(The following editorial appeared on The Florida Times-Union website on November 1.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban rapid transit seems too good to be true.
It’s quick, convenient and – with gasoline pushing $3 a gallon – not a bad economic deal, at least for commuters where it’s already in operation.
That’s why there is some appeal in the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s (JTA) plan to develop a bus rapid transit system that would eventually whisk commuters from the international airport to the Avenues Mall and from Orange Park to Jacksonville Beach.
But are buses really less expensive than trains? Probably not, insists local land planner Ennis Davis.
Davis points out that CSX plans to sell some track to the state in the Orlando area. The ensuing shift of freight to another line, he says, will “free up” rail lines in Jacksonville.
Davis wants the JTA to purchase a portion of those tracks – so it can provide rail on the north-south transit route.
That would create a hybrid system of rail and bus rapid transit.
He has a number of supporters, including the urban-oriented think tank, MetroJacksonville.com.
The price? lt depends on what could be negotiated.
But the JTA’s bus plan will cost at least $26 million a mile, Davis says.
Orlando is paying $10.1 million a mile for its rail.
He lists five other recent “no-frills rail start-up” projects, ranging from $1.28 million a mile in Nashville to $8.2 million in Salt Lake City.
Can the JTA really get track that cheaply here?
JTA project manager James Boyle is skeptical. He says CSX told him it might be able to spare one of its two parallel tracks that run from downtown to Orange Park.
But, at this point, it doesn’t have enough extra capacity to give up the line that runs from the airport to downtown. Likewise, Florida East Coast Railway says it cannot give up the line running south of downtown, which it owns.
Both indicated they could work out a deal for the right of way if JTA wants to build its own parallel tracks.
Boyle doesn’t know how much this would cost, but he’s in ongoing communications about it. Good.
The JTA plan is expensive. And drivers will be stuck in a lot of traffic before it’s finished in 2025.
If JTA can get access to the tracks, even if it’s just the downtown-to-Orange Park route, traffic relief might come much sooner.
If gasoline prices keep going up, and a truly fast and convenient transit system is devised, perhaps drivers will leave their cars.
The American Public Transportation Association says more people are using mass transit today than in the past 50 years.
Rapid transit seems worth pursuing; the city can’t build roads fast enough to keep pace with its population growth.
And if rail costs less and is more popular, then it should be given preference.