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

[210]

That's not light rail, that is commuter rail. Two different forms of rail transit.

I believe also that it will only offer morning rides and afternoon rides.

It won't be a full day/night rider.

[AustinTraveler]

Yup, the one proposed for Leander is definitely only for morning and evening commutes, which quite frankly doesn't seem worth it. What would happen if you got a call from the school saying you had to come pick up your kid cause she's sick? Do you take a cab back to Leander?

But, I was hoping the other site might be of some help.

Good luck with your campaign.

AT

[210]

If you want, please, anyone seriously interested, contact me via my email address.

dmarc22@gmail.com

[alexjon]

I was directed here today, and I'm all for this. This is all I do in my spare time, brainstorm on this sort of thing! I'm going to school for urban planning when I finish my bachelor's degree in a few years here, and in the meantime, I want to cut my teeth good and deep on something like this. Lived in SA for over 20 years, from birth to most of my early 20s... now I live in Portland, a model of good light rail planning (and bad).

Anyway, I can do what I can to help! I have a million ideas and several notebooks full of them. Things like The Deco Line, The Spurs Line, The Skyline, station design, traffic flow considerations, New Starts info, precedents, etc.

Oh man, can you tell that this excited me? It sure did!

Oh! And what about things like line name considerations, like why you shouldn't name trains "Red Line" in certain neighborhoods? Okay, I'll shut up now. Where can I help?

[alexjon]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

I can build a decent website. What information exactly will we want on this site? I am guessing the basic pages: Facts, Proposal, Contacts, Links, Updates, Examples (other cities that have utilized light rail), Info. from the 2000 proposal. We will need pictures, graphs/charts, quotes, possibly renderings? to help illustrate our point. I know a few city council members have expressed interest in light-rail. We would also have to decide on a domain name.

I suppose the main menu should hit the meat of the issue:

1) What is it?
2) How would it work?
3) How much would it cost the taxpayers (where would the money come from?)
4) What are the benefits of light rail?

Then branch from those main points. For example, point 3 can cover all bases by bringing up new starts money, sponsorship from tram companies like bombardier and siemens, and it can also tie into the benefits portion by mentioning things like the explosive growth light rail has brought to cities like portland and dallas.

People want to know about the money aspects first and foremost. The sad fact of the matter is that every light rail plan that has been scuttled recently has been over money. The government is quietly shuffling money into funding for starter systems and intelligent expansions for future budgets (evidenced by their willingness to front more money for legitimate light rail and brt lines), it's a no brainer as far as the topic goes, but the general populace doesn't know that because they hear "taxes".

Investment in infrastructure is vital, and that's the biggest point that should be made in regards to the money issue.

Furthermore, SA hasn't got the hills and rivers most other cities do. We have roads and such, but people understand and pre-plan for disruptions of the construction sort.

And what about groups like the TI and Cascade Policy Group that are actively seeking to kill funding to light rail and reroute it to new roads? I assume the logical way to combat this is by explaining the limitations of new roads, the incredible capacity of light rail (we haven't got the short blocks that portland does, so a high capacity train is easy to run... I dare say we could run 4 car trains for express runs), the limited space we have, the fact that you can only build so far before you run out of jobs, and so on and so forth.

Also, you can mention that the further out you go, the more likely you are to hit a toll road, so the logic falls in making a dedicated corridor that can carry a lot of people at once.

As far as who would ride, the MAX in portland is seen as far more glamorous than the run of the mill bus, and that's why you regularly see people in suits and nice clothing, heading off to dinner in XYZ fantastically gorgeous restaurant while their car sits parked safely in a park and ride about 15 miles away.

Oh, someone stop me or at least raise some more focused points so I don't write a thesis, haha

[210]

Is this AlexJon from SSP??

[alexjon]

I guess I'll get myself up to speed further (without benefit of an edit, hey).

My line ideas:
Deco Line (BRT then LRT, Red Line): From the west side multimodal up to just south of San Pedro Park, hang a left to head up Fred, go through the deco district, quick stop at crossroads, then jog up toward the medical center, UTSA, and Fiesta Texas

Skyline (LRT, Blue Line): Shares partial tracking with Deco Line, but cuts up to San Pedro and heads up through to the Airport with a central station and shuttles to complete the route at the main terminals.

Fiesta Line (LRT, Orange Line): Shares tracks with Spurs Line downtown, but cuts north on Losoya to Broadway, and heads up to UIW and the Zoo. A turn-around at the head of the battle of flowers staging area with a bypass would allow for rerouting during the parades.

Spurs Line (LRT, Silver line): Crosstown route, from the west side to the SBC Center. Runs an express during games that uses an all stop in each occupied block to allow for high speed transportation to and from during game time.

VIA Rapid 1604/410 (BRT, Green line): Loops on 1604 and 410.

The Deco Line and Spurs line are priorty, Skyline and Fiesta line are secondary, VIA Rapid is tertiary.

I propose that the lines take on recognizable names that are distinctly SA; further, I propose that the stations also have an easy way to remember them: Station codes. For example, the Deco District HEB would be "HEB", the SBC center would be "SBC", Kelly USA would be "KLY", etc.

For the Deco Line, I propose that the light poles that line the stations be made in a deco style, cast in concrete, up to the fringes of the medical center. Within the medical center, however, they would be made of metal and easily replaced so as to limit down time in the case of an accident.

In the transition, these poles can be capped easily to add OCS/Catenary support for light rail.

Fare zones would be simple: Local service would use the regular VIA fare structure, express service would use a 2 or 3 zone system. Fares could be enforced by having all high traffic stations turnstiled in the Curitiba manner with fare enforcement at regular intervals.

Cost per mile wouldn't be too high, considering the amount of aid and assistance the city could receive from various portions of the state. There are planning firms sitting idle, there are construction companies that are well trained in this. It's not that hard!

Anyway, enough blather from me for now.

[alexjon]

Originally Posted by 210

Is this AlexJon from SSP??

Yeah, that'd be me

[210]

I'm currently trying to get a website developer (his work includes www.csanantonio.com) as well as try to come up with a domain name.

Shoot me an email at dmarc22@gmail.com so everyone can get on board.

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

7 years ago SA voted against light-rail. Now do you think the city is ready?

I favor the idea, and think the city would benefit from such. If something small (but expandable) was proposed it could be voted on, passed, constructed, and operational in 4 years. By 2012 I think that it would really help the city. Road construction is still planned through 2030! That alone can't keep up, and a light-rail system would offer an attractive solution. It would also be more eco-friendly. With the large amount of college students that would be able to utilize the rail, it could help attract more out-of-town students. This would be a plus for UTSA which hopes to reach tier 1 status. It could also help with the college's attempt to get a football team operational. The city itself would, in my opinion, look more appealing in its attempt to land a pro-football (and other pro sports) team. It would be great for tourists as well!

http://images.nycsubway.org/i28000/img_28486.jpg
Picture of new light-rail system in Houston, and typical station.
world.nycsubway.org/United States/Houston, Texas

I wasn't aware that San Antonio needed one . And Houston practically just got one and we needed it more than any other city in this country. Mind you, ours isn't even finished. It's still under development that will take it from poor to great. But San Antonio? I mean, does y'all's airport even have a lightrail?