Austin's urban rail route looks great! (Waco, Killeen: 2014, schools, college)

[centralaustinite]

You can do that NOW! Take the red line from Leander, get off at the terminus downtown, walk over to Congress and take the Airport Flyer bus, it runs every half hour to the airport and costs $1

I am someone who wept bitter tears when the rail proposal in 2000 was defeated. But I am likely voting No myself this time. The subsidy per rider is too great and the debt service will tie Cap Metro's hands for decades. The bridge and tunnel aspects of this mess push the price too high.

[ranjit_mathews]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12

Just curious, but why the **** would anyone take greyhound, then need a bus to get to an airport, or vice versa? Connecting the two is not a benefit - certainly not one I'm ready to pay $200/year for

Why would you have to pay $200/ year? LR is $600 million at half price, the other half paid by the Feds. That's $600 per Austonian. Why would your household have to spend $200 per year on a debt of $600 per capita? If you have a household of 3, that's $1800 for the 3. If you use a 30 year mortgage to finance a $1800 loan on a house, would your monthly payment would be $200? No, it would be about $9.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

and the debt service will tie Cap Metro's hands for decades.

CapMetro isn't taking on _any_ debt.

[ranjit_mathews]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

You can do that NOW! Take the red line from Leander, get off at the terminus downtown, walk over to Congress and take the Airport Flyer bus, it runs every half hour to the airport and costs $1

That stop is not accessible to enough people. So, its frequency is low and it's not non-stop and thereby doesn't attract all those to whom it is accessible. Hence, its in danger of being cut by virtue of being unprofitable.
https://capmetro.granicusideas.com/f...-airport-flyer

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

I am someone who wept bitter tears when the rail proposal in 2000 was defeated. But I am likely voting No myself this time. The subsidy per rider is too great and the debt service will tie Cap Metro's hands for decades. The bridge and tunnel aspects of this mess push the price too high.

Tie their hands meaning prevent them from doing something else? Metro tends to imply transportation and this is transportation. So, something else such as what would it tie their hands from doing?

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

You can do that NOW! Take the red line from Leander, get off at the terminus downtown, walk over to Congress and take the Airport Flyer bus, it runs every half hour to the airport and costs $1

I am someone who wept bitter tears when the rail proposal in 2000 was defeated. But I am likely voting No myself this time. The subsidy per rider is too great and the debt service will tie Cap Metro's hands for decades. The bridge and tunnel aspects of this mess push the price too high.

Any rail that Austin builds that connects to South Austin will and most definitely should include a bridge. The lake is a bottleneck and we absolutely need more crossings. The idea is to have a multi-modal transit/ped/bike bridge similar to the one in Portland.


Any rail that goes north of the Redline will have to cross it somehow - this will involve either a bridge or a tunnel - period. There will not be an at-grade crossing which involves far too much conflict, and far too much regulation.

This is true whether you go north of the Redline on the G/L route or the proposed route.

AND

if they went on the G/L route (not feasible, but let's just say for the sake of argument that they do this) - they would ALSO have to grade separate the Drag - probably doubling the cost in that section.

This IS the cheap option. And the right one.

[ScoPro]

Just rent a few score of those Mexican chicken buses from south of the border.

Used to ride those all the time as a student in Monterrey 50+ years ago.

[ranjit_mathews]

Originally Posted by Komeht

Any rail that Austin builds that connects to South Austin will and most definitely should include a bridge. The lake is a bottleneck and we absolutely need more crossings. The idea is to have a multi-modal transit/ped/bike bridge similar to the one in Portland.

Any rail that goes north of the Redline will have to cross it somehow - this will involve either a bridge or a tunnel - period. There will not be an at-grade crossing which involves far too much conflict, and far too much regulation.

This is true whether you go north of the Redline on the G/L route or the proposed route.

AND

if they went on the G/L route (not feasible, but let's just say for the sake of argument that they do this) - they would ALSO have to grade separate the Drag - probably doubling the cost in that section.

This IS the cheap option. And the right one.

I have seen cheaper options mentioned but I haven't seen what they look like which leads me to suspect that they're infeasible. If BRT is a viable alternative, why won't anyone draw it on a map?

[ScoPro]

That's $600 per Austonian

There's only one Austonian, and it is already on Congress Avenue.

[ranjit_mathews]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

You can do that NOW! Take the red line from Leander, get off at the terminus downtown, walk over to Congress and take the Airport Flyer bus, it runs every half hour to the airport and costs $1

I am someone who wept bitter tears when the rail proposal in 2000 was defeated. But I am likely voting No myself this time. The subsidy per rider is too great and the debt service will tie Cap Metro's hands for decades. The bridge and tunnel aspects of this mess push the price too high.

IMHO, what is being proposed doesn't seem enough even for pent up demand, leave alone future demand. Even commuter rail eastward till Manor on the line to Giddings, northward to Round Rock along Mokan (preferably extended beyond to Georgetown), and giving UP a bypass around Austin in order to dedicate their current railroad to commuter traffic through Austin along with extending the red line underground to connect with the current Amtrak station would barely unclog freeways and roads in the 2030s. Something between doing all that and doing nothing would make matters better than doing nothing at all.

What alternatives present themselves? Banning people from moving to Austin wouldn't work and expanding roadways without room to expand them wouldn't work either. So, how do you propose that 2.7 million Austonians get around Austin in 2030, not to mention corresponding increases in non-Austonians traveling through Austin or between Austin and elsewhere?

[RoadWarrior12]

You ain't from around here, is ya?

Austinites.

Austonian is a tower on Congress.