CapMetro trying to prop up declining ridership (Austin: attorneys, subsidized)

[IC_deLight]

Originally Posted by riaelise

It's because there are so many people who want to see mass transit fail and are wedded to their cars. The implementation of the Round Rock service is a perfect example of this -

•••

It costs employees at our firm over 200$ a month in parking (firm foots nothing) whether you are an attorney or a mailroom worker. then there's the wear and tear on your car. Meanwhile, the bus costs me 96.25. If it went up, I'd still pay it just on the parking savings alone.

Begs the question why you and your employer select high cost area for workforce. Why not have offices somewhere besides downtown where employees AND CLIENTS can park without hassle.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by IC_deLight

Begs the question why you and your employer select high cost area for workforce. Why not have offices somewhere besides downtown where employees AND CLIENTS can park without hassle.

I have no say as to location. In addition since I work in litigation it’s better to be situated near the courthouses. I don’t work for a small firm btw. Almost all big law firms are located downtown so I don’t know how I could have selected anywhere else. My experience is 99% big law.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

In the late 80's and early 90's, it was free to ride Capiral Metro bus. I think the ultimate goal was to reduce traffic in Austin. Get as many people as they can to leave their car at home and take the bus. Offering free rides was sort of a way to introduce Capital Metro Bus service to people who would normally not ride a bus to work, to give it a try and hopefully some would be encouraged to continue riding the bus. What messed everything up was apparently homeless people were getting on the bus and riding nearly all day long, as a way to pass time I suppose, or perhaps to sleep off a hangover.

A city worth its salt is going to have to provide bus service or some kind of public transportation to people who have no other way of getting around town, except by bus. I think just about everybody has their errands and obligations they must take care of regardless of their financial status. A city that does not have some kind of bus service is a city that is not very prosperous.

I always thought Capial Metro and major employers in Austin could work together to encourage people to take bus to work. Offer incentives such as movie passes, restaraunt passes, tickets to Spurs games, big discounts on Fiesta Texas 6 Flags, SeaWorld, Moody Gardens and other theme park style attractions in Texas.

I like the idea of gondolas as an option for transportation. I was hearing talk to run a gondola line from Slaughter Lane in South Austin
along South 1st Street to Downtown Austin in about 10 minutes. No traffic jams. No stopping at stop lights. The gondolas would be above the street. I dont remember the numbers, but they could move quite a few more people on the gondolas in an hours time than on a bus.

But it got voted down in one of the elections awhile back. I never was real clear why the voters voted it down, but I thought was a brilliant idea and I thought just about everybody could have got on board with.

[TexasRedneck]

Why is it incumbent on a city to pay for transportation for the citizens? More importantly - why is it the job of taxpayers to pay for it, rather than those that actually use it?

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

Why is it incumbent on a city to pay for transportation for the citizens? More importantly - why is it the job of taxpayers to pay for it, rather than those that actually use it?

Wait, I thought I was a taxpayer last I checked. Why should a city do anything for that matter?

[Bp25]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

Why is it incumbent on a city to pay for transportation for the citizens? More importantly - why is it the job of taxpayers to pay for it, rather than those that actually use it?

Cities subsidize and provide service for some of its citizens that can't otherwise afford that. Property tax exemptions for senior citizens come to mind.
Do you want transportation unsubsidized? Then at least some minimum wage workers will not afford to come to work and we know they can't afford to live in the city core. Whom will that help?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

Why is it incumbent on a city to pay for transportation for the citizens? More importantly - why is it the job of taxpayers to pay for it, rather than those that actually use it?

So should no roads ever be built then by the government? Or they should all be built by private corporations, which means you would pay a toll to go to the grocery store down the street?

Back in the day before taxes, you were responsible for the street in front of your property. Pave, don't pave it, whatever. Roads between towns were toll roads, you can't pay the toll you can't go to another town.

What they found was that it was very inefficient to get around town as most people wouldn't keep up their portion of the street, plenty of potholes, and commerce between towns was stymied.

When they started levying taxes, one of the first things they started funding was transportation. Roads and streetcars were paramount at the beginning. This included the first rudimentary bus services.

I'm beginning to think you didn't think your response out very well. Don't regurgitate talking points from your favorite news network, think critically. Even the most libertarian of folks realize that transportation (roads+) are a function of government. Then it's easy to expand that thinking to a bus system because of course that makes the roads more efficient (increases their capacity without having to add lanes)

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by riaelise

It's because there are so many people who want to see mass transit fail and are wedded to their cars. The implementation of the Round Rock service is a perfect example of this -

- elitist yokel locals complaining about "riff raff" coming to their leafy suburbs due to bus routes (there is absolutely no corroborating evidence of this)
- the usual whiners "I hate socialism, so I hate buses because they are coming out of MY property taxes. If people want to commute to their Austin jobs let them take a Uber/Lyft which THEY can pay for" (never mind that we all pay taxes, including my household, which pays five figure property taxes that rise every year whether transit is implemented or not. Also never mind that the pilot program came out of a general fund and that RR isn't hurting when it comes to fiscal health)
- again, the elitist suburbanites "Round Rock is turning into Austin North" (never mind that suburbs that offer transit service have become even more well off - case in point, Leander is a blip on the radar now due mainly to metrorail. Years ago, it was just another burb with some nice views in places and where you could own lots of land on the cheap)

I take the 980 regularly and will support it until it dies. It literally has made my commute ten times better going down the managed lane. It still takes me an hour to get home but at least it stops close to where I work, there are minimal stops (two, including the last one), and my time is spent sleeping instead of sitting in traffic. I live 12 minutes from the park and ride. I know many stay at home moms and retirees that take advantage of the local bus routes and there are many who would like to but can't due to funding constraints (due to limited funding, the schedules aren't ideal for a number of people).

The sad reality (as shown by the responses above) is that the idea of mass transit and the opportunity it brings is foreign here and there are so many people who are unwilling to give. People don't give a crap about more people being able to see their families. People don't give a crap that mass transit can and has helped those in our population who need it the most - the elderly and those who can't afford driving into low wage jobs in Austin. It costs employees at our firm over 200$ a month in parking (firm foots nothing) whether you are an attorney or a mailroom worker. then there's the wear and tear on your car. Meanwhile, the bus costs me 96.25. If it went up, I'd still pay it just on the parking savings alone.

I think that's true to some extent, but there are other reasons as well. I grew up in the Northeast. I took mass transit every single day of my life. I hated the times I actually had to use my car. But I think I've taken it once since I've lived in Austin, which is over 20 years. First, I work on 360. Not a single, solitary mass transit line that goes up 360, even though it's in the city limits. I used to work in northeast Austin, and there were bus lines. But there are literally no sidewalks. I would have had to walk through foot high grass along a very busy road to get to work. If I wanted to run to the store or get lunch during the day? Same thing, but there was nothing really close anyway.

The fact is that the city, aside from Downtown and UT, is really not very walkable since it was largely developed after the advent of the car. So it makes mass transit impractical for a lot of people. I had jury duty downtown a few years ago. I looked into using a bus to get there. Estimated time was 2 hours and 40 minutes. And I would have still had to drive to get to a place where the bus would pick me up. Um, no thanks.

I don't know if there is an easy solution to this problem, I'm just sharing my experience.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by CarnivalGal

I think that's true to some extent, but there are other reasons as well. I grew up in the Northeast. I took mass transit every single day of my life. I hated the times I actually had to use my car. But I think I've taken it once since I've lived in Austin, which is over 20 years. First, I work on 360. Not a single, solitary mass transit line that goes up 360, even though it's in the city limits. I used to work in northeast Austin, and there were bus lines. But there are literally no sidewalks. I would have had to walk through foot high grass along a very busy road to get to work. If I wanted to run to the store or get lunch during the day? Same thing, but there was nothing really close anyway.

The fact is that the city, aside from Downtown and UT, is really not very walkable since it was largely developed after the advent of the car. So it makes mass transit impractical for a lot of people. I had jury duty downtown a few years ago. I looked into using a bus to get there. Estimated time was 2 hours and 40 minutes. And I would have still had to drive to get to a place where the bus would pick me up. Um, no thanks.

I don't know if there is an easy solution to this problem, I'm just sharing my experience.

They have greatly improved the linear footage of sidewalks in many parts of town with some of the new ordinances that require businesses on at least one side of the road to construct a sidewalk.

I'll give an example.

Burnett Road near 183 in 2015:
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3706...7i13312!8i6656

Notice that there is no sidewalk and the grass is well worn.

Burnett Road near 183 in 2017:
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3706...7i13312!8i6656

Notice the freshly paved sidewalk in this picture.

So even in the last 2 years there has been a great improvement in sidewalks. Maybe try again?

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Free rides are a common strategy of transit agencies, in fact back when Cap Metro launched the whole thing was free for at least a couple of years.

But they aren't free. Somebody (the taxpayers) pays.