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View Poll Results: Which do you prefer?
Austin 82 52.23%
Sacramento 75 47.77%
Voters: 157. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 05-31-2010, 04:47 PM
 
1,263 posts, read 3,993,970 times
Reputation: 642

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It's better than Houston's what? Light rail? You can't compare a commuter rail than light rail. Its ridership WILL be low even after summer because it is a commuter rail and has only very few stations and very limited schedule. Just to give you an idea, the LA area which is infamous for its lack of public transportation, has 512 miles of commuter rail with 7 lines. This thing really doesn't count as metro transportation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by OmShahi View Post
I'm excited for school next year, they finally opened up the commuter rail system in Austin on March 22, 2010. It's great, 32 miles. It's already better than Houston's. Keep in mind, the ridership is low right now, it's summer, and the commuter rail just opened up in the end of March. It's only about 1,000 people per day so far.
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Old 05-31-2010, 04:59 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,928,719 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by fashionguy View Post
It's better than Houston's what? Light rail? You can't compare a commuter rail than light rail. Its ridership WILL be low even after summer because it is a commuter rail and has only very few stations and very limited schedule. Just to give you an idea, the LA area which is infamous for its lack of public transportation, has 512 miles of commuter rail with 7 lines. This thing really doesn't count as metro transportation.
Oh no way dude, I know it's not light rail, but Austin's commuter rail is more extensive to it's area and a bigger impact than Houston's LRT is.

It's ridership will be larger after summer when all the college kids come back and start using it. I know I for one will be using it quite often, lol.

Anyways I wanted to show how Austin is developing, let me post pictures of what it used to look like 5 years ago, what it looks like now, and what it will look like in 4 years.

Austin 5 years ago:


Austin Today:


Austin in 4 years (2014):


^^ That's how it will look when all of it's projects are completed and approved. Pretty cool transition for a 10 year period.
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Old 05-31-2010, 05:06 PM
 
1,263 posts, read 3,993,970 times
Reputation: 642
Austin's downtown transition is amazing, but I wouldn't count on the commuter rail with great impact. It's 32 miles with only 9 stations. Think how far the stations are apart and see how it can't exist alone without cars. This coupled with the extremely limited schedule, it can't get you around the city at all and it will have absolutely zero impact on the city layout. What is does is just providing an alternative to a small fraction of the population to and from work. You don't need drive as much but you still have to drive to the stations.

Quote:
Originally Posted by OmShahi View Post
Oh no way dude, I know it's not light rail, but Austin's commuter rail is more extensive to it's area and a bigger impact than Houston's LRT is.

It's ridership will be larger after summer when all the college kids come back and start using it. I know I for one will be using it quite often, lol.

Anyways I wanted to show how Austin is developing, let me post pictures of what it used to look like 5 years ago, what it looks like now, and what it will look like in 4 years.

Austin 5 years ago:


Austin Today:


Austin in 4 years (2014):


^^ That's how it will look when all of it's projects are completed and approved. Pretty cool transition for a 10 year period.
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Old 05-31-2010, 05:08 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,928,719 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by fashionguy View Post
Austin's downtown transition is amazing, but I wouldn't count on the commuter rail with great impact. It's 32 miles with only 9 stations. Think how far the stations are apart and see how it can't exist alone without cars. This coupled with the extremely limited schedule, it can't get you around the city at all and it will have absolutely zero impact on the city layout. What is does is just providing an alternative to a small fraction of the population to and from work. You don't need drive as much but you still have to drive to the stations.
Yeah pretty much. I can still use it without having to worry about it though! I guess that's why I'm super stoked for it!

And yeah the downtown is going through some massive changes! So is Sacramento, but I think to a smaller extent.
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Old 05-31-2010, 05:24 PM
 
Location: Northern California
979 posts, read 2,081,581 times
Reputation: 765
Sacramento's downtown is relatively small and not a lot of construction going on. The economy in California really sucks right now - especially in Sacto. I don't expect any high rise construction anytime soon.

Sac Int'l airport and the Crocker Art Museum are expanding, however. And the light-rail expansion to the airport and the south suburbs won't be complete until 2020. Regional Transit recently kicked off phase 1 construction of the Green Line (downtown-airport line). Until the transit agency receives more federal and state money, the green line is a decade away from completion.
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Old 05-31-2010, 07:22 PM
 
Location: Northern California
979 posts, read 2,081,581 times
Reputation: 765
I'll give my take. I was born and raised in Sacramento. Currently live in San Francisco.

Life style
- Economy overall-- Austin. Sac economy is not doing to good.
- Education-- Austin... U of Texas > UC Davis. Davis is a good research univ. tho.
- Metropolitan Area population-- Sacramento (2.1 million).
- City Area population-- Austin (700,000)
- Professional Sports- Sac. home to the NBA's Kings.
- College Sports- Austin
- City Scape (downtown, skyline, notable buildings)-- Austin. love their new addition tower.
- Public Transportation-- Sac. bus and an extensive light rail system. Streetcar in the distant future.
- Major Interstates and other roads- I don't know
- Airport- I don't know. Sac is going through an expansion project right now. Direct flights to Europe could arrive by 2012-13. British Airways is the most likely candidate to start service once expansion project gets done.
- Housing- Austin, I think.
- Food (Ethnic food, unique food of it's own, etc..)- Sacramento. Sac has been known to be one of the most diverse cities in the country, according to Time Mag. You can get pretty much anything here. Can't get some yummy Texas bbq like Austin.
- Proximity to other locations- I don't know.
- Economy growth and diversity (Post Recession climate)- Austin
- Art galleries- I don't know. Sac has the Crocker Art Museum, one the oldest art museums west of the Mississippi; Currently expanding.
- Music scene- by far Austin.
- Museums-I'll go with Austin. Sac has three major museums (Crocker, CA railroad, and CA museum)
- Parks- I might go with Sac. We have the American River, which stretches from downtown to the eastern suburbs of Folsom, where people can go biking, hiking, river rafting, camping, and swimming. We also have Capitol Park, right in the heart of downtown, and McKinley Park, an east sac oasis, and many more
Sacramento is Tree City USA. Sac has more trees per capita than any city in the world! except for Paris, France.
- Shopping- I don't know.
- Climate (which you prefer, and why?)- I prefer Sac. I rather live in CA than any place in TX. CA rules!!!
- Notable companies headquartered here- Austin has more hq's. Sac's major one is Calpers.
- Anything else you can possibly think up and want to add
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Old 05-31-2010, 08:17 PM
 
Location: ITL (Houston)
9,221 posts, read 15,862,559 times
Reputation: 3545
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmShahi View Post
I'm excited for school next year, they finally opened up the commuter rail system in Austin on March 22, 2010. It's great, 32 miles. It's already better than Houston's. Keep in mind, the ridership is low right now, it's summer, and the commuter rail just opened up in the end of March. It's only about 1,000 people per day so far.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The Austin rail has some weird operation hours. If it was anything like other new rail systems opening up, the ridership would be through the roof for a couple of weeks/months before settling down. Austin didn't even experience that. It was poorly planned (according to many Austinites).
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Old 05-31-2010, 10:44 PM
 
515 posts, read 981,105 times
Reputation: 264
In my opinion, Austin is definitely the winner in this comparison. That said, I feel that Sacramento is very overlooked and underrated.
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Old 05-31-2010, 11:05 PM
 
Location: So California
8,704 posts, read 11,041,227 times
Reputation: 4794
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmShahi View Post
Yeah pretty much. I can still use it without having to worry about it though! I guess that's why I'm super stoked for it!

And yeah the downtown is going through some massive changes! So is Sacramento, but I think to a smaller extent.

Sacs has changed, and prior to the past 3-4 years, Id have said the downtowns were equal. The difference is that all of the high profile highrises that were slated for Sacramento got either put on hold or cancelled, while Austins got built.

I know both cities very well now, and for me the main differences are:

Austins large college age population and high tech employment. For me it makes Austin very attractive, but doesnt put it over the top because of Sacramentos location and proximity to some of the greatest geography in the nation. Good comparison though...
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Old 06-01-2010, 03:18 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,928,719 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by slo1318 View Post
Sacs has changed, and prior to the past 3-4 years, Id have said the downtowns were equal. The difference is that all of the high profile highrises that were slated for Sacramento got either put on hold or cancelled, while Austins got built.

I know both cities very well now, and for me the main differences are:

Austins large college age population and high tech employment. For me it makes Austin very attractive, but doesnt put it over the top because of Sacramentos location and proximity to some of the greatest geography in the nation. Good comparison though...
They say that by 2015 the only building in the top 10 tallest for Austin that's been there in 2005 will be Frost Bank Tower (formally the tallest building in Austin till 2008).

That's a lot of changes for the city. I don't think it's infrastructure (road wise) can keep up with the growth.

Last edited by DANNYY; 06-01-2010 at 03:36 AM..
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