Light Rail Jacksonville
Promoting Intelligent Rail and Skyway Transit in Jacksonville
BRT a 3rd World Solution to a 1st World City?
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Under the LRT Microscope
Thanks to Metro-Jacksonville.com for the "Killing Downtown BRT graphics."
Should Jacksonville build a rapid transit system based completely on buses called BRT or Bus Rapid Transit. Just what is BRT really, and where has it been applied would BRT be the answer to the transportation needs of our rapidly expanding central business district (CBD)? Would hundreds of buses radiating from the so-called Transportation Center in LaVilla be the answer to the office worker at Bay and Newnan? What about the construction workers on the new high rise towers on the Southbank? CSX? Modis? Bell South? FCCJ? Of course not, LaVilla, is that historic neighborhood that once surrounded Jacksonville Terminal railroad station. There is a direct but unfinished Skyway, or downtown monorail system that connects LaVilla and Transportation Center with some of the CBD, but not all of it. Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA's) answer to this is to run the majority of the City's 60+ bus routes right in one side of the Transportation Center and right out the other side in a trek through the middle of downtown. These large, loud diesel or diesel hybrid buses we are told, would churn through exclusive busway's carved from scarce parking lanes and streets that would be closed to all but buses. JTA says the service would be so good that we might expect a bus every 90 seconds. The boast from the promoters of BRT is that is is going to be just like rail, only we are supposed to "Think rail and ride the bus!" This insane sounding slogan is actually the national tag line for BRT development. Under the microscope of reality, BRT only gets worse downtown.
Typical BRT application, imagine this on your favorite highway? Forget the neighbor across the street!
Just what is BRT? Well, BRT or Bus Rapid Transit, is simply a new catch phrase for the same old vehicle with a few expensive modifications. Perhaps the most comical of these modifications is that most of the up-scale BRT buses being offered are covering the rubber tires as if this will make the customers think they are on a Light Rail Vehicle. The expensive part is they are given their own "expressway," what was known in the industry as a busway, until BRT marketing came along and tried to fool everyone with new terminology. The idea is that given it's own busway, the buses will run at such frequent intervals (called headways) that everyone will want to ride. The industry is making huge efforts to claim that BRT is everything from more fuel efficient then electric railroads, to less polluting, more frequent and "might have a higher passenger capability". So far, with few exceptions the dismal numbers in the USA have not proved any of these "facts" as real wisdom. So imagine a freeway of 3 to 4 lanes, usually divided in the center lane by some sort of barrier, with stations similar to commuter rail, all built so you can catch the same old bus. In Jacksonville, it gets even more exciting, bolstered by their successes with the monorail, they even plan to elevate the bus expressway over and along existing railroad lines. These would be the same lines they recently told Congress they'd like to add commuter trains on "someday." We can only suppose "someday" means when the bus structure is ready for collapse, perhaps 60 years from now?
Bogota's TransMilenio, hailed as a World example of doing it right. What they didn't say is that they moved the poor into social housing outside of the City, trapping them as eternal BRT riders.
Connectivity is the missing link in JTA’S plans. The City already has a huge investment in a monorail system or Jacksonville Skyway. The Skyway was built at the same time as the Miami Metro-Mover but has never been completed as promised. This has left the City with a multi-million dollar investment, to nowhere. While there are some large parking garages that ring the downtown, not all are tied to the Skyway, making a trip into the Central Business District, more of a private automobile in corporate parking facility, then a transit friendly commute. In it’s original form, it was to be the downtown connector for a future regional system. It was supposed to keep cars and buses out of a clean, pedestrian friendly city core. A system of skywalks was proposed to link the elevated stations to various office towers throughout downtown. Outlaying stations were supposed to be built to allow for seamless transfers from buses to Skyway or Skyway to buses.. The dreams of the Skyway seemed to die when the Federal government lost interest in it's "free" urban demonstration project, and JTA went through several changes in leadership and direction. The plans to tie it to surrounding buildings, to expand it to reach the sports district, Riverside, San Marco, or North have never been realized. In fact, to date only one true transfer station has ever been built. But have no fear citizen, JTA now plans to duplicate much of the Skyway on the ground with it's busway projects. Some of these proposals are either directly under or alongside the Skyway routes. If we allow the City to continue with the BRT plan for the central city, our Skyway may become the Worlds most expensive piece of urban art, dedicated to "stupidity in transit." At best JTA is failing us in completing a much needed project, at worst, it is out right deception, smoke, mirrors and lies.
Does this scene make you "Think Rail?" If BRT is so good, why are they asking us to "Think Rail," in the first place? Could it be because they already know rail is a superior product and solution? This is a typical scene in Curitiba, Brazil. "They call it the Worlds most successful BRT system, but what are they not saying?
JTA’s current plan simply abandons the whole concept of connectivity. The new idea, put forth by their "customer friendly survey of your personal transportation needs," is that BRT will go anywhere and everywhere that you the customer so desire. They claim they are listening to us as they plan their roughly 26 mile system to serve a city of 850 square miles. At more then $50 million dollars per mile or a system cost of some $750 Million to $1.2 Billion dollars, just where would the grand BRT line go? There are of course the plans to run it across the downtown neutering the effectiveness and purpose of the Skyway forever. There is a Westside line, that won't reach NAS JAX, Blanding Blvd or SR 21, Normandy or the Cecil Field Commerce Center. The Westside line would be built over the CSX tracks from Transportation Center, under I-95, South over the CSX west of Park Street and dump the buses onto Roosevelt at it's Northern tip. The Northside line, would not reach Northwest Jacksonville, which has some of the highest bus patronage. It would follow either the railroad or the alignment of US - 17 or North Main Street to the area of the Trout River. Again, it misses every major employment, public or private traffic center and does nothing for the new cruise port, the sprawling Busch plant or the International Airport. Likewise the South line, would follow US - 1 or Phillips Highway, or the FEC railroad alignment to the area of University Blvd. It would never reach Bay Meadows, J. Turner Butler, The Mayo Clinic, St. Johns Town Center or The Avenues Mall. Eastbound, the plan is to "use the Arlington Expressway", which could only mean, more lanes added or more lanes closed, either way, none of the lanes will help the automobile commuter unless the BRT buses share with high-occupancy-vehicles in HOV lanes.
Thanks to Metro-Jacksonville.com for the use of the image of the current Mayor driving the bus, nice work y'all!
Construction they claim will be done in phases over 18 to 30 years. Interesting, because the latest information from the BRT policy centers all state the same thing, "To implement BRT successfully, you must bite the bullet and get the job done, do it fast and do it right." Perhaps it is that JTA doesn't subscribe to those journals? One can only imagine the face of our City in 20 years, since the Florida Department of Commerce has stated that at the current growth rate, Duval County - City of Jacksonville, will be completely built out by 2040, just in time for our BRT system to go into phase two? So what about some of the outlandish claims of the BRT lobby?
MYTH:
BRT "could have" a higher passenger capacity then Light Rail.
FACT:
For every BRT bus added to a scheduled run their will have to be another driver. Are they suggesting a single bus, even a large two or three unit articulated bus will hold more then a LRT train? The key to this word game is "TRAIN", need higher capacity, just add another LRT vehicle, couple up, form a train and only one "driver" called a Motorman, takes it away.
MYTH:
BRT will pollute less then Light Rail
FACT:
Since nearly all LRT systems are electric, this becomes a chicken and egg question. Certainly it takes energy to make electricity, but the application of that energy to a steel wheel on a steel rail nearly negates friction or wasted energy. Besides this, BRT could run on gasoline, diesel, ethanol, CNG or even hydrogen. What they fail to say is that these same fuels could power the Trolley wire over the LRT system, not to mention hydroelectric, nuclear, coal, solar or wind power. At the current rates of emissions, the standard diesel bus is not a clean vehicle. A new hybrid bus can cut emissions by as much as 75%. But if the current 60+ routes enter the City on 40 minute headways, and with BRT we are to expect 90 second headways, the result will be a net GAIN in emissions, even from the clean bus technology. Clearly Light Rail gives us more options.
MYTH:
BRT is a much cheaper alternative then Light Rail
FACT:
I agree that their have been some expensive Light Rail systems built in the USA and Canada. Most of these have used the benefits of the traditional trolley, streetcar or interurban, on private railroad tracks or in a street or median, then ducked into modern subway construction in the downtown area's. Subway construction is a completely different animal and the fact that some cities have chosen to run Light Rail through subways in no way reflects the true system costs of a well planned surface LRT network. Some American cities have gone to a Heritage Trolley system, reviving the streetcars of yesterday and others with Modern Streetcars, at a cost of between $3 million (Memphis) and $15 million (Portland and Albuquerque). How does this compare to the JTA's own low dollar estimate of $26 Million dollars per mile for new buses and another road?
MYTH:
Jacksonville isn't dense enough or have enough infill to make LRT or commuter rail of any type, a success.
or
Jacksonville is far too spread out and covers too much area to make LRT or commuter rail of any type a success.
FACT:
Which is it JTA? Are we too small or too large, or is there something about a highway building, State agency, that fears the power of rail? Frankly neither argument is supported by historical fact. Many small towns and City's grew up around local streetcar systems, St. Augustine, and it's "St. Johns Electric Railway"; Fernandina, and "The Fernandina and Amelia Beach Railway;" or even the "Palatka Street Railroad Company." Because these small Light Rail systems provided fast, clean, frequent, transportation, automobiles were not necessary. The towns grew compact along the electric railroads as they created their own infill wherever they were built. As for being too large or spread out, the Los Angeles basin of 1930 looked much like an early version of today's Jacksonville map (the population was also the same). A vibrant central core city Los Angeles, surrounded by autonomous communities such as Long Beach, Santa Monica or Pasadena. These communities were tied together by 1,200 miles of electric Light Rail and Interurban Trolley lines. Just as scattered as Baldwin, Fernandina Beach, JIA, Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine or Green Cove Springs.
JTA claims Bogota and Curitiba prove BRT will work here, so let's compare photos shall we?
Above we see Jacksonville and the booming new residential area's in the CBD.
Below, we have those houses where the working class of Bogota cling to a living and consider their BRT bus something of a luxury item.
Just another day on the Curitiba expressway system? Someone please figure out how this translates to our own J. Turner Butler, Brannon Field-Chaffee, I-95, I-10 or I-295?
MYTH:
Bogota, Colombia and Curitiba, Brazil, have the Worlds most successful bus transit systems, thus proving that the JTA plan will not only succeed but carry loads far in excess of a Light Rail option.
FACT:
Using Bogota and Curitiba, as yardsticks for predicted success in Jacksonville, is simply preposterous. The beautiful South American Cities both have poverty rates at or near 50% and populations in excess of 5 million persons, how does this compare to Jacksonville? Huge segments of the population cannot afford an automobile, the average retail worker in Colombia may get $30. dollars a week for his labor. Both countries tax the import of Automobiles at 30%+ in order to pay for the expensive roadways they operate on. Likewise one could say that because a Light Rail vehicle (Tram in other country's) Carry's incredible loads in Mumbi India, or Hong Kong, China, then they too will be a success in Jacksonville. This is fuzzy thinking at its worst. I would never use numbers from India, China, Brazil or Colombia to prove Light Rail. The Federal Transit Administration, FDOT and JTA doing so is simply irresponsible. This might also explain the practice of estimating the BRT systems with high ridership, then slashing the rider numbers a year after it opens. Now a common practice in the USA, can we expect the JTA to also issue a reality check about a year after we have spent a billion dollars. Why not? Every other US BRT system has lost it's face in the public eye.
Bus Hubometer
This column was written by Robert W. Mann.
Robert has spent the last 3 years of his private transportation consulting business working with the Secretary of Transportation, Inspector General and Professor of Railway Engineering in the Republic of Colombia, to rebuild the Nations Railroads. Now back in the States, he and his wife plan their return to Jacksonville and a renewed interest in the City's Transportation and Criminal Justice problems. while making regular commutes to "The Andean Paradise."
Robert has spent the last 3 years of his private transportation consulting business working with the Secretary of Transportation, Inspector General and Professor of Railway Engineering in the Republic of Colombia, to rebuild the Nations Railroads. Now back in the States, he and his wife plan their return to Jacksonville and a renewed interest in the City's Transportation and Criminal Justice problems. while making regular commutes to "The Andean Paradise."