by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
As an effort to boost awareness for alternative modes of transportation in Jacksonville, the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization hosted a transportation fair at the Landing Tuesday.
Denise Bunnewith, MPO’s executive director, said the event was designed to educate people about transportation alternatives.
Marci Larson, public information manager for MPO, said with rising gas prices, road rage, traffic congestion and costly construction prices, people need to be aware of the available options for their daily commute.
“People might be getting to the point where they maybe want to try something different, even if only one day per week,” she said. “People can do simple things to help. There are all kinds of options out there.”
Mike Miller, external affairs director for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, said the JTA has seen a 5 to 6 percent increase in bus ridership per year for the last three years as gas prices continue to rise. But even with the increase in bus ridership and about 3,000 Skyway riders per day, Miller said a majority of people will not start using alternative transportation until they have no other choice.
“It is great to know that there are different modes of transportation out there available to folks and we hope that they will try them,” he said, “but at the end of the day, $2 per gallon is still not going to push people to say that they are going to make a change.”
Miller said a lack of gasoline availability, not increased prices, will force people to use alternative forms of transportation.
“In the late 1970s, during the oil embargo, people were waiting anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to put in $5 worth of gasoline, which today would be about $10,” he said. “Then you saw people out of necessity having to look for alternative forms of transportation. But as long as the availability is there, people will still make other sacrifices for their dollar in order to put gas in their cars.”
City Council member Art Graham, chair of the Transportation, Energy and Environment Committee said local transportation receives the second largest amount of City funding, behind education. Even with all of that funding, Graham said there are still many issues with local roads.
“One of the arguments I hear all of the time is, ‘Our roads are so crowded. We have a transportation problem,’ ” he said. “I don’t think what we have is a transportation problem. What we have is a utilization problem.”
Graham said beside educating the population about the different transportation alternatives, Jacksonville “could possibly better utilize the roads by having (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes like other large cities.”
James Bennett, Florida Department
of Transportation urban area transportation development engineer for District Two, agreed that more roads are
notthe answer to local transportation issues.
“As the population continues to grow, there are only so many roads we can build at a certain rate,” said Bennett. “Finding alternative modes of transportation will help reduce congestion as
well as improve the quality of life here.”
For the fair, JTA had one of its new
buses parked near the outdoor stage
for attendees to examine.
A new electric bicycle was also on
display. Stan Stanford, owner of Champion Cycling, and his wife Karen brought the new bike for attendees to test.
First Coast MPO has another fair
scheduled for Friday at the DVI Farmers Market in Hemming Plaza.