The Source: Mayor Taylor 'Cautiously Not Pessimistic' On Future Of Lone Star Rail
By Paul Flahive
Mar 1, 2016

http://tpr.org/post/source-mayor-tay...-rail#stream/0

Or listen:
http://cpa.ds.npr.org/kstx/audio/201...urce-mayor.mp3

Passenger Count up at SAT with Domestic up 5%

Total Passenger Count at SAT up 4.1% in January

Push to bring commuter trains to San Antonio
By Emily Baucum
News 4 San Antonio
Thursday, March 24th 2016

http://news4sanantonio.com/news/loca...to-san-antonio

While a streetcar system may not pass the public ire, rail lines to major points of interest from the center city certainly makes sense. Could even run South to the A&M campus. Has to be something that runs on time and regularly.

HOV LANES COMING TO SECTION OF I10 ON FAR NW SIDE

^^^ I wish they would add toll lanes instead of HOV lanes.

Good luck with that
 

http://transportationblog.dallasnews...islation.html/

Lawmakers have filed more than 120 bills related to toll roads this session. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have both said they want to better fund the Texas Department of Transportation so it doesn’t keep adding tolling components to state highways.

Three Collin County lawmakers have filed a package of bills that would provide TxDOT more funding from existing revenue streams and limit the amount of time a road could be tolled, among other things. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said this morning that their push is based off a groundswell of toll opposition in a county inundated with toll roads.

Personally, not entirely opposed to toll roads, as long as they are new construction, and free lanes are also available.

Of course, decent public transportation would be much better.

I wouldn't mind seeing all freeways tolled and all public transportation free. It would be interesting to see how flipping those would change our culture.

All freeways are tolled already, but we call the tolls "taxes". ;)

I get your point and agree, but would not love living in the dystopian authoritarian dictatorship that it would take to make it a reality. :)

SAT Passenger Count up 5% YTD

February Passenger Count up 6% over February 2015; YTD count up 5%

Future of San Antonio-Austin passenger rail could hinge on local planning group
By Katherine Blunt, Staff Writer
San Antonio Express News
April 27, 2016 Updated: April 28, 2016 11:27am
http://www.expressnews.com/news/loca...ld-7379356.php

Interesting plane at the airport
 

I was driving out north and noticed a British Airways plane parked at the airport. What was it doing here and is that the start of new service? I am having problems getting the photo from my phone to load but I will keep trying....:tup:

In the news again
 

High-speed passenger rail line could link San Antonio to Monterrey
By Robert Price
News 4 San Antonio
Wednesday, June 1st 2016
http://news4sanantonio.com/news/loca...o-to-monterrey

obstacles
 

Legislature Could Kill Proposal For SA-Monterrey Rail
By Michael Marks
Current
May 27, 2015
http://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio/...nt?oid=2440988

Toll Road on the way to Cibolo. (Maybe)

This new toll road looks interesting to say the least.

http://www.expressnews.com/news/loca...to-8221056.php

That's pretty much how it is in New York City already.

The subway costs $2.75 (recently went up) and it takes you anywhere you want to go in the city. You could travel 300 miles for $2.75 if you wanted... from any borough to any other borough. To drive across a bridge costs $10.50 with Easy Pass and $15 with cash. Then you most likely have to pay to park. Taking the subway is much easier, usually faster, and more people do it.

San Antonio won't begin to do anything like that until it's too late (which it kinda is already).

Kinda too late?
 

Definitely too late for subways. Even rail would be terribly difficult. The areas of commerce/employment/education and whatever else are too spread out. TAMUSA is far far southside, while UTSA is 25-30 miles north of that. Toyota, again far southside, Brooks City Base over on the East side. Fiesta Texas and Sea World far from both and each other, the various business centers in Westover Hills... you get my point. And that doesn't even consider the expanses between major athletic facilities, (try driving from the Alamodome to the ATT Center, then to Toyota Field, and then a nice jaunt over to the Wolff).

NYC is much more tightly packed, and SA has never seemed to really have a plan to grow up and not out.

The fact is, implementing rail transit in SA would be a massive paradigm shift (if you're doing it right, at least) and should be accompanied by massive redevelopment of the commercial corridors to move away from car-centric infrastructure. Ideally, both would happen at the same time, in a coordinated way.

Very true
 

Any ideas on how to get the genie back into bottle? It will take incredible incentive to persuade people to give up their personal transportation, especially as the city gets more spread out and not less.

I think the only realistic course is a gradual shift that starts around downtown and slowly radiates outward. Maybe urban development will start to appear around and within the Medical Center and UTSA before too long.

Unrealistically, I have plenty of ideas but they all cost massive amounts of money and political will.