jeafl

Apart from the fast food places, how many of these restaurants are closed except for 9-5 Monday through Friday? How well do they serve the people that live in Riverside? And like I said Riverside has only 1 grocery store and only 2 drug stores. Now tell me how many Riverside residents live too far away to walk to these stores? As for the other retail stores, aren't they more in the way of specialty stores? How many people can do their general shopping for household goods in these stores?

If this line goes north-south, how many of the people served will earn their living in Jacksonville without paying the Jacksonville's taxes that will support the rail line?

But Jacksonville has already tried park-and-ride lots and we don

Until very recently Riverside did not have a grocery store so a car was necessary. Also, Riverside has few drug stores, no office supply store (to my knowledge), very few clothing stores, no movie theaters, no bookstores and very few restaurants. I don't see how many people can live in Riverside without a car. And Riverside is like most of Jacksonville- you must have a car to survive because public transit is next to useless and the heat and humidity make even short walks unbearable- even if we had enough sidewalks. You cannot even live in the La Villa end of downtown and have a grocery store within walking distance. All of Jacksonville is essentially a suburb.

What have I posted that is "remarkably outrageous or false on their face"? I have asked another poster how long he has lived in Jacksonville. I recently read that roughly half of the city's population is not from here. However, I was born and raised here and likely know more about how this city operates than some of the rest of you. If my comments seem negative, they are supported by a 37 years of experience.

We have no express buses or park-and-ride lots anywhere near where I live. And If I had to have a car anyway, I see no reason to bother with JTA. And why should the more populated parts of town not have easy access to the rail line?

I guess freedom of speech is an unknown concept here.

How do you define a suburban neighborhood? I live near NAS and I am certainly not in the suburbs.

If this route goes from Amelia Island, past Gateway, through downtown and on to St. Augustine, how will will serve people at the beach or on the westside?

You are thinking in terms of preserving the personal-use automobile. As it stands now I have a 10-15 minute walk, depending on the weather and how many library books I am carrying, to get to the nearest JTA bus stop from my house. And I must be sure to arrive early just in case the bus is running ahead of schedule, meaning I have to wait in either the cold or heat. And my stop has no cover or bench. But, why should this first line be what is proposed instead of something that will benefit more people who actually live in Jacksonville? I

I heard it on the local TV news.

Only if no bus service to the stations is provided. And traffic congestion we already have makes people seek out alternatives like car pooling? What happens if the city imposes fees for the park-n-ride lots that are as high as what you find elsewhere? What about the beaches (part of Duval County) and Crystal Springs and the housing developments and apartment complexes in Jacksonville along Blanding Blvd? Why should St. Augustine or Amelia Island be served before the the People of Jacksonville have all of their needs met? Exactly what I said, although the lines were not completely underground. It cannot be compared to MARTA either since MARTA is actually useful. A study was conducted during the Superbowl regarding the people mover. Based on the cost it took to operate the system and the number of people that actually used it, it would have been cheaper to provide cab fare.

We have (or had) park-n-ride already using buses. I know that the intersection of San Jose and I295 was a park-n-ride lot. But this means that people towards Fruit Cove still had to have a car and still had to fight San Jose just to spend an hour on the bus. But, if someone has to have a car to get to a commuter station or bus stop, what will keep them from using that car to go all the way to work? I don't see a mass-transit system as an adjunct to automobiles. I see it as a way to replace automobiles.

How many people can afford taxis? This depends entirely on how the system is designed. It will depend on how many rail lines the system has, how far apart the stations are, how often the various rail lines intersect and how many buses you have to take people back and forth to the stations. With enough airport shuttle-type buses, each one covering a very limited geographic area and enough rail stations, you could have door-to-door bus service. And the older the population gets, the more door-to-door service would be needed. I am only 37, but already have arthritis in my knees and have trouble walking at times. Be serious. I once read a book by John Todd (if I remember correctly). He proposed bus shelters built around giant tanks of water that were used to grow tilapia. This would be suitable in cold climates, but why couldn't we have solar powered air conditioned bus shelters here? And again I point out that in comparison to places like Mandarin and Orange Park, not many commuters would come from St. Augustine. There are other rail lines that would be more useful and more needed.

The people mover is the result of a very long term planning and design process. I remember hearing about it back during the Carter Administration. I cannot help but be hard on any JTA plan. Their track record is abyssmal.