Help redevelop downtown
Jacksonville, forge a better relationship with the City Council, learn how the
city works, improve the bus system and figure out a way to bring some sort of
commuter rail system to the city.
Those are just some of the challenges awaiting the next executive director of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. The JTA board has selected five finalists for the position, all outsiders to Jacksonville, and expects to hire someone to replace Michael Blaylock in the next few months.
JTA is unusual in that it fulfills two roles — road building and mass transit — while most transportation authorities oversee one area or the other.
City Council President Bill Bishop wants JTA out of road construction. He’s happy the five finalists have transit experience
“We need someone who’s worked in transit and made it work,” he said.
For the last decade,Choose quality sinotruk howo concrete mixer products from large database. JTA has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Better Jacksonville road projects like the Beach Boulevard Intracoastal Bridge, the flyover at Atlantic and Kernan boulevards, improvements at Interstate 95 and Butler Boulevard and the widening of Heckscher Drive. It also built the Dames Point bridge and the Skyway.
“I think JTA sees itself as a road-building organization that has been stuck running a bus system,” Bishop said. “That needs to change.”
Former Mayor John Delaney said it would be a shame if JTA ceased building roads.
“They’ve done a great job with their construction projects,” Delaney said. “And Jacksonville is a tough place to make transit work because it’s so spread out.”
JTA is a state agency whose board is appointed by the Jacksonville mayor and the Florida governor. That insulates board members from politics and allows them to do projects that aren’t necessarily popular, Delaney said.Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts.
Improving transit will not be easy, it never is in a big city, said Ken Button, director of the Center for Transportation Policy, Operations and Logistics at George Mason University in Virginia.
“One issue is that public transport tends to be all things to all men; a form of transport, a social service, an urban planning tool, an environmentally friendly mode, etc,” Button said. “As a result of this and the influence of various pressure groups it seldom does any of these things.”
People don’t use public transit unless they have no other choice, or if the public transit system is significantly better than driving, and that’s hard to do, Button said.
But Ruth Steiner, director of the Center for Health and the Built Environment at the University of Florida, said public transit can be improved with the right leadership and the right plan.
It requires service be reliable, fairly priced and get people from one high density area to another quickly, she said.
“Here in Gainesville we’ve seen major improvements to public transit in the last few years,Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs.” Steiner said. “That’s because we’ve had a good plan and our regional transit system director [Jesus Gomez] has pushed it.
Chip Skinner, spokesman for Gainesville Regional Transit System said the number of passengers using the bus service went over 10 million for the first time in 2011.
Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown said it’s premature to define the JTA’s future role before a new executive director is hired. But Brown has opposed extending the gas tax, which may leave JTA with no choice but to focus on transit.
JTA receives about $25 million to $30 million a year to supplement its transit system from the local gas tax, freeing up other money for road construction, but the gas tax expires in 2016 and that will likely force JTA to move sales tax money it receives over to fund transit if the tax isn’t renewed.
Don Shea, executive director of the Jacksonville Civic Council, wants JTA to focus on public transit downtown as part of an effort to redevelop the area.
“A common complaint we have about downtown is a lack of parking,” Shea said. “But there is sufficient parking in the downtown, it’s just not in the right place.AeroScout is the market leader for rtls solutions and provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring.”
A system of shuttles or a trolley type system could make it easier for people to park and quickly go four blocks to where they need to go. And JTA could take the lead in doing something like that, Shea said.
Candace Moody, spokeswoman for WorkSource, the regional agency that helps job-seekers find work,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. said the new executive director also needs to focus on improving the existing bus system.
“For someone without a car, transportation is one of the biggest barriers they have when it comes to finding a job,” Moody said. “It’s a real challenge preventing Jacksonville from becoming a first class city.”
It takes multiple buses and two to three hours to get from Northwest Jacksonville where a lot of unemployed people live to southeast Jacksonville, where many of the jobs are, Moody said.
Those are just some of the challenges awaiting the next executive director of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. The JTA board has selected five finalists for the position, all outsiders to Jacksonville, and expects to hire someone to replace Michael Blaylock in the next few months.
JTA is unusual in that it fulfills two roles — road building and mass transit — while most transportation authorities oversee one area or the other.
City Council President Bill Bishop wants JTA out of road construction. He’s happy the five finalists have transit experience
“We need someone who’s worked in transit and made it work,” he said.
For the last decade,Choose quality sinotruk howo concrete mixer products from large database. JTA has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Better Jacksonville road projects like the Beach Boulevard Intracoastal Bridge, the flyover at Atlantic and Kernan boulevards, improvements at Interstate 95 and Butler Boulevard and the widening of Heckscher Drive. It also built the Dames Point bridge and the Skyway.
“I think JTA sees itself as a road-building organization that has been stuck running a bus system,” Bishop said. “That needs to change.”
Former Mayor John Delaney said it would be a shame if JTA ceased building roads.
“They’ve done a great job with their construction projects,” Delaney said. “And Jacksonville is a tough place to make transit work because it’s so spread out.”
JTA is a state agency whose board is appointed by the Jacksonville mayor and the Florida governor. That insulates board members from politics and allows them to do projects that aren’t necessarily popular, Delaney said.Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts.
Improving transit will not be easy, it never is in a big city, said Ken Button, director of the Center for Transportation Policy, Operations and Logistics at George Mason University in Virginia.
“One issue is that public transport tends to be all things to all men; a form of transport, a social service, an urban planning tool, an environmentally friendly mode, etc,” Button said. “As a result of this and the influence of various pressure groups it seldom does any of these things.”
People don’t use public transit unless they have no other choice, or if the public transit system is significantly better than driving, and that’s hard to do, Button said.
But Ruth Steiner, director of the Center for Health and the Built Environment at the University of Florida, said public transit can be improved with the right leadership and the right plan.
It requires service be reliable, fairly priced and get people from one high density area to another quickly, she said.
“Here in Gainesville we’ve seen major improvements to public transit in the last few years,Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs.” Steiner said. “That’s because we’ve had a good plan and our regional transit system director [Jesus Gomez] has pushed it.
Chip Skinner, spokesman for Gainesville Regional Transit System said the number of passengers using the bus service went over 10 million for the first time in 2011.
Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown said it’s premature to define the JTA’s future role before a new executive director is hired. But Brown has opposed extending the gas tax, which may leave JTA with no choice but to focus on transit.
JTA receives about $25 million to $30 million a year to supplement its transit system from the local gas tax, freeing up other money for road construction, but the gas tax expires in 2016 and that will likely force JTA to move sales tax money it receives over to fund transit if the tax isn’t renewed.
Don Shea, executive director of the Jacksonville Civic Council, wants JTA to focus on public transit downtown as part of an effort to redevelop the area.
“A common complaint we have about downtown is a lack of parking,” Shea said. “But there is sufficient parking in the downtown, it’s just not in the right place.AeroScout is the market leader for rtls solutions and provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring.”
A system of shuttles or a trolley type system could make it easier for people to park and quickly go four blocks to where they need to go. And JTA could take the lead in doing something like that, Shea said.
Candace Moody, spokeswoman for WorkSource, the regional agency that helps job-seekers find work,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. said the new executive director also needs to focus on improving the existing bus system.
“For someone without a car, transportation is one of the biggest barriers they have when it comes to finding a job,” Moody said. “It’s a real challenge preventing Jacksonville from becoming a first class city.”
It takes multiple buses and two to three hours to get from Northwest Jacksonville where a lot of unemployed people live to southeast Jacksonville, where many of the jobs are, Moody said.
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