Damen Avenue subway stop in Chicago. Oh the mass-transity, bike chocked goodness.
Michael Lewyn is working on a project called Car Free in Jacksonville. Car Free in Jacksonville aims to help you get around Jacksonville without a car. When Michael arrived in Jacksonville he didn’t have a way to get around so he started this project. The first half describes the mechanics of JTA. Next he goes on to write about neighborhoods and their transit profile.
Over the coming weeks we will post segments from Michael’s project. Car Free in Jacksonville is still in its formative stages so any feedback is welcome. Michael hopes that the comments from the blog will improve and enhance his work.
Why am I posting this? Michael emailed me to let me know about his project and I was interested immediately. I think transportation is a huge issue in our sprawling and ever-expanding metropolis. I hope to provide information that can help people or shine a light on this issue. On with the show. If you want to get in touch with Michael, leave a comment and he will contact you.
I. INTRODUCTION (Or, Why would anyone read this?)
Tell natives that you found a website about getting around Jacksonville without a car and you might hear a surprised, “That’s ridiculous—you can’t get around Jacksonville without a car!”
Of course, Jacksonville is more auto-oriented than many American cities: there is no subway or light rail system, bus routes run only every half an hour at most, most buses stop running at around 8 or 9 PM, and many destinations are just too far from each other for public transit to make sense.
So why would I waste time creating this website? And who would be interested in reading it?
To start with, not everyone can be part of the car culture. 9.3% of Jacksonville households own no car, according to the 2000 Census. Many people are physically incapable of driving due to age or disability, or can’t afford a reliable car. Others (including me as of the time I am writing this) are new to town and haven’t gotten a car yet.
Even if you do own a car, you might want to learn how use your car a bit less- for example, to see if you can at least avoid driving to work so you don’t have to waste time stuck in traffic or throw your money down the rat hole of unstable gas prices. Moreover, you can see a city differently on foot or on a bus; you can focus on scenery instead of on protecting yourself from other drivers.
The purpose of this website is to help you do this - that is, to help you get around Jacksonville without a car to the extent possible. The website focuses on public transit because I am not familiar enough with bicycling to add bike-related content (though if any reader wants to do so I shall be glad to accept his or her assistance).
tags: jacksonville, car free, transit, public transportation
This is awesome. For those of us who live in/never leave the riverside, springfield, downtown, and san marco area, biking everywhere is a great idea and very convenient, earth-friendly, and against our “addiction to foreign oil”. Only problems: sometimes I like to go to the beach, and biking anywhere May-October means I will sweat through all my clothes by the time I get where I am going. But keep with the updates.
Mike, I’d love to help!
Thanks for posting this Joey!
what’s the link to his website?
One of the biggest problems with Jacksonville in regards to going car-free is the bridges without bike/pedestrian walkways. The entire area of Arlington is cut off from downtown via the Matthews bridge which can only be crossed by cars.
I’ve seen people walking over it before, but it is definitely dangerous and perhaps illegal.
-Riskable
“I have a license to kill -9″
Riding the bus in Jacksonville can be ridiculous, but I do it every weekday. I kind of like it, too, because in the press of a slightly crowded rush-hour bus I can see little flashes of what this city could be like. All else failing, I look out the window and imagine I’m in one of the cities my friends live in, with thriving, functional public transit and WITHOUT a minimum of two cars in the driveway.
Michael, please get in contact, I would like to help.
Annie
(anniemarley at gmail.com)
The website is currently “in progress” so Urban Jacksonville is the only place it lives online at this time. I will shoot Michael and email letting him know about the good feedback on his idea.
Fawn, I ride my bike to work. Yes in the summmer too! What I do is bring a change of clothes in my messenger bag. For some people this would be absolutely unacceptable. They would have to take a shower. For me being a little uncomfortable for a bit is well worth knowing I can ride my bike to work instead of driving.
I was trying to figure out the logistics of the bike ride to work.
I’ve been toying with the idea in my head on strictly a fantasy level for some time now, but after seeing that a change of clothes via backpack is how Joey does it I think I’ll stick to my Prius for most travel.
I will commit to riding a bicycle around Riverside once I figure out a place to safely store one without it being stolen.
In the winter you dont have to woory too much about being stinky after a ride. Hey it was in the 60s this morning!!
Truth be told, I’m actually more worried about the wrinkled clothes. I doubt they’d let me set up a clothes steamer or ironing board at my office…
…yet they expect me to dress nicely. Darn!
To Max Wood: I don’t have a actual “Auto-Free in Jacksonville” site yet; these posts are essentially my first draft, and I plan to turn them into a website after I’ve gotten a few more comments (probably in October sometime).
To Annie: email me at mlewyn@hotmail.com and we’ll talk.
This sure sounds like a good idea.
I was met with much frustration with the JTA when I first moved to town just over a year ago. I was in an apartment off of baymeadows and looked into taking the bus to work. It was only 3.5 miles away, but bikes on Baymeadows seemed like a death wish. At first, JTA’s online route planner directed me to walk across a ditch/railroad yard to get to work. After playing around a bit I was able to get a “better” route, but it would take an hour to make the 3.5 mile journey. Needless to say I gave up.
Now, I’m in the Riverside area. Biking is a dream over here. I’d like to look into a bus/bike option for my commute, but after my previous stint with JTA’s website, I’m not very optimistic.
Is this thing still in the works?
Jordan,
Glad you found a bike friendly environment in Riverside. It seems like people who like to ride bikes end up in Riverside, San Marco, Springfield etc. You can contact Michael: mlewyn@hotmail.com to check on the status of the project.
Great job, Michael!
I’m new to town since last May and live in Springfield. I commute by bike to Open Road Bicycles in San Marco where I work part time. I love the idea of making Jacksonville bike friendly now as the city grows! I rarely use my car here and love the exercise and the convenience (avoid traffic jams/easy parking). Plus it’s more social since you can stop to talk to neighbors!
We moved here from Los Angeles looking for a better quality of life. Over there, I often spent up to 3 hours driving one way in traffic on the freeways!
Have you contacted North Florida Bike Club?http://www.nfbc.us/ Let me know how Open Road Bicycles and I can help!
Also, Paris, France is becoming very bike friendly. Even in small French towns you’ll see residents of all ages doing their local commuting/shopping via bike. Cars are less popular partly due to the high fuel costs. http://www.parisvoice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=273&Itemid=56
thanks!
Renee