Commuter rail
Commuter rail called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that operates between a city centre and middle to outer suburbs beyond 15 km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis. Trains operate following a schedule at speeds varying from 50 to 225 km/h. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used. Non-English names include Treno suburbano in Italian, Cercanías in Spanish, Rodalies in Catalan, Proastiakos in Greek, S-Bahn in German, Train de banlieue in French, Příměstský vlak or Esko in Czech, Elektrichka in Russian, Pociąg podmiejski in Polish and Pendeltåg in Swedish; the development of commuter rail services has become popular, with the increased public awareness of congestion, dependence on fossil fuels, other environmental issues, as well as the rising costs of owning and parking automobiles. Most commuter trains are built to main line rail standards, differing from light rail or rapid transit systems by: being larger providing more seating and less standing room, owing to the longer distances involved having a lower frequency of service having scheduled services serving lower-density suburban areas connecting suburbs to the city center sharing track or right-of-way with intercity or freight trains not grade separated being able to skip certain stations as an express service due to being driver controlled Compared to rapid transit, commuter/suburban rail has lower frequency, following a schedule rather than fixed intervals, fewer stations spaced further apart.
They serve lower density suburban areas, share right-of-way with intercity or freight trains. Some services operate only during peak hours and others uses fewer departures during off peak hours and weekends. Average speeds are high 50 km/h or higher; these higher speeds better serve the longer distances involved. Some services include express services which skip some stations in order to run faster and separate longer distance riders from short-distance ones; the general range of commuter trains' distance varies between 200 km. Sometimes long distances can be explained by. Distances between stations may vary, but are much longer than those of urban rail systems. In city centers the train either has a terminal station or passes through the city centre with notably fewer station stops than those of urban rail systems. Toilets are available on-board trains and in stations, their ability to coexist with freight or intercity services in the same right-of-way can drastically reduce system construction costs.
However they are built with dedicated tracks within that right-of-way to prevent delays where service densities have converged in the inner parts of the network. Most such trains run on the local standard gauge track; some systems may run on a broader gauge. Examples of narrow gauge systems are found in Japan, Malaysia, Switzerland, in the Brisbane and Perth systems in Australia, in some systems in Sweden, on the Genoa-Casella line in Italy; some countries and regions, including Finland, Pakistan, Russia and Sri Lanka, as well as San Francisco in the US and Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia, use broad gauge track. Metro rail or rapid transit covers a smaller inner-urban area ranging outwards to between 12 km to 20 km, has a higher train frequency and runs on separate tracks, whereas commuter rail shares tracks and the legal framework within mainline railway systems. However, the classification as a metro or rapid rail can be difficult as both may cover a metropolitan area run on separate tracks in the centre, feature purpose-built rolling stock.
The fact that the terminology is not standardised across countries further complicates matters. This distinction is most made when there are two systems such as New York's subway and the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad, Paris' Métro and RER along with Transilien, London's tube lines of the Underground and the Overground, Thameslink along with other commuter rail operators, Madrid's Metro and Cercanías, Barcelona's Metro and Rodalies, Tokyo's subway and the JR lines along with various owned and operated commuter rail systems. In Germany the S-Bahn is regarded as a train category of its own, exists in many large cities and in some other areas, but there are differing service and technical standards from city to city. Most S-Bahns behave like commuter rail with most trackage not separated from other trains, long lines with trains running between cities and suburbs rather than within a city; the distances between stations however, are short. In larger systems there is a high frequency metro-like central corridor in the city center where all the lines converge into.
Typical examples of large city S-Bahns include Frankfurt. S-Bahns do exist in some mid-size cities like Rostock and Magdeburg but behave more like typical commuter rail with lower frequencies and little exclusive trackage. In Berlin, the S-Bahn systems arguably fulfill all considerations of a true metro system (despite the existence of U-Ba
Nassau County, Florida
Nassau County is a county of the U. S. state of Florida. According to the United States Census, the county's population was 82,721 in 2017; the county seat and the largest incorporated city is Fernandina Beach. Nassau County is part of the Jacksonville metropolitan area, home to 1,478,212 people in 2017; the county is situated in Northeast Florida with a land area of 726 square miles. Population growth in the county has increased by over 25,000 residents since the year 2000 as a result of Nassau's proximity to downtown Jacksonville, new housing developments, agricultural production, tourism locations, a diversifying tax base with new industrial and commercial companies moving to the county. Nassau County is a popular choice of residence for military personnel stationed on bases in nearby Duval County and Camden County. Nassau County was created in 1824 from Duval County, it was named for the Duchy of Nassau in Germany. The main environmental and agricultural body is the Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District, which works with other area agencies.
Nassau County is governed by the five-member Nassau County Board of County Commissioners, who are elected to four-year terms by the voters. The terms are staggered so that either three or two commissioners are up for election every two years; the Nassau County Commissioners consists of the five members below: The Ocean Highway & Port Authority is the independent government agency in Nassau County, that owns and operates the seaport system at the Port of Fernandina. OHPA was founded in 1941 by the Florida Legislature; the Port of Fernandina is used for terminal service for pulp and paper as well as steel exports, auto parts, beverages, building materials and food products. Container lines from the port serve routes to Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Curaçao, Bermuda. OHPA Commissioners Chairman: Adam Salzburg Vice-Chairman: Carrol Franklin Robert Sturgess Danny Fullwood Lissa Braddock Nassau County Sheriff's Office provides services for the citizens of Nassau County; the Office of the Sheriff has a duty to enforce both the Florida Constitution and Florida state laws and statutes, to provide for the security and well being of its citizens.
This is accomplished through the delivery of law enforcement services, the operation of the Nassau County Jail and Detention Center, the provision of court security. The Nassau County Sheriff's Office Headquarters is in Yulee; the Sheriff is Bill Leeper. The Nassau County Courthouse in Fernandina Beach is a historic two-story red brick courthouse built in 1891; the Robert M. Foster Justice Center is in Yulee, it was opened in 2004 to augment the historic Nassau County Courthouse location. This facility cost over $20 million to build. Like much of the south Atlantic region of the United States, Nassau County has a humid subtropical climate, with mild weather during winters and hot and humid weather during summers. Seasonal rainfall is concentrated in the warmest months from May through September, while the driest months are from November through April. Due to Yulee's low latitude and proximity to the coast it allows for little cold weather, winters are mild and sunny. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 726 square miles, of which 649 square miles is land and 77 square miles is water.
The city of Fernandina Beach is on the county's one inhabited island. Fernandina Beach municipality extends across the Intracoastal Waterway along A1A to Yulee. There are 12 distinct topographical zones in Nassau County. Most of these zones run in narrow bands stretching from north to south, although this is less true as one approaches the Atlantic coast. Directly against the western border with Baker County, the topography ranges from flat to elevated. Drainage is poor and the soil is sandy. Moving east, there are some areas of higher ground with much better drainage. East of these areas are some lower places in the south, that are level and have poor drainage. Eastward again, there is a stretch that ranges from a few miles in the extreme northern areas to about 6-8 miles wide in the southern area, including Hilliard and much of County Road 108 and State Road 301; this area again has poor drainage, low-lying land, sandy soil. East of this are scattered areas of sandy land with spotty or poor drainage.
East of this, there is an area including Callahan with sandy soil on top, clay underneath. This section of the county is permeated by small creeks and rivers, which bring with them low, poorly drained soils; this zone extends across the entire county from north to south at a consistent width of about 3-4 miles, except in the north, where it widens to nearly 6 miles across. East of this area is a large band of land with a consistent width of about 8 miles; the land is low and level with poor drainage, it is permeated by small creeks and rivers. In the northern section, this is where some tributaries join the St. Marys River, while in the south a number of tributaries drain into the Nassau River, which flows into the Nassau Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. East of this area is a section of land about 3 miles in width that has sandy soils with bad drainage all around. Further eastward is a large area, including Yulee and O'Neil, about 4 miles in width, with poor drainage and sandy soil at higher elevations, pockmarked by large areas of l
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium- and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States and to nine Canadian cities. Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U. S. passenger rail services, it receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization. Amtrak's headquarters is located one block west of Union Station in Washington, D. C. Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains daily over 21,400 miles of track. Amtrak owns 623 miles of this track and operates an additional 132 miles of track; some track sections allow trains to run as fast as 150 mph. In fiscal year 2018, Amtrak served 31.7 million passengers and had $3.4 billion in revenue, while employing more than 20,000 people. Nearly 87,000 passengers ride more than 300 Amtrak trains on a daily basis. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas.
The name Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track. In 1916, 98% of all commercial intercity travelers in the United States moved by rail, the remaining 2% moved by inland waterways. Nearly 42 million passengers used railways as primary transportation. Passenger trains were owned and operated by the same owned companies that operated freight trains; as the 20th century progressed, patronage declined in the face of competition from buses, air travel, the automobile. New streamlined diesel-powered trains such as the Pioneer Zephyr were popular with the traveling public but could not reverse the trend. By 1940, railroads held just 67 percent of commercial passenger-miles in the United States. In real terms, passenger-miles had fallen by 40 % from 42 billion to 25 billion. Traffic surged during World War II, aided by troop movement and gasoline rationing; the railroad's market share surged with a massive 94 billion passenger-miles. After the war, railroads rejuvenated their overworked and neglected passenger fleets with fast and luxurious streamliners.
These new trains brought only temporary relief to the overall decline. As postwar travel exploded, passenger travel percentages of the overall market share fell to 46% by 1950, 32% by 1957; the railroads had lost money on passenger service since the Great Depression, but deficits reached $723 million in 1957. For many railroads, these losses threatened financial viability; the causes of this decline were debated. The National Highway System and airports, both funded by the government, competed directly with the railroads, who paid for their own infrastructure. Progressive Era rate regulation limited the railroad's ability to turn a profit. Railroads faced antiquated work rules and inflexible relationships with trade unions. To take one example, workers continued to receive a day's pay for 100-to-150-mile work days. Streamliners covered that in two hours. Matters approached a crisis in the 1960s. Passenger service route-miles fell from 107,000 miles in 1958 to 49,000 miles in 1970, the last full year of private operation.
The diversion of most U. S. Postal Service mail from passenger trains to trucks and freight trains in late 1967 deprived those trains of badly needed revenue. In direct response, the Atchison and Santa Fe Railway filed to discontinue 33 of its remaining 39 trains, ending all passenger service on one of the largest railroads in the country; the equipment the railroads had ordered after World War II was now 20 years old, worn out, in need of replacement. As passenger service declined various proposals were brought forward to rescue it; the 1961 Doyle Report proposed. Similar proposals failed to attract support; the federal government passed the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 to fund pilot programs in the Northeast Corridor, but this did nothing to address passenger deficits. In late 1969 multiple proposals emerged in the United States Congress, including equipment subsidies, route subsidies, lastly, a "quasi-public corporation" to take over the operation of intercity passenger trains.
Matters were brought to a head on March 5, 1970, when the Penn Central, the largest railroad in the Northeast United States and teetering on bankruptcy, filed to discontinue 34 of its passenger trains. In October 1970, Congress passed, President Richard Nixon signed into law, the Rail Passenger Service Act. Proponents of the bill, led by the National Association of Railroad Passengers, sought government funding to ensure the continuation of passenger trains, they conceived the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, a private entity that would receive taxpayer funding and assume operation of intercity passenger trains. The original working brand name for NRPC was Railpax, but shortly before the company started operating it was changed to Amtrak. There were several key provisions: Any railroad operating intercity passenger service could contract with the NRPC, thereby joining the national system. Participating railroads bought into the NRPC using a formula based on their recent intercity passenger losses.
The purchase price could be satisfied either by cash or rolling stock. Any participating railroad was freed of the obligation to operate intercity passenger service after May 1, 1971, except for those services chosen by the Department of Transportation as part of a "basic system" of servic
Jacksonville Skyway
The Jacksonville Skyway is a people mover in Jacksonville, United States. It is an automated monorail train operated by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. Opening in 1989 with three stations in Downtown Jacksonville, the Skyway was extended in 1996 following a conversion from its original technology to Bombardier Transportation equipment, it was expanded again in 1998 and 2000. The system comprises two routes across 2.5 miles of track, serving eight stations, crosses the St. Johns River on the Acosta Bridge. There is no fare to ride the Skyway, which had 1.2 million passengers in 2014. The Skyway runs on an elevated two-way monorail track; the 2.5-mile system serves eight stations in Downtown Jacksonville: five in the Downtown Core and LaVilla areas, three across the St. Johns River on the Southbank. There are two routes running south from Rosa Parks Transit Station and branching at Central station: one going west and terminating at Convention Center station, the other going south over the river and terminating at Kings Avenue station on the Southbank.
The system has used two control systems since its creation. From 1989 to 1996 it had a system designed by Matra using its VAL 256-type rubber-wheeled technology; this ran only on three station Phase I-A segment. In 1997, this was replaced by the current system designed by Bombardier Transportation, a version of its UM III monorail technology and 2 VAL cars were sold to O'Hare International Airport Transit System. In the current system, vehicles run on beams 34 inches wide and 28 inches deep, fixed on an 11-foot wide guideway with parapet walls; each train is automated by Automatic Train Control, can have two to six cars, travel at up to 35 mph. An automated people mover for Downtown Jacksonville was first proposed in 1972 to deal with traffic and parking issues in the urban core. In 1976, the city incorporated the system into its mobility plan, hoping to attract interest from the Urban Mass Transit Administration's Downtown Peoplemover Program; the initial study was undertaken by the Florida Department of Transportation and Jacksonville's planning department, who took the Skyway project to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority in 1977 for further development.
Early proposals recommended a comprehensive system over 4 miles long that would connect into adjacent neighborhoods, but the project's route and scope were reduced over the years to meet budget constraints and the UMTA's parameters. After several stops and starts, the UMTA selected Jacksonville as one of seven cities to receive federal funding for the "Automated Skyway Express" in 1985. Two other related projects are Detroit's People Mover. UMTA's approved plan called for the construction of a 2.5-mile Phase I system to be built in three segments. In July 1987, JTA selected French company Matra to build the Phase I-A segment. Work completed in May 1989 at a cost of $34.6 million. At its opening the Skyway served three stations on its east-west route: Central and Terminal Station on the Northbank of Downtown Jacksonville. Subsequent extensions were planned to take the Skyway north to Florida Community College at Jacksonville, south across the St. Johns River over the Acosta Bridge. Development of these routes began in 1992 and 1995 but negotiations for a new contract with Matra failed when the previous one expired.
In October 1994 Bombardier Transportation was awarded a new contract to revamp the existing east-west segment with new technology and to complete the remaining Phase I extensions. The system was shut down on December 15, 1996 to replace the former Matra technology with Bombardier equipment; the northbound extension was completed, adding the Hemming Plaza and Rosa Parks Transit Station stops, the Skyway reopened on December 15, 1997, with service from the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center to FCCJ; the southern segment opened on October 30, 1998, adding service to San Marco Station on Jacksonville's Southbank. On November 1, 2000, the Riverplace and Kings Avenue Stations opened, completing the Southbank segment and Phase I of the Skyway. Ridership on the Skyway has been far below initial projections; the primary reasons are the decline of the downtown workforce and lack of connections to other neighborhoods and modes of transit. The system became a major point of contention in Jacksonville, with critics considering it a "ride to nowhere" and a waste of resources.
In 2010, after underperforming for over twenty years, The Florida Times-Union called it "a Jacksonville joke for a generation". However, others argued that expansion of the system and downtown revitalization could make it a success. In February 2012, the Skyway was temporarily made free to ride until a new payment system was installed. Ridership jumped 61%—to 481,000 annually. Ridership in 2013 averaged nearly 4,000 on weekdays and JTA has renewed the fare-free policy through the end of 2016. In light of this momentum, JTA Director Nat Ford has announced the agency will apply for grants to expand the system with a new station in the fast-growing Brooklyn neighborhood. In December 2015 the Jacksonville Transit Authority announced plans to review the installation and operation citing problems that "Skyway’s current vehicles are so old the parts can no longer be replaced — four of 10
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry many passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers; the most common type of bus is the single-deck rigid bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker and articulated buses, smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses. Many types of buses, such as city transit buses and inter-city coaches, charge a fare. Other types, such as elementary or secondary school buses or shuttle buses within a post-secondary education campus do not charge a fare. In many jurisdictions, bus drivers require a special licence above and beyond a regular driver's licence. Buses may be used for scheduled bus transport, scheduled coach transport, school transport, private hire, or tourism. Horse-drawn buses were used from the 1820s, followed by steam buses in the 1830s, electric trolleybuses in 1882; the first internal combustion engine buses, or motor buses, were used in 1895. Interest has been growing in hybrid electric buses, fuel cell buses, electric buses, as well as ones powered by compressed natural gas or biodiesel.
As of the 2010s, bus manufacturing is globalised, with the same designs appearing around the world. Bus is a clipped form of the dative plural of omnis-e; the theoretical full name is in French voiture omnibus. The name originates from a mass-transport service started in 1823 by a French corn-mill owner named Stanislas Baudry in Richebourg, a suburb of Nantes. A by-product of his mill was hot water, thus next to it he established a spa business. In order to encourage customers he started a horse-drawn transport service from the city centre of Nantes to his establishment; the first vehicles stopped in front of the shop of a hatter named Omnés, which displayed a large sign inscribed "Omnes Omnibus", a pun on his Latin-sounding surname, omnes being the male and female nominative and accusative form of the Latin adjective omnis-e, combined with omnibus, the dative plural form meaning "for all", thus giving his shop the name "Omnés for all". His transport scheme was a huge success, although not as he had intended as most of his passengers did not visit his spa.
He turned the transport service into his principal lucrative business venture and closed the mill and spa. Nantes citizens soon gave the nickname "omnibus" to the vehicle. Having invented the successful concept Baudry moved to Paris and launched the first omnibus service there in April 1828. A similar service was introduced in London in 1829. Regular intercity bus services by steam-powered buses were pioneered in England in the 1830s by Walter Hancock and by associates of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, among others, running reliable services over road conditions which were too hazardous for horse-drawn transportation; the first mechanically propelled omnibus appeared on the streets of London on 22 April 1833. Steam carriages were much less to overturn, they travelled faster than horse-drawn carriages, they were much cheaper to run, caused much less damage to the road surface due to their wide tyres. However, the heavy road tolls imposed by the turnpike trusts discouraged steam road vehicles and left the way clear for the horse bus companies, from 1861 onwards, harsh legislation eliminated mechanically propelled vehicles from the roads of Great Britain for 30 years, the Locomotive Act of that year imposing restrictive speed limits on "road locomotives" of 5 mph in towns and cities, 10 mph in the country.
In parallel to the development of the bus was the invention of the electric trolleybus fed through trolley poles by overhead wires. The Siemens brothers, William in England and Ernst Werner in Germany, collaborated on the development of the trolleybus concept. Sir William first proposed the idea in an article to the Journal of the Society of Arts in 1881 as an "...arrangement by which an ordinary omnibus...would have a suspender thrown at intervals from one side of the street to the other, two wires hanging from these suspenders. Although this experimental vehicle fulfilled all the technical criteria of a typical trolleybus, it was dismantled in the same year after the demonstration. Max Schiemann opened a passenger-carrying trolleybus in 1901 in Germany. Although this system operated only until 1904, Schiemann had developed what is now the standard trolleybus current collection system. In the early days, a few other methods of current collection were used. Leeds and Bradford became the first cities to put trolleybuses into service in Great Britain on 20 June 1911.
In Siegerland, two passenger bus lines ran but unprofitably, in 1895 using a six-passenger motor carriage developed from the 1893 Benz Viktoria. Another commercial bus line using the same model Benz omnibuses ran for a short time in 1898 in the rural area around Llandudno, Wales. Daimler produced one of the earliest motor-bus models in 1898, selling a double-decker bus to the Motor Traction Company, first used on the streets of London on 23 April 1898; the vehicle had a maximum speed of 18 km/h and accommodated up to 20 passengers, in an enclosed area below and on an open-air pl
Duval County, Florida
Duval County is a county in the State of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 864,263, with a 2017 estimate at 937,934, the seventh most populous in Florida, its county seat is Jacksonville, with which the Duval County government has been consolidated since 1968. Duval County was established in 1822, is named for William Pope Duval, Governor of Florida Territory from 1822 to 1834. Duval County is included in FL Metropolitan Statistical Area; this area had been settled by varying cultures of indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European contact. Within the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Jacksonville, archeologists have excavated remains of some of the oldest pottery in the United States, dating to 2500 BCE. Prior to European contact, the area was inhabited by the Mocama, a Timucuan-speaking group who lived throughout the coastal areas of northern Florida. At the time Europeans arrived, much of what is now Duval County was controlled by the Saturiwa, one of the region's most powerful tribes.
The area that became Duval County was home to the 16th-century French colony of Fort Caroline, saw increased European settlement in the 18th century with the establishment of Cowford renamed Jacksonville. Duval County was created in 1822 from St. Johns County, it was named for William Pope Duval, Governor of Florida Territory from 1822 to 1834. When Duval County was created, it covered a massive area, from the Suwannee River on the west to the Atlantic Ocean on the east, north of a line from the mouth of the Suwannee River to Jacksonville on the St. Johns River. Alachua and Nassau counties were created out of parts of Duval County in 1824. Clay County was created from part of Duval County in 1858. Part of St. Johns County south and east of the lower reaches of the St. Johns River was transferred to Duval County in the 1840s. On October 1, 1968, the government of Duval County was consolidated with the government of the city of Jacksonville; the Duval County cities of Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, the town of Baldwin are not included in the corporate limits of Jacksonville, maintain their own municipal governments.
The city of Jacksonville provides all services that a county government would provide. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 918 square miles, of which 762 square miles is land and 156 square miles is water; the topography is coastal plain. Fort Caroline National Memorial Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve Nassau County - north St. Johns County - southeast Clay County - southwest Baker County - west U. S. Census Bureau 2010 Ethnic/Race Demographics: White: 56.6% Black: 28.9% Hispanic or Latino of any race: 7.6% Asian: 4.2% Two or more races: 2.9% American Indian and Alaska Native: 0.4% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1% Other Races: 2.1% In 2010, 6.7% of the population considered themselves to be of only "American" ancestry There were 342,450 households out of which 28.68% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.92% were married couples living together, 16.74% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.27% were non-families.
24.85% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.05% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.04. In the county, the population was spread out with 23.5% under the age of 18, 10.5% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 26.4% from 45 to 64, 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.8 years. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males. The median income for a household in the county was $49,463, the median income for a family was $60,114. Males had a median income of $42,752 versus $34,512 for females; the per capita income for the county was $25,854. About 10.4% of families and 14.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.3% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those aged 65 or over. In 2010, 9.0% of the county's population was foreign born, with 49.5% being naturalized American citizens. Of foreign-born residents, 38.2% were born in Latin America, 35.6% born in Asia, 17.9% were born in Europe, 5.8% born in Africa, 2.0% in North America, 0.5% were born in Oceania.
The racial makeup of the county is 65.80% White 27.83% African American or Black, 0.33% Native American, 2.71% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.31% from other races, 1.96% from two or more races. 4.10 % of the population are Latino of any race. There were 303,747 households out of which 33.30% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.50% were married couples living together, 15.60% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.60% were non-families. 26.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.80% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size is 3.06. In the county, the population was spread out with 26.30%
