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A "frequent commuter train?" I don't know about that, it's an hour (sometimes more) between trains, and it takes 25 minutes, not 15 minutes to Sac. (and it costs you $8.00-$10.00, one-way; Amtrak doesn't give you any student discount. A trip to Oakland on Capitol Corridor takes TWO HOURS and costs you a WHOPPING $27.50!!!! And that's one-way!!! Then you still need to buy a BART ticket to San Francisco!!!! Highway robbery!!!!)
Compare that to Dallas, where you can take the DART light rail that takes you from SMU, to downtown, to the airport, to Plano, Garland, Richardson, Rowlett, etc. for a tiny fraction of the price of Capitol Corridor, AND has trains at least every 15 minutes. Not to mention they're going to get that high speed rail from Dallas to Houston faster than we're going to get ours.
Why are you comparing light rail to commuter rail? Or better yet even bringing up Dallas? The comparison was to Austin. Compare the rail systems of those two cities.
It’s 3.5 hours to Corpus Christi and 5.5 hrs to nicer parts of the gulf from Austin.
3.5 hours one way really turns into 4.5 hours because any trip over 2 hours usually requires a few rest stops or breakfast/lunch/dinner break especially the more people u have with u in the car. As a Day Trip (return the same day) u are talkin 8-9 hours of travel time by car from Austin, not fun, nor something u would want to do often.
Sacramento is so much closer to a variety of diverse geographical destinations by car at the 2 hour mark, ocean, beach, bays, lakes, hills, canyons, alpine mountains 4,000 to 10,000 elevation mountains with world class ski resorts.
A day trip (a return trip back to Austin same day) is NOT an easy trip you want to do on a weekly basis to the gulf. And a lot of the Gulf ain’t pretty.
As a day trip (a return back to SACRAMENTO the same day) you have snow ski resorts, the Sierras, Redwood Forests, Lake Tahoe, SF, Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, Santa Cruz, Spectacular coast line. If u add just 1 hour, still less travel time than Austin to the gulf) Sacramento can add in the Cascades, Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta, Monterey-Carmel, Yosemite, and more of the Sierras, and more spectacular coast line.
It’s 3.5 hours to Corpus Christi and 5.5 hrs to nicer parts of the gulf from Austin.
3.5 hours one way really turns into 4.5 hours because any trip over 2 hours usually requires a few rest stops or breakfast/lunch/dinner break especially the more people u have with u in the car. As a Day Trip (return the same day) u are talkin 8-9 hours of travel time by car from Austin, not fun, nor something u would want to do often.
Sacramento is so much closer to a variety of diverse geographical destinations by car at the 2 hour mark, ocean, beach, bays, lakes, hills, canyons, alpine mountains 4,000 to 10,000 elevation mountains with world class ski resorts.
A day trip (a return trip back to Austin same day) is NOT an easy trip you want to do on a weekly basis to the gulf. And a lot of the Gulf ain’t pretty.
As a day trip (a return back to SACRAMENTO the same day) you have snow ski resorts, the Sierras, Redwood Forests, Lake Tahoe, SF, Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, Santa Cruz, Spectacular coast line. If u add just 1 hour, still less travel time than Austin to the gulf) Sacramento can add in the Cascades, Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta, Monterey-Carmel, Yosemite, and more of the Sierras, and more spectacular coast line.
I agree with alot of what u said, as someone who has lived in San Diego It's hard to beat California in terms of scenery. Everything is in driving distance for the most part. Personally the gulf isnt bad, I know alot of the brown water is in around Galveston & Padre Island is an oasis with blue water and white sand which is world of difference if one were to compare the Texas upper coast vs lower coast.
I have never been to Austin, but I have been to Sac. This is a pretty decent comparison. But I would rather live in Austin because the future is brighter there than Sacramento. Nothing against Sac, it's just obvious that Austin is the faster growing, more dynamic place to live. People move to Austin, people move away from the bay and stay in Sacramento.
It’s 3.5 hours to Corpus Christi and 5.5 hrs to nicer parts of the gulf from Austin.
3.5 hours one way really turns into 4.5 hours because any trip over 2 hours usually requires a few rest stops or breakfast/lunch/dinner break especially the more people u have with u in the car. As a Day Trip (return the same day) u are talkin 8-9 hours of travel time by car from Austin, not fun, nor something u would want to do often.
Sacramento is so much closer to a variety of diverse geographical destinations by car at the 2 hour mark, ocean, beach, bays, lakes, hills, canyons, alpine mountains 4,000 to 10,000 elevation mountains with world class ski resorts.
A day trip (a return trip back to Austin same day) is NOT an easy trip you want to do on a weekly basis to the gulf. And a lot of the Gulf ain’t pretty.
As a day trip (a return back to SACRAMENTO the same day) you have snow ski resorts, the Sierras, Redwood Forests, Lake Tahoe, SF, Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, Santa Cruz, Spectacular coast line. If u add just 1 hour, still less travel time than Austin to the gulf) Sacramento can add in the Cascades, Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta, Monterey-Carmel, Yosemite, and more of the Sierras, and more spectacular coast line.
It’s 3.5 hours to Corpus Christi and 5.5 hrs to nicer parts of the gulf from Austin.
A day trip (a return trip back to Austin same day) is NOT an easy trip you want to do on a weekly basis to the gulf. And a lot of the Gulf ain’t pretty.
The Texas Gulf is great from around Port Aransas southwards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CosmicAries
I agree with alot of what u said, as someone who has lived in San Diego It's hard to beat California in terms of scenery. Everything is in driving distance for the most part. Personally the gulf isnt bad, I know alot of the brown water is in around Galveston & Padre Island is an oasis with blue water and white sand which is world of difference if one were to compare the Texas upper coast vs lower coast.
The pristine sand at Galveston is actually quite white, at least beyond the wave line.
12 trains per day is hardly frequent. What about 15 minutes/train? And can anything justify $27.50 one-way tickets to Oakland?
Prices really need to be reduced if they want to incentivize more people to opt out of driving; might end up actually getting better margins from having more riders to boot.
One thing is Oakland is out of the metro area entirely so it’s quite different from going from Davis to Sacramento is more like $9.
A comparison of price and frequency for something similar with Austin’s commuter rail system might be interesting.
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