San Antonio's Answer to Light Rail is More Buses... (Houston: school district, tax)

[winst0n]

Originally Posted by Insomniac

In nothing more than the fact that light rail requires a set of tracks for the transporter to move on while BRT requires a flat surface. Both have their own ROW, stations, routes, etc. Besides those semantics there is basically zero difference in terms of what they accomplish.

but light rail doesn't stop at traffic lights because it will be above or underground at intersections. it will only stop on designated stations.
And will never be in a traffic jam whatsoever.

busses are not isn't?

[Insomniac]

Originally Posted by winst0n

but light rail doesn't stop at traffic lights because it will be above or underground at intersections. it will only stop on designated stations.
And will never be in a traffic jam whatsoever.

busses are not isn't?

BRT don't stop at lights either. Essentially everything you get with LRT you get with BRT except tracks built in the road.

[Guerilla]

Originally Posted by Insomniac

BRT don't stop at lights either. Essentially everything you get with LRT you get with BRT except tracks built in the road.

Yes, BRT's do stop at traffic lights. The only difference is that they have their own light. They get the green light before the cars do. Rail is much quicker, faster, and nicer. I hope VIA tries harder for light rail.

[winst0n]

well whether or not they stop at traffic lights, or what they say traffic signal coordination (as per VIA website), they will still affect traffic to other vehicles because cars have to stop for the bus to cross. and its not prone to traffic jam, like there can be accidents that can block the rail... and yes not as fast and smooth..

[case44]

Originally Posted by Kerby W-R

Why be more progressive ? Dallas, Houston and Austin all have Light Rail and
San Antonio can only come up with more buses .
If you look at the cities that have a rail system, those are the cities that are moving in the right direction. San Antonio is headed down a more congested and polluted path, I'm afraid.

Light rail in SA?? Yes! I could see that in the Alamo City. Just like the Via trolley, only more space age. Yes, I do believe SA can get it going.

[jerryg]

Depending on implementation, Light Rail ALSO stops at lights - sure as hell does in Baltimore.

I'd rather see a system that's totally segregated, and if that's what the plan is - great

[blazred]

I like to see that too but not like other cities SA doesn't really need it. I mean other cities that do have it have that pop to go with there transitions like Houston or Bailtimore with pops. of at least 2 mil. more then us they have a lot of people who actully use these transportation options. SA has tried to get a Subway but city council always back fired these arguments with the cost,the property they would have to remove in order to do this and the actual amount of people who would use it. they got there facts from the NYC database on how much people use there system and it accounted for what I recall 10% but I don't remeber the actual percentage. they even talked about demolishing the parts of the city and building up like NYC to increase the Pop. density of the city so more people would use the system. of course that was a crazy idea to demolish the area for the system so it was denied. It was on the newspaper a couple months ago. My point is I would love to see these projects happen in the city to moderize us a little but we simply depend on our cars too much and not many people use the bus system for us to convert to a more advance transportation system. Plus the bus uses propane so since they don't run on gasoline and those high prices why change.

[ryneone]

Like they said^^^ San Antonio even if they get a light rail will not use it in the number needed to fund it. Its a nice thought but we are far to spread out. It might work downtown. But we dont YET have the population or jobs in downtown.

[Insomniac]

Why does it work in Houston and Dallas, those two are spread out metros. As for population, I think we have it and as for downtown jobs, there's over 70,000 downtown jobs I believe. Seems like enough. Also, I don't believe there is one light rail system in any city or metro that makes money, I believe they all operate in the red.

[neddy]

If Austin can have light rail (the red line starts running next year here) I sure think SA could support one if put into the right place esp if put in the area of a higher number of bus riders anyway.