Imagine Fare-Free Votran

Votran's new routes 18 and 19 look like a good start at loop routes that circle the whole area and provide access between Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach from the main land and beach sides. Will more people take the bus? A fare-free ride help encourage ridership.

The annual operating budget of Volusia County's public transit system is such that 15% of the budget is recovered at the fare box, at least in 2006. Local funding covers 50%, State funding 14%, Federal funding 14%, and advertising 7%. Imagine a fare-free Votran system with no fareboxes.

Bus travel time reduced, no waiting for passengers to pay.

Use the front or back door to enter the bus, speeding up bus entry.

No exact change needed. No coins to count, bills to count, no fare cards to print and distribute.

No fareboxes to fix.

Bus drivers can focus on driving, not fare collection.

More people will use the bus if there is no fare.

Fewer people in their cars, less CO2 emissions from cars.

Can this be done? There are many fare-free success stories in the US. Votran could be next.

Passenger Rail Coming to Daytona Beach in 2012?

It appears that in 3 years Amtrak trains will be coming through Daytona Beach and that we'll get a new unmanned station in town. I found this out reading a Jacksonville transportation blog and tracked down an article on the new station being planned for St. Augustine. I recently got a cool folding bicycle, prefect for taking on the train. I'm ready for the train to come to town! The map is from a 469-page proposal for Federal Stimulus funds I found on a Florida Department of Transportation website. On the left is the location of the proposed station, very near the original one on Orange Ave and Ridgewood Ave. Another proposed location is between ISB and Mason (see top figure). On the right is the City of Daytona Beach Resolution supporting the proposal, dated September 9th.

When will we know if the federal government OKs the proposal?

Clyde Morris bike path gets high priority

On page 12 of the Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization

Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting minutes for June 2009 a list of prioritized bike/Ped Enhancement Projects is presented. A Clyde Morris bike/ped path for 2.2 miles from ISB to Beville RD makes it into the top 4, with a priority ranking 2. It appears tied to FDOT Financial Management (FM)# 4081781, the crazy project to add 2 more lanes to Clyde Morris. Cost estimate 32.7 million. I appears the County spent 3.8 million during FY 2008-2009 to study the widening, all money from the federal gas tax it appears.

New bicycle route maps from the County

The County has a new bike route map for East Volusia. The maps gives you some idea of the speed of the traffic on the routes selected. It would be valuable to have information on which streets/roads have shoulders, but that is not provided. On very busy roads like ISB, riding on the shoulder seems OK, but when the shoulder suddenly disappears, for example when crossing Clyde Morris, ISB is a little too busy to ride on with zero space between the lane and the curb. I want to "take the lane", but on ISB this is pretty scary.

Taken for a Ride

An excellent documentary about the how General Motors put all the street cars out of business and left us the public transportation system (mostly infrequent buses) that we have today.  As GM goes through bankruptcy, my wish is that they will turn from making cars to making light rail cars to atone for past sins.

Bicycling the beach

 

For bicycle commuting beach side, nothing beats firm sand with no cars or stop lights for 4 miles! Access from mainland via Orange Ave (Silver Beach Ave) then up the beach all the way to Plaza Blvd for groceries. This is my first iMovie film via a JVC miniDV camcorder. I plan to make street films about Daytona Beach to help document current conditions and work to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. Video update!

Buffer Area Bicycle Path

In the summer of 2006, this sand road and other trails through the Daytona Highlands buffer area didn't have NO TRESPASSING signs. These went up later that year and have prevented my commute through the buffer area from my home in the Highlands to my job at Embry-Riddle Areonautical University. A recent news article suggests things may change in the buffer area. Let's not have more parking lots please. How about a bicycle-pedestrian trail that gets people out of their cars and onto bicycles.