Comments on: Car Free in Jacksonville

By: Renee

Renee — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:58:45 +0000

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

By: Joey Marchy

Joey Marchy — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:17:16 +0000

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.

By: jordan

jordan — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:10:29 +0000

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?

By: Michael Lewyn

Michael Lewyn — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 16:25:45 +0000

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.

By: DamonNoisettejavascript:void(0);

DamonNoisettejavascript:void(0); — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:20:39 +0000

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!

By: joeymarchy

joeymarchy — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 20:59:14 +0000

In the winter you dont have to woory too much about being stinky after a ride. Hey it was in the 60s this morning!!

By: DamonNoisettejavascript:void(0);

DamonNoisettejavascript:void(0); — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 15:36:46 +0000

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.

By: joeymarchy

joeymarchy — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:43:15 +0000

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.

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:00:43 +0000

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)

By: Riskable

Riskable — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:08:33 +0000

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″