Urban Jacksonville

credit: metro jacksonville
Credit Metro Jacksonville: Bus Shelters Done Right

This morning on First Coast Connect at 9:00 we’ll be discussing the City Councilâ€™s decision to allow the JTA to hire an independent company to build dozens of bus shelters around town these would be paid for with print advertisements that would appear on the shelters.

Opponents of this move have argued it would lead to lawsuits and too much visual blight. However, advocates say this is a win for lower-income residents of the city who regularly ride JTA buses and have had to wait at bus stops with no shelter in rain and heat.

This is a good idea and adds to our cities competitive advantage when it comes to public transportation. Metro Jacksonville has two great articles on this topic.

While some may view the bus shelter discussion as simply an aesthetic one, it’s actually an issue that will determine the direction of our city’s economic future. A look around the country reveals that quality mass transit is one of the top urban amenities that appeals to the creative class. It is a critical element in the recruiting of highly skilled and educated workers that are essential for the new economy. Locally, mass transit happens to be one of Jacksonville’s major weaknesses.

From Bus Shelter Advertising Debate headed to City Council on Metro Jacksonville. They also take a look how how Boston successfully implemented bus shelters with advertising in the article Bus Shelters Done Right.

Here are links to articles on Jacksonville.com which detail the dissenting views on allowing a private company to build new bus shelters.

Building bus shelters with ads stirs debate through Jacksonville
Bus shelter battle heads to Jacksonville City Council

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 6:04 am and is filed under Activism, News, Transit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

thelakelander

There is no shelter design to show because a company that will provide them has not been selected. From what I understand, JTA plans to send out an RFP for shelters. So I guess the thought should be to apply pressure to JTA to make sure the RFP includes station design criteria, which could be written to eliminate the crap that lines our streets today from being considered outright.
duvaldestroyer

Art shelters would be amazing for this city. Maybe The Cummer, Moca/UNF and some other big dogs would consider sponsoring. Let's try to make that happen.
joseph marchy sr

great show everyone has a thought on things/some say what they think, some think about what they should say. BLESS THE PEOPLE THAT STAND UP AND SAY SOME THING, the leader,s of the day's to come are ?
Joey Marchy

I agree that there should be some sort of design oversight when it comes to these new bus shelters. I'd like to look into that more. I'll report back.
ProteanRealist

As a 5-day a week JTA commuter, I'm definitely excited about the possibilities of the venture. That said, I would still rather get soaked on a day I forget my umbrella rather than see public space degraded by a one-sided agreement. There needs to be a lot of attention on the form of these shelters if they're to become ubiquitous downtown.
The issue of aesthetics shouldn't be limited simply to whether we bring more advertising space into the commons, but the design of the shelters themselves could stand a fair amount of rigor. I have yet to see designs or renderings of exactly what will be constructed. The stands pictured above follow a form I'm used to seeing in D.C. and Melbourne, Aus. and I support those. What I'm not a fan of are the institutional brown metal stands now in place throughout the city. They reek - and not just metaphorically. My hope is that the city is maximizing it's leverage here and not simply granting billboard space in exchange for the cheapest constructions that can reasonably support something called a roof.
k

Every covered bus shelter in Chicago has the same deal going on. Not that Chicago is a city run by angels (look into the inkiness of the Olympic bid). And no one really wants to be marketed to if they don't have to put up with the ads. But you don't have to look at them while you're looking for your bus. I've felt more appreciation for a place to get out of the wind, rain, and snow than I have frustration at some sort of ideal of how the city is supposed to look. Jacksonville wants to be like big cities, but doesn't want to be covered in ads...OK...most major cities I've been to...are covered in ads! At some point the eye learns to not see the ads anymore.

City Council Amends Sign Ordinance to Allow for Bus Shelters

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