San Antonio Light-Rail... Possibility?...Give SA Light Rail...Light Rail Trolley (Houston: university, to live)

[alexjon]

Originally Posted by mpope409

Well then there's two questions:

1) Is this lightrail of San Antone's going to have frequent users?
2) Couldn't the money be put to better user? Because I think it could.

1) Buses on Fredericksburg road frequently become stacked up 2 or 3 within a half-mile stretch. Furthermore, the number of roads and turns and twists and freeway miles prevent lines to UTSA from being as frequent as they oughta be.

2) The money is there for transit exclusively, through federal grants and sponsorship from transit companies. Some companies stipulate that there needs to be a good dedicated transit system before considering setting up camp, which is another good selling point for the city. Any gaps in funding that are picked up by tax payers could easily be made back within a few years, as with the billions of dollars in investment that the MAX and streetcar system have brought portland.

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by alexjon

1) Buses on Fredericksburg road frequently become stacked up 2 or 3 within a half-mile stretch. Furthermore, the number of roads and turns and twists and freeway miles prevent lines to UTSA from being as frequent as they oughta be.

2) The money is there for transit exclusively, through federal grants and sponsorship from transit companies. Some companies stipulate that there needs to be a good dedicated transit system before considering setting up camp, which is another good selling point for the city. Any gaps in funding that are picked up by tax payers could easily be made back within a few years, as with the billions of dollars in investment that the MAX and streetcar system have brought portland.

Hm. Well I voted "No". Hope that doesn't make me evil, lol.

[adtobias]

we have to start thinking ahead

[CandyApple]

Just to demonstrate I used Google Earth to create a few possible starter routes:

How did you do that? Whenever I try to save a map in Google maps it won't let me. Right-clicking won't bring up that option. I could always hit "printscreen" and copy it into Paint, but is there an easier way to do it? Drives me nuts when I'm trying to save something to look at offline...

Or, is saving a map an option just in Google Earth, but not Google maps?

[tgannaway89]

Originally Posted by CandyApple

How did you do that? Whenever I try to save a map in Google maps it won't let me. Right-clicking won't bring up that option. I could always hit "printscreen" and copy it into Paint, but is there an easier way to do it? Drives me nuts when I'm trying to save something to look at offline...

Or, is saving a map an option just in Google Earth, but not Google maps?

That's all I did was print screen and post into paint. It is a hassle but it's that only way I know.

[slaleman]

You can put routes in Google Earth Pro if you've got it...but it's $400.

[tgannaway89]

As far as the "need" for San Antonio to have a light rail, you can only build roads so high, so far, and so fast. Light rail can transport more people in a smaller space, and is cleaner that most vehicles. San Antonio is growing FAST. It will take several years after that for light-rail to be utilized across the city. If you wait until you absolutely need the rail, it will be much more of a hassle. San Antonio is well capable of supporting a light-rail system as it is know. Imagine 10 years from now! I see a mass of positives outweighing the negatives. It is more visually appealing, cleaner, and quicker. It will also help the tourism industry as far as attracting out-of-state visitors. I visited Houston over Christmas and I loved the light-rail. It was so much easier to get around!

[tgannaway89]

Originally Posted by slaleman

You can put routes in Google Earth Pro if you've got it...but it's $400.

I put in the routes on Google Earth and then just used the print screen command to move them to paint where I saved them. You can also add the placemarks with Google Earth.

[For those who don't know what we're talking about - http://earth.google.com/ (There is a FREE version, a PLUS version, and a PRO version.)]

[tgannaway89]

I don't think that any proposals for a "starter" line should be any more than 10 miles. That was a big turnoff to voters in the 2000 proposal. Keep in my mind that the light rail could be easily expanded.

[tgannaway89]

I personally like the idea of starting with a downtown - airport light rail (like the one I poroposed). It could then be expanded to UTSA/Fiesta/La Cantera/The Rim (doubling the size of the light rail). Then another 5 miles from the UTSA DT campus could reach to Lackland. If you start with a central starter line it coul be easier to branch out to the other areas.