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Do you seriously need an answer to this moronic question?
How is this a moronic question? You either deal with the increase of traffic by improving public transportation, building roads, or a combination of the two. Since many people here seem to have little interest in improving public transportation, it must be that they'd rather throw money at building more and more roads that are costly to maintain. There is only so much space for new roadways. As someone else said, only toll roads bring in a profit. Now, do you really need an answer to your moronic question because I don't see the difference between VIA being funded by tax dollars and roads being funded by tax dollars other than that investing in public transportation would be more sustainable?
Yes, Texas has decided to turn some roads into gravel because we don't have the money to maintain them. If we can't afford to maintain existing roads, do you think we can afford to maintain new roads? If you want more roads, you have to pay the taxes to maintain them or accept toll roads which still costs money, but at least I won't have to pay to use them in the suburban areas I don't drive in.
How is this a moronic question? You either deal with the increase of traffic by improving public transportation, building roads, or a combination of the two. Since many people here seem to have little interest in improving public transportation, it must be that they'd rather throw money at building more and more roads that are costly to maintain. There is only so much space for new roadways. As someone else said, only toll roads bring in a profit. Now, do you really need an answer to your moronic question because I don't see the difference between VIA being funded by tax dollars and roads being funded by tax dollars other than that investing in public transportation would be more sustainable?
Yes, Texas has decided to turn some roads into gravel because we don't have the money to maintain them. If we can't afford to maintain existing roads, do you think we can afford to maintain new roads? If you want more roads, you have to pay the taxes to maintain them or accept toll roads which still costs money, but at least I won't have to pay to use them in the suburban areas I don't drive in.
If you think the trolley will improve traffic along Broadway you are just kidding yourself. It will make it even more congested than it already can be. VIA can't even afford to maintain the systems they have in place now, but we are going add more to it just because it is so progressive and everybody else has one.
If you think the trolley will improve traffic along Broadway you are just kidding yourself. It will make it even more congested than it already can be. VIA can't even afford to maintain the systems they have in place now, but we are going add more to it just because it is so progressive and everybody else has one.
I didn't say that the downtown streetcar was a good idea, but I did say that I would like to see an extensive rail system in San Antonio. People keep on griping about how much tax money VIA needs without even realizing how much tax money is needed to build and maintain roads. Either deal with worsening traffic or pay more in taxes for new roads or public transportation options.
How is this a moronic question? You either deal with the increase of traffic by improving public transportation, building roads, or a combination of the two. Since many people here seem to have little interest in improving public transportation, it must be that they'd rather throw money at building more and more roads that are costly to maintain. There is only so much space for new roadways. As someone else said, only toll roads bring in a profit. Now, do you really need an answer to your moronic question because I don't see the difference between VIA being funded by tax dollars and roads being funded by tax dollars other than that investing in public transportation would be more sustainable?
What is used more, public transportation or people driving their own cars on the roadways? I think that pretty much answers your question as to whether it's a good idea to continue to spend so much money on building new roads and maintaining them. Is it really that hard to figure out? This city is not setup like those high density cities that have successful train systems so roadways are your best bet.
In addition, these little choo-choo trains are going to be hella expensive to maintain as well so I'd venture to guess it makes more sense to throw money toward the option that 99% of the population uses EVERYDAY.
What is used more, public transportation or people driving their own cars on the roadways? I think that pretty much answers your question as to whether it's a good idea to continue to spend so much money on building new roads and maintaining them. Is it really that hard to figure out? This city is not setup like those high density cities that have successful train systems so roadways are your best bet.
In addition, these little choo-choo trains are going to be hella expensive to maintain as well so I'd venture to guess it makes more sense to throw money toward the option that 99% of the population uses EVERYDAY.
Why do most people drive instead of use public transportation? Do you not think it has something to do with the poor public transportation system we currently have? This city is difficult to cover with buses, but rail going between the major hubs of the city would work because it already works in the form of express buses. The problem with express buses is that, like I said earlier, they get stuck in traffic too and their capacity isn't large enough. We're just encouraging further urban sprawl that makes it difficult to cover the city with public transportation by providing little incentive for people to live closer to the core of the city. People are being short-sighted in not thinking about how the population growth WILL make the whole county denser.
What is used more, public transportation or people driving their own cars on the roadways? I think that pretty much answers your question as to whether it's a good idea to continue to spend so much money on building new roads and maintaining them. Is it really that hard to figure out? This city is not setup like those high density cities that have successful train systems so roadways are your best bet.
In addition, these little choo-choo trains are going to be hella expensive to maintain as well so I'd venture to guess it makes more sense to throw money toward the option that 99% of the population uses EVERYDAY.
i dont understand this. you have via and then you have txdot; each have their own budget. not to mention txdot has been struggling with funding. i bet toll lanes will be a lot more common in the next decade.
also, what a poor argument. who is to say downtown will not get more dense? txdot has always been ahead of the game here in s.a. which has helped avoid ridiculous traffic; we have a pretty superb freeway system. im sure many cities wish they had well-designed 10 lane city freeways.
why wait to be dense? might as well start a "choo-choo" train now.
Most have not bothered to understand why light rail doesn't work well in SA - there's not centralized business district. That's the ONLY way fixed-bed operations can succeed - VERY large numbers of folks needing to get to the same place day in and day out. Until you have that, fixed mass transit is nothing more than a fools gamble.
i dont understand this. you have via and then you have txdot; each have their own budget. not to mention txdot has been struggling with funding. i bet toll lanes will be a lot more common in the next decade.
I've got no problem with toll roads. They would would work well here. If you don't want to drive on them, than don't. At this point in time, they make a lot more sense than attempting to dump an obscene amount of coin into a rail system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shock
also, what a poor argument. who is to say downtown will not get more dense? txdot has always been ahead of the game here in s.a. which has helped avoid ridiculous traffic; we have a pretty superb freeway system. im sure many cities wish they had well-designed 10 lane city freeways.
Who's to say it will? Didn't they just built a bunch of high-rise condos down there and ended up selling many for massive discounts to simply get rid of them? Why is the city having to dangle a million dollar carrot in front of someone in order to get them to build a grocery store downtown? Do you not think a company like HEB does not know what's going to happen to downtown over the next 5-10 years?
Look, I would LOVE to see downtown SA become more than a tourist destination. I'd love to see more companies move downtown and more high-rise buildings be built but it's just not happening now and having a light rail making a circle downtown isn't going to make that happen. Without a massive influx of jobs, downtown will remain a tourist destination only unfortunately.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shock
why wait to be dense? might as well start a "choo-choo" train now.
Because you cannot foresee the future. Who says we will ever be dense enough to sustain a rail system? This city is growing outward everyday. The I-10 corridor out toward Boerne is exploding for instance. To me, it just seems that more folks would rather live in the suburbs than downtown. Will this change anytime soon? Who knows but I don't think gambling hundreds of millions of dollars on a light rail system makes sense.
Another concern I have is our water situation. What kind of density can we sustain before water becomes an issue? That may be a completely different issue all together but they way we are hammered every year about water restrictions, it sure seems like this may come into play the more crowded the city gets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasRedneck
Most have not bothered to understand why light rail doesn't work well in SA - there's not centralized business district. That's the ONLY way fixed-bed operations can succeed - VERY large numbers of folks needing to get to the same place day in and day out. Until you have that, fixed mass transit is nothing more than a fools gamble.
It's a Christmas Miracle! Some gets it!!
I guess people longing for some extensive rail system have adopted the "if you build it, they will come approach". It simply will not happen due to the shear size and layout of this city. There is no CBD downtown or anywhere else in the city for that matter. Until there is, a train makes no sense. As I said earlier, at this point in time, if a train has to be built now, I'd have it run from the airport to downtown. At least you know you're going to have ridership.
It's all just a gimmick to line their pockets while we continue to argue with each other and not them. In the meantime were stuck with a half ass project like always
Wow, looks like I kicked a hornets nest, 12 pages of replies in 4 days. The fury appears to have subsided, no comments in the past 2 weeks so I guess I'll kick it again. I read the first five or six pages and now I'm really confused. What I understood this project to be was a trolley car service for downtown. I keep reading all these comments from those in favor of this folly, I mean trolley idea about how badly we are behind the times and how much we need light rail. Wait a minute, this is just going to service the downtown area, it's not going to impact more than a few percent of business commuters. From what I've seen it has nothing to do with what most of those who want it think it does, this is not intended as mass transit. What is the big advantage of having trolley cars that run on rails over the trolley buses we have now. And in reply to some that think because I don't live in San Antonio I don't have a right to voice my opinion let me say this " I was born in San Antonio 63 years ago. I spent more than half those years living in San Antonio. I own property and pay taxes in San Antonio, not to mention all the sales taxes I contribute when I shop in San Antonio." I love the city and I'm proud to boast, spouting of it's attributes when I get the chance. And sometimes I don't wait to get the chance I just take it. I just was hoping there was someone out there, someone who is a good enough planner, mathematician and economist that they can explain the benefits, both in quality of life and return on investment this project will have for me and the vast majority of the tax payers of San Antonio.
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