructed with the Skyway in mind. For example, new parking garages went up near or within some of the new developments, which discouraged people from using the Skyway, Arrington said.

Feds paid more than half
The $184 million project opened in different phases between 1989 and 2000. More than half the money came from the federal government, without whose help Godbold and Delaney agreed the system would not have been built.
Godbold said the Chamber of Commerce was convinced the Skyway was one of the keys to redeveloping the downtown, and when the gas crisis hit in the late '70s, the Skyway sounded like a solution.
At the same time, the federal government also contributed money to Miami's 4.4-mile Metromover and Detroit's 2.9-mile People Mover. All three projects were an attempt to determine whether fully automated downtown rail systems would stimulate economic development and cost less than running downtown bus services.
Clem said there are differences between the systems. Miami's Metromover is free; you have to pay 50 cents to ride the Skyway. The Metromover also connects to the 21-mile Metrorail system that goes throughout the Miami area.
The People Mover in Detroit, which costs 50 cents, connects directly to government buildings in the downtown area, Clem said.
All three projects have one thing in common, though: Ridership has been disappointing, and none of them turns a profit.



TOO EXPENSIVE TO TAKE SERIOUSLY?

Was the Skyway too expensive? Certainly, for the actual route miles that we have running, the cost per mile was one of the most expensive in history. But that isn't the Skyways fault, most of that was system support, maintenance base, bridge and computer-signal systems. Wouldn't expansion, even modest expansion, just continue the hemorrhage of red ink? No! In fact every inch of expansion would bring down the cost per mile of the entire system.

Please understand the real expense in the original building and the conversion to monorail accomplished two major goals. The facilities and signals, computers and shops, are State-of-the-Art, expansion would take place with little to no more investment, they could handle the needs of a system 20 - 40 or 60 miles long. The money quite simply was spent up front to give us the ability to expand quickly and cheaply in any direction. The conversion to monorail from the original system gave us untold flexibility and off-the-shelf purchasing power. The final big piece was the St. Johns River crossing on the new Acosta Bridge, certainly not a cheap undertaking even if we would have built a bridge for pogo sticks. Perhaps the blue neon chaser lights were an added option, but hey, this is Jacksonville, can you think of a bridge that isn't distinct?

Working with City Council Woman Glorious Johnson, has been a joy, she is one of the few, proud visionaries that see past the gloom and doomsayers. Speaking with many suppliers of monorail systems they can't understand why we couldn't expand for under $15 Million per mile. So we have this fantastic Skyway, a wonderful super system that frankly the city hasn't caught up with. Every mile we add for $10 or even $20 Million will bring down the overall cost-per-mile of the finished system, and raise the passenger count. In fact, doing the math, demonstrates that the Skyway at 10 miles in length, would come down in price - allowing for the $184 Million already spent + the $300 Million in new expansion to about $28 Million per mile. The Quick-Way BUS RAPID TRANSIT that JTA has in it's current sights will cost about $26 Million a mile. In short we could build true Monorail for the cost of Quick-Way BRT. Using the same numbers, if the Skyway ever reached the proposed 26 mile length of the planned BRT system, by then it's cost per mile would drop to 1/2 that of the "super bus system".

Monorail for half the price of bus.

But City Hall, DOT and perhaps even JTA have cold feet. Like an angler that went over the top for the most expensive rod and reel in the world. He now has the tools to bring home the really big fish, but he spent so much on the basics, that now his wife won't let him buy any line... "You've already broke the bank, I'll be darned if I'm going to let you add one inch of new line, or invest one more dollar, just go out there and figure out how to make it work just like it is!"

We already have everything we need for a first class Skyway system, many miles worth if we so desire. Our Skyway with it's tight curves and grades was never intended as a long distance carrier, but it could be the master of "up town" in Jacksonville. A matrix of central Skyway trunk lines, Streetcar-LRT suburban lines, Commuter Rail from the surrounding metroplex, bus - BRT Lite - electric trolley bus feeders and shuttles, and our water bus, all layered for choice and connectivity, would be unbeatable. Bay Street at Hogans Creek could even become the only station the world where Monorail meets bus, water bus, heritage streetcars, and a proposed Sky Cable. Certainly the Skyway itself isn't going to catch many "fish" without some line. All the PCT-Trolleys in the world feeding it are not going to amount to a drop in the sea. So expand it now, Riverside, The Stadium, San Marco, St. Vincents, Shands via Davis and the new Court House, Memorial Hospital, Ed Waters, JU, Jones, JUST DO IT. Add in a few miles of streetcar, commuter rail to the outlaying areas, and BRT-LITE (known as: "BRT-Light-rail-lite") or electric BRT-L, Trolley buses to Mandarin, Beaches, and Northwest side, and we would join the worlds big league cities with a transit system second to none.

=============================================

Terms Defined:

BRT Quick-Way: is a bus system using grade separateded, sometimes elevated buswaysand exclusive bus lanes - it has been shown to cost as much or more then Light Rail.

BRT Lite: is generally called "Light rail - lite" is a bus system using some of the Quick-Way features at congestion points, otherwise it uses HOV lanes and signal priority - it's cost is about equal with commuter rail.

PCT-Trolleys: A local term introduced by this blog and it's author to describe the faux trolleys that are built on chassies used to build Potato-Chip-Trucks, Thus the name "Potato-Chip-Truck-Thinks-It's-A-Trolley" or JTA own accronym for this phenomonon which is simply the "PCT Trolley Fleet".

===================================================

Special Thanks to my friend and fellow activist Mr. Ennis Davis, Urban Planner, and the MetroJacksonville.com team, see: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/ for more storys, photos and information.

transit

PASSENGER TRAINS A COMING!

Amtrak is ready to roll from Jacksonville, and just awaiting the Presidents pen.

Key Provisions of Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008
* Increases Capital and Operating Grants to Amtrak. The bill authorizes $4.2 billion (an average of $840 million per year) to Amtrak for capital grants and $3.0 billion (an average of $606 million per year) for operating grants. Past inconsistent Federal support has hampered Amtrak's ability to replace catenaries, passenger cars, bridges, ties, and other equipment necessary for Amtrak to provide service. These capital grants will help Amtrak bring the Northeast Corridor to a state-of-good-repair, procure new rolling stock, rehabilitate existing bridges, as well as make additional capital improvements and maintenance over its entire network. In addition, the operating grants authorized under the bill will help Amtrak pay salaries, health costs, overtime pay, fuel costs, facilities, and train maintenance and operations. These operating grants will also ensure that Amtrak can meet its obligations under its recently negotiated labor contract.

* Develops State Passenger Corridors. In an effort to encourage the development of new and improved intercity passenger rail services, the bill creates a new State Capital Grant program for intercity passenger rail capital projects, and based on the New Starts transit capital program administered by the Federal Transit Administration. The bill provides $2.5 billion ($500 million per year) for grants to States to pay for the capital costs of facilities and equipment necessary to provide new or improved intercity passenger rail. The Federal share of the grants is up to 80 percent. The Secretary of Transportation would award these grants on a competitive basis for projects based on economic performance, expected ridership, and other factors.

* Provides Funding for High-Speed Rail Corridors. The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, established to develop a national transportation vision to address surface transportation needs for the next 50 years, recommends that the United States establish a high-speed rail network that spans the entire country. The bill authorizes $1.75 billion ($350 million per year) for grants to States and/or Amtrak to finance the construction and equipment for 11 authorized high-speed rail corridors. The Federal share of the grants is up to 80 percent. The Secretary of Transportation would award these grants on a competitive basis for projects based on economic performance, expected ridership, and other factors.

COMMENT FROM THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS?

Four Ways to Consider Intercity Passenger Train Expansion
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
(1) Provide service to the largest metro areas currently without it. The eight largest, in descending order of population are:
*Las Vegas, NV
*Columbus, OH
*Nashville, TN
*Louisville, KY
Tulsa, OK
Allentown-Bethlehem, PA
Baton Rouge, LA
McAllen-Edinberg, TX
* Indicates Amtrak formerly provided service. Las Vegas service lasted through May 10, 1997; Columbus, Nashville and Louisville lost service at the end of October, 1979, although Louisville briefly regained service with a painfully slow train to Chicago. That train ran Chicago-Jeffersonville, IN starting December 17, 1999, was extended across the river to Louisville December 4, 2001, and discontinued July 8, 2003.
(2) Route study requests in S. 294 (which passed the Senate in October):
restore Amtrak’s Pioneer that linked Seattle-Portland with eastern Oregon, Boise and Salt Lake City. (Towards the end, its financial viability was compromised by running as a separate train all the way across Wyoming to Denver, rather than serving SLC and connecting there with the California Zephyr.)
restore Amtrak’s North Coast Hiawatha in southern Montana and southern North Dakota – well used train until its demise in 1979.
(3) Maps in the National Surface Transportation Policy & Revenue Study Commission report, at chapter four:
The 2015 vision is at page 4-22 and notably includes
Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati
a long-discussed Meridian-Jackson-Dallas link among existing Amtrak routes, and
closing the Bakersfield-Los Angeles gap.
The 2030 vision is on the next page and adds several routes including
Atlanta-Jacksonville Florida,
Dallas-Houston,
Oklahoma City to both Newton/Kansas City and Tulsa/St. Louis,
Cheyenne-Denver-Trinidad-Albuquerque-El Paso
the above-referenced Pioneer, and
service to Las Vegas from both east and west.
The 2050 vision is on page 4-24 and adds many more routes including Chicago-Atlanta.
The Commission recommends annual capital expenditure of $9 billion, much of which would support “genuine” high speed rail projects such that planned in California.
(4) NARP’s 40-year vision, which is more aggressive than the Commission’s although North Carolina DOT’s vision is more aggressive than ours! Read more about our Grow Trains Campaign and Vision Plan including regional “zoom-in” maps.

JACKSONVILLE STREETCAR IS POSSIBLE!

Two fantastic "HOW TO" articles appear today in the Jacksonville Transit Blog. The first is from Michigan, and the "Overhead Wire" news. This gives us a step by step way to build or rebuild our streetcar system using public private partnerships. The only missing element is the old rule that utility companies can't also own the streetcar network. In todays world, this law is long outdated and even though it is/or once was federal, it needs to be dumped. We need all the electric transit we can get. So think JACKSONVILLE TRACTION and think, we CAN!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Street Railway Resurrection
Michigan lawmakers are looking at a bill that would allow street railway companies to form in the state and use recently passed tax increment financing laws and other mechanisms to fund new lines. I don't imagine the line is completely private, but its an interesting step away from the public transit agency model. It seems similar to Portland Streetcar Inc, but I haven't looked deep enough yet to see the similarities. There are some interesting provisions though:
As envisioned in one set of bill drafts, for which state Rep. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, is the lead sponsor, the street railway company could build, own and operate the system. The company could acquire property, including through gift, purchase or condemnation, and could borrow money and issue bonds.It's a fascinating idea and the point is to have it replicated all over the state, from Grand Rapids, to Ann Arbor, to Detroit.

Allen also said a goal is “to come up with a replicable plan, which means that we can work it in Detroit, or Grand Rapids. We’re open to input from anyone. If this tool can work in a variety of communities in the state, that is one of our objectives.”

THE OVERHEAD WIRE

CSXT AGREES - A BLUEPRINT FOR JACKSONVILLE

THE DAY THE CITY COMES OF AGE

From Progressive Railroading E:News comes this wonderful bit of reporting, is anyone in Tallahassee awake and reading the handwriting on the wall?

Partnership 10/3/2008Massachusetts, CSXT agree on commuter- and freight-rail pactYesterday, Massachusetts officials and CSX Transportation execs announced they reached an agreement to improve and expand commuter- and freight-rail service in the commonwealth. Under the agreement — which took about four years to hammer out — service on five trains the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates between Framingham and Boston will be extended to Worcester by Oct. 27. The commonwealth plans to eventually purchase CSXT's rights on the Boston-to-Worcester line, increasing the potential to add even more commuter-rail service and gain control of the line's dispatching and maintenance. By 2009, the commonwealth plans to purchase from CSXT the New Bedford-Fall River Line, helping facilitate a plan to extend commuter-rail service to the two cities. Massachusetts also plans to purchase CSXT's rights in the Boston Terminal Running Track and West First Street Yard in South Boston, and the Grand Junction secondary line that extends from Beacon Park Yard through Cambridge. In addition, Massachusetts and CSXT soon will begin increasing vertical clearance of bridges along the railroad's mainline between Interstate 495 and the New York state line to accommodate double-stack freight trains. The commonwealth will assume responsibility for raising highway bridges while CSXT will lower tracks. Massachusetts also is determining whether to help CSXT relocate its locomotive service facility outside of Boston. The Class I plans to eventually move its operations out of Beacon Park.

Now that you've read the article, lets translate that into JACKSONVILLE speak, sure this is a fantasy at this point, but it's not like it can't happen.

Partnership (just imagine)Florida, JTA and CSXT agree on commuter- and freight-rail pactYesterday, JTA officials and CSX Transportation execs announced they reached an agreement to improve and expand commuter- and freight-rail service in North Florida. Under the agreement — which took about four one year to hammer out — service on five lines the CSX operates between Jacksonville and surrounding communities will be extended. Service to Yulee by the end of the year all along North Main Street. The state plans to eventually purchase CSXT's rights on the former Seaboard Main Line from Springfield to Yulee and Blount Island, increasing the potential to add even more commuter-rail service and gain control of the line's dispatching and maintenance. By 2011, the state plans to purchase from CSXT the former Seaboard Main Line from Downtown to Baldwin, helping facilitate a plan to extend commuter-rail service between Jacksonville and the west side as well as set the stage for regional rail to Tallahassee and Gainesville-Ocala. Florida also plans to purchase CSXT's rights in the Jacksonville Terminal Running Tracks and the former Jacksonville Terminal Coach Yard in downtown just west of the Union Terminal, and the Grand Crossing secondary line that extends from Panama Park through Marietta. In addition, JTA and CSXT soon will begin increasing vertical clearance of Trout River bridge along the railroad's mainline along North Main Street and the Blount Island ship Terminals to accommodate trains without delay at the drawbridge. The state will assume responsibility for raising highway overpasses while CSXT will perform the trackwork. Florida and JTA also is determining whether to help CSXT relocate its new export yard and intermodal facilities within Jacksonville. The Class I and JTA look forward to a long relationship that also includes the North Florida Portion of the so called "A" line, along Roosevelt Blvd. south to Green Cove Springs and Palatka.

THEY'RE AT IT AGAIN IN HIGHWAY LAND

"The Dirty Little Coward That Shot Mr. Howard, Laid Poor Jessie James In His Grave"

Okay, this isn't about Jessie James, but it might as well be. In this case "Jessie" is the Robin Hood of Oklahoma City (as he once was) and those cowards? The same back shooters that have been lurking in the saloon slime and road tar since 1930. This is a long story, but I'm going to post it so all can see the dangers to our own Union Terminal here in Jacksonville. I want you to see how the highway lobby thinks and works in conjunction with State DOT's. OPEN YOUR EYES JACKSONVILLE, this is our fight too.

"A beautiful, centralized, multi-modal transportation hub, just South of Downtown OKC, got in the way, go figure?"

Looks like a dandy place to splat down a 10 lane freeway doesn't it?

THE FIGHT TO SAVE OKC UNION STATION MOVES AHEAD: BALANCED TRANSPORT PROPONENTS WIN STUNNING VICTORY BEFORE THE FEDERAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

Board rules railroad company falsified Crosstown Expressway documents Wednesday, June 18, 2008 OKLAHOMA GAZETTE By Ben Fenwick

On Aug. 30, 2005, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad signed an agreement with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation that ODOT, at taxpayer’s expense, would haul lumber in trucks for the Mid-States Wholesale Lumber Co., 101 S.E. Fourth. The estimated cost was $22,800.
“FALSE” MEANING “PREMATURE SPECULATION”
The reason? BNSF was to abandon nearly three miles of track so that ODOT could build the new Crosstown Expressway, also known as the Interstate 40 Relocation Project, through a section of that rail line — and, incidentally, wipe out the rail yard for Oklahoma City’s Union Station.
However, when BNSF officials filed for permission with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, they told a different story. The paperwork the company filed to give the track to ODOT claimed it had not been used for the previous two years — about 23 days after the railroad agreed to let trucks instead of trains haul the lumber.
When metro-area activists opposed to the Crosstown project presented the discrepancy to the board, the board ruled that BNSF falsified its application and threw out the paperwork.
“This means that its certification in September 2005 was false or misleading. As a result, we will reopen the January 2007 decision and reject BNSF’s notice of exemption as void,” the board ruled this month.
State transportation officials said the ruling might stop some construction on the Crosstown — for now.
“We are still pretty confident they will work it out,” said ODOT spokeswoman Brenda Perry. “We are not directly involved, but it affects us.”
A spokesman for BNSF refused an interview, instead issuing a statement prepared by the company.
“The ‘false or misleading information’ referenced in the STB decision dated June 3, 2008, was the result of a technicality that resulted in BNSF retaining and using less than 100 feet (the length of about one rail car) at the eastern end of this trackage near Shields Boulevard to serve a large shipper located nearby,” the release said.
Opponents to the Crosstown have a different view: The BNSF decision is proof that Oklahomans are being misled about the whole project, including its cost, its purpose and its would-be benefits for the city. With gas projected at $5 a gallon and beyond, does Oklahoma City need another highway, or a citywide commuter rail?
“Are they going to build a 10-lane highway across a rail line that is part of the national rail system and has jurisdiction?” asked Norman attorney Micheal Salem, who is working on the case. “Should ODOT continue to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to build a highway for which they have no authority, over the land that they’ve chosen already? Can they build a highway over an existing railroad without the authority of the federal government to do that?”
“FALSE” MEANING
For Common Cause community activist Edwin Kessler, a retired meteorologist who filed the protest, the very first action of the Crosstown Expressway was a deliberate attempt to mislead Oklahomans.
“There have been some lines cut and there is a controversy about that indicated in the STB ruling,” Kessler said. “It means they are not authorized to abandon the line, and if they want to abandon it, they will have to reapply.”
To others on the opposition, Kessler’s work — which includes photographing BNSF’s actions on-site, developing the legal angles and other behind-the-scenes actions — the victory before the STB is a stunning upset.
“He accomplished a most significant task,” said Washington, D.C., attorney Fritz Kahn, who represented Common Cause to the board. “To get the STB to reopen a proceeding almost never happens. Moreover, to get the STB to rule against one of the Class I railroads as it did in ruling against Burlington Northern is something quite extraordinary.”
In its ruling, the board noted Kessler’s work as instrumental to the outcome of the case, and gave a scathing rebuke to BNSF, saying the company appeared to obfuscate the truth about the rail usage and the Crosstown construction.
“BNSF’s own evidence shows that it operated over a portion of the line during the (two)-year period prior to Sept. 23, 2005, confirming Mr. Kessler’s allegation that BNSF’s certification in its notice (that no local traffic had moved over the line for at least (two) years prior to the filing date) was false or misleading,” the board stated in its ruling. “Furthermore, despite multiple opportunities, BNSF has failed to provide an adequate explanation for the 2005 letters, in which BNSF seems to indicate that it provided rail service to Mid-States via the line within the (two)-year period prior to Sept. 23, 2005.”
Because of the misleading information, the board stated, it is reopening the proceedings. BNSF will have to reapply. This filing will be more involved, with proceedings on why removing the rail line is in the public’s interest.
“First of all, one of the questions that will have to be answered in additional proceedings, is what will be the purpose of rail use in Oklahoma City — that will be part of the ‘public interest, convenience and necessity’ that will be decided in a new abandonment proceeding,” Salem said.
Kahn agreed that BNSF’s task is likely to be widened considerably.
“The environmental-assessment report will be much more complex than BNSF had to file with this notice,” Kahn said. “The environment process will give citizens who are not shippers but have an interest in that line an opportunity to come in and testify. Before they file either a petition or an application, they have to consult with the specified Oklahoma and federal agencies to get their reaction on the environmental and historic effects on the proposed abandonment.”
‘PREMATURE’ SPECULATION
Among those watching it closely will be Tom Elmore, executive director of North American Transportation Institute, whose work against the Crosstown and for light-rail contributed to the recent decision. Former Oklahoma City U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook shepherded funding for the Crosstown project through Congress in 2004. The federal funding favored many of Istook’s political donors, who received contracts for the highway. Istook, however, did the opposite for political donors in Utah, Elmore said, earmarking funding for a light-rail and commuter rail system that serves an Air Force logistics base considered to be a competitor to Tinker Air Force Base.
“Istook provided the startup funding for commuter trains between Provo and Ogden linked to Hill Air Force Base,” Elmore said. “They will soon have 60 commuter trains a day between those communities in full operation. It is such a high-tech corridor that the trains don’t even have to whistle at crossings — the crossings have their own whistles. Hill is now the only air logistics center in the nation with oil-crisis-proof workforce mobility.”
But not Oklahoma, he said.
“The same guy, while he was funding that, was funding the Crosstown so Union Station would be destroyed — and don’t ever believe that he had anything other than that in mind,” Elmore said.
Istook did not return calls for comment.
Union Station — its rail yard slated for destruction because it lies in the path of the proposed Crosstown — was once the center of a massive commuter rail system in Oklahoma City that provided passenger service to Tinker, Norman, Edmond, Bethany and other surrounding communities. The easements and even lines for these still exist, but Elmore said the rail hub at Union Station will be wiped out by the Crosstown if it is allowed to proceed. However, ODOT’s Perry said a single rail line will be brought into Union Station should commuters wish to use it as a rail stop.
But now, Elmore said, there is a chance to reverse the destruction of the Union Station rail yard. Elmore said the ruling concerning the rail line has an effect similar to that of the movement to save the Walnut Avenue Bridge. That bridge, from Deep Deuce to Bricktown, was slated for destruction until civic activists opposed it in hearings at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Now, the bridge is considered a vital link between new, upscale loft apartments and Bricktown’s establishments.
“Remember the Walnut Bridge? We didn’t fight it before the council, we didn’t fight it before the planning commission — we took it to the Corporation Commission because that’s where the fight was,” Elmore said. “Well, same thing here. We quit arguing with them, we took it to the STB, because that’s where the fight was, and that is where the fight’s been won.”
As for BNSF, the company’s release states that it intends to continue seeking to destroy the rail line in question so the Crosstown can go through.
“BNSF will be following up with the Surface Transportation Board to ensure the highway project’s objectives are met,” the company wrote. “BNSF emphasizes that service to area shippers has been and will continue to be uninterrupted by this or any subsequent trackage removal activity associated with the I-40 relocation project.”
John Bowman, ODOT Crosstown development engineer, said the ruling affects little work so far.
“There isn’t any work that is ongoing at the moment that is really predicated on that hearing,” Bowman said. “We have a number of projects ongoing and we are working with those contractors. … We are working at the east end, and the west end and those projects are out of the way.”
Might there be a way to bypass the rail yard, or perhaps bridge it, so the rail hub for Union Station is still usable? Bowman said ODOT will wait and see if it has to.
“I think it would be premature to speculate on that at this point in time until we see what the ruling will be,” he said. —Ben Fenwick
From Tulsa city council, 2008/06/27

If it came to a choice Rail or Air?

WHAT WE OFFER FLORIDA - MIAMI - ORLANDO - TAMPA - CAN'T TOUCH THIS!

Myrtle Street Interlocking Tower in the "throat" of the old Jacksonville Terminal, under I-95, note the metal cantilevered multi-tracked signal bridge visible just under the deck of the freeway. These 12 or so tracks fanned out into more then 29 making this the largest depot South of Washington D.C.

Would Jacksonville benefit greatly from a rail comeback? Wouldn't our natural location as the "Gateway City of Florida" and our grand old Terminal downtown put us in position to take the top roll in RAIL-FLORIDA? As airlines fail around us in this economy, and fuel and flight prices are soaring, only a renewed interest in Amtrak or Rail Passenger Services will make economic sense.

But beyond fuel and costs, just how green is rail? Would an Orlando-Like JIA make us a world leader in a failing industry? Certainly we'll pick up some international flights, and perhaps some long distance air routes in the future. That might require some runway stretching. Moreover our local airline service is likely to all but vanish, surrendered to land transportation. So just for the sake of environment here, lets look at a "blind" expansion of JIA/JAX and also a great rebuilding of the old Union Terminal downtown for Commuter Rail, Regional Rail, High Speed Rail and Amtrak.

From the UK comes this comparison based on the same question which is now facing London:


"Comparing air with rail it would seem at first glance that aircraft have smaller fixed installation requirements - after all, they just need an airport at each end. One has to consider the vast quantity of land - and buildings - required for airports, however. Runway 26L/08R at Vancouver International Airport is 9940 x 200 feet x 1.5 feet (runway depth estimated) - 3 million cubic feet - and cost $100 million. The volume of a concrete railway sleeper is about 0.1 m3, or about 3 cubic feet. Thus the volume of concrete in one runway is equal to the volume of concrete in a million concrete railway sleepers (cross ties), which are normally spaced at 650 to 760 mm intervals. A million sleepers would thus support 650 km of railway track. Interestingly, with the railway there is an alternative: composite ties, which can be (and are) made of recycled post-consumer waste plastic. I don't think that's an option for aircraft runways. "


Lastly, in Florida we should keep in mind our fragile water aquifer, all pavement, including runways repel water and prevent it from recharging through the ground. Railroads by their nature, on a bed of rock, allow the rain to re-enter the soils.


Just a couple more reasons to keep our focus on Jacksonville Union Terminal, it's Tunnels, Tracks and getting the Prime Osbourne Convention Center moved somewhere else.

Transit Wisdom? ...and Toledo Too?

Neil Reid, director of the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center, warned transit officials to consider the American comfort level with buses.

Along for the ride? Wisdom from Ohio...

While bus ridership in both Toledo and Cleveland has grown in recent months, diesel costs have ballooned. And those fuel bills threaten the revenue and viability of busing systems across the country. “Many systems around the state, instead of adding service when demand is at an all-time high, are probably going to be cutting service,” Mr. Calabrese said.“My diesel bill went from $5 million in 2003, to $12 million last year, to $21 million this year, and it should be about $24 million next year.”In Toledo, TARTA will cut its bus service by 7 percent on Aug. 24, a decision that has caused outcries from local riders.Aside from rising fuel prices affecting expansion possibilities, Neil Reid, director of the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center, warned transit officials to consider the American comfort level with buses.“Most people in Toledo, people say under 50, probably have never ridden a bus before or only on sporadic occasion,” he said. “People probably just don’t consider that an option.”The issues may cut deeper than simple unfamiliarity.Busing systems in many cities have been painted as ferries for the poor. Alan Plattus, director of the Yale Urban Design Center in New Haven, Conn., said dismantling a classist attitude — as has been done in many European countries — may be as important to the success of buses in America as the routes they follow.“The bus system has gotten to be a class system,” he said. “Middle class people who might use the bus instead of taking a car trip don’t do it.”For many urban planners, busing systems also have become the figurative poor man’s light rail, a shot below the mark for cities focusing on asphalt instead of track and relying on tenuous data promising real estate development around buses.John Norquist, president of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Chicago, agreed developers are more likely to be attracted to areas along rail stations or lines where the city has signaled its intention to make large, nearly indelible investments.“Light rail is good because it’s permanent,” he said. “People say with buses they’re good because they’re flexible, but they could disappear at any moment.”Light rail — the term applied to streetcar systems such as trolleys — is nothing new.The Richmond Union Passenger Railway came online as the first large electric street railway system in 1888, displacing horse drawn buggies. Many cities, including Toledo, decommissioned their streetcar systems in the 1950s as the country began its migration to the suburbs and the automobile industry flourished.Finding the right pathJames Seney, former executive director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission, said old streetcar lines in Toledo fit the layout of the community and may be a guide for rail revampment.“What makes urban rail work is when you create transit routes that have clusters of neighborhoods on them,” said Mr. Seney, the former mayor of Sylvania. “You should design [routes] based on your existing neighborhoods and tie that into the growth of downtown businesses, rather than trying to capture a larger area.”Though Mr. Seney said new tracks would be needed if Toledo decided to move forward with a rail plan, he admitted “the old guys logistically were correct.” The push toward rail is being seen in other U.S. cities.About 100 years after its invention, light rail experienced a heavy resurgence. Most of the United States’ busiest light rail systems today were built or intensely renovated in the last two decades, including lines in Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis; Denver, and Dallas. Even smaller cities such as Little Rock, Tacoma, and Galveston, Texas, have invested in light rail systems since the turn of the century.The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston shuttles over a quarter million people per day on its green and red lines, making it by far the largest light-rail operation in the country.

THE GREAT STREETCAR HOLOCAUST CONSPIRACY CASES:

Jacksonville - Minneapolis - St. Paul - Los Angeles - Tampa - St. Petersburg, what does it matter?

The last streetcars in Minneapolis were burned in 1954. James Towley (left) presenting check to Fred Ossanna (right) with a burning streetcar behind them (1954).Minneapolis Collection.


Streetcar Holocaust Conspiracy Case

For so many years Jacksonville has depended on the automobile for 95% of it's transportation needs, with about 5% using the JTA bus system, that we don't have many living citizens who remember a more balanced time. Ask the average Jaxson why we don't have streetcars and your likely to get one or more of the following answers:

"Oh we do, JTA has a Trolley," (refers to the potato-chip-truck-thinks-its-a-trolley-bus).
"Well streetcars were tiny and slow, so we put in modern buses and freeways."
"We're not big enough or dense enough for streetcars, we don't need them."
"Streetcars block traffic and buses run with traffic."

All of these "facts" are false on one point or another. The FACT is the streetcars were bought out and destroyed one by one by one of the first giant Transit Monopoly's in the United States. Owned by General Motors - Firestone - Standard Oil and Phillips Petroleum, through a maze of smaller holding companies, the trail usually leads to the highway groups "National City Lines Corporation." Just as no one transit system today could compete on Wall Street with any of the above giants, the rail transit companies, mostly local, were helpless to fight off the unwanted attention. Standing alone, one by one, the streetcars were bought out one by one and converted to bus. By the time the industry realized they faced certain extinction, the depression had dried up the loan money holding back expansion or modernization. When the few survivors finally banded together with help from the large electric industries such as GE, St. Louis Car Company or Westinghouse, World War II material rationing stopped them cold. All of this played into the highway group and National City's hands. Each story is unique, but all have a similar tone of high finance and smoke filled back room deals.

So read on from this little story first published in "The Overhead Wire" Blog, by "Pantograph Trolley Pole", and see how the deal went down in the Twin Cities, and I'll finish with comment on Jacksonville Traction:

Well part of the story I had never heard before was told on one of my list services by transit expert and former Deputy Secretary of Transportation for Pennsylvania Ed Tennyson. He states that at one point TCRT had saved up $10 million dollars to buy new streetcars and repair the tracks but got destroyed by Wall Street speculators. Well, I'll let his words tell the story.

The Twin City street car to bus conversion was ironically caused by a pro-street car management, a man named Strouse, I think he was. During gasoline rationing he saved up ten million dollars ($ 160 million at today's prices) to buy more PCC cars, re-lay more track, modernize the rail system.

A shrewd vulture on Wall Street named Green saw all that money in the bank and solicited the stockholder votes to throw out the street car management so Green could disburse all that money to stockholders including himself. His first attempt failed as the stockholder had pride in the company but inflation hit them (and everyone else) so Green prevailed on his second take over attempt. Strouse was fired and the money was paid out to stockholders leaving nothing for renewals.Wall Street neophytes saw those big dividends and sent the stock price soaring. Green sold his. Buy low and sell high. Local politicians took Green's place, one named Fred Osanna (In the picture above), a political lawyer. He got a promise from General Motors to loan him all the money he needed to rid the city of street cars and they had National City Lines send him their Barney Larrick to manage the job. Since there would be no more profits, Osanna and Larrick sold all of the copper wires, car barn property and salvage from scrapping cars to their wives or other relatives at a rock bottom price. Their relatives waited a few weeks then sold all the junk on the market for far more than they paid Twin City Rapid Transit for it. Roy Chalk did the same thing in Washington but was careful not to go to jail. Osanna and Larrick both went to jail, for defrauding the other stockholders.

Sad Story, but the Twin Cities are now back on track and breaking records with their new Light Rail System. Meanwhile here in Jacksonville, we have our own sad closing to talk about.

Jacksonville Traction was the largest streetcar line in the state of Florida topping out at some 60+ odd route miles. In 1926, the system was beloved by the City, in fact City Commissioner St. Elmo Acosta (yes, the Acosta Bridge with the Skyway track is named for his transit savvy memory) floated a bill before the Commission to buy the entire Florida East Coast Railway line from San Marco, along Beach Blvd. to Jacksonville Beach and Mayport. He wanted to convert it to Interurban operation, what we would call today, Light Rail Transit. At the same time 3 other Companies proposed to link Jacksonville with: St. Augustine, another between St. Augustine and Jacksonville Beach, and yet another between Jacksonville and Ocala along today's highway 21.

Acosta's plan was put off and vanishes off the books. The collapse of the great Florida Boom took out the other 3 companies. Jacksonville Traction itself skidded into bankruptcy, as the city increased the pavement requirements, forcing the company to pave it's tracks or roads along the tracks, then refused a fare increase of 2 or 3 cents.

In 1929-31 it was no secret that the company would be issued a new franchise soon as the old one had expired. On the block a group of Southeastern "investors" came into town and talked about building a modern bus system. When the City and the Jacksonville Traction Company failed to reach an agreement with the buyers the deal fell through. Bad press dogged the Streetcars as they were now labeled as "old fashioned," and "bankrupt". Needless to say the deepening depression didn't do anything to help with the company's solvency.

Finally a new entry came to town with plenty of money to toss around. Motor Transit Corporation, stepped into the void and offered a package deal. The Streetcar Company would be sold, a new franchise issued, and Jacksonville would become the home of a new type of General Motors distribution center for the entire southeast. In the fine print the contract stipulated that the rails, poles, and wires had to come down, that all streets would be repaved, and all streetcars sold for scrap. Duly signed in 1932, the last car ran from the Courthouse, up Bay to the Brooklyn Car Barns in Riverside, on a cold wet December day in 1936. Motor Transit had pulled off what is perhaps the first big system purchase, and Motor Transit was owned by National City Lines.

National City Lines, was owned by General Motors - Firestone - Standard Oil and Phillips Petroleum.

In Tampa and St. Petersburg the streetcars lasted another dozen years, when the same suitor came calling. But already on the run from an increasing load of legal suits, the deal fell through. National City never fully got Tampa's and St. Petersburg's system, but the City Councilmen all got brand new GM LaSalle automobiles as it closed down.

So in the end, Jacksonville was big enough, dense enough, and advanced enough for streetcars. In fact so much so that we had the leading system in the state and nearly had the largest system in the South had the interurban's been built. Blanding Blvd. wouldn't be the mess it is today and sidewalk cafes in Riverside or San Marco wouldn't gag on the sulfur and carbon from the stream of buses that blow past every few minutes. More then that, these recent discovery's demonstrate that our system, built largely on private track, was just the sort of thing GM knew they couldn't combat without the use of back room - pool hall deals. Freeways as it turned out were never free. Jacksonville Traction is exactly what we need to get back, it's a shame our new system can't be paid for by certain auto makers, tire and oil companies.