[PTSA]

Alexjon

Read my first post I am not advocating heavy rail in San Antonio. I am advocating heavy rail from Austin to San Antonio. (The following part was not posted previously, there is only so much you guys can handle at one time) This heavy rail line then can be eventually extended to Waco and Dallas. A second heavy rail line can be created from San Antonio to Houston in the future. In turn Houston can create a line to Dallas also. I am talking about really fast trains (Japanese style bullet trains) that will be competative with air traffic as far as time is concerned and offer the passenger one of the best luxury rides he can expect but at an affordable price. Where you work will become irrelevent under these terms and the whole region will become a mega poulation area while offering inhabitants unparalleled livability within this area. You see the availability of money does that to you. I am talking big, very big here. You can take your family from SA in the morning, enjoy a full day of fun in Dallas, and return to SA by 10:00 PM and do it in style and comfort without driving. This is what it takes to become a player on the world map. The conditions to support this exist right now but they lack direction and commitment. Do you understand what this would mean for tourism in SA?

In San Antonio BRT should be tried because it is flexible and San Antonio is flexing a lot now. I do not believe light rail is the solution for San Antonio. BRT and light rail both do not create neighborhoods or destroy them. Neighborhoods are created and destroyed by themselves and those that live there. BRT and Light rail stations are only nodes in that system and what you do there is up to you in any case. If anything BRT is less intrusive then light rail.

Stop with the gas and tires already. In the next 25 years you are going to see a transformation in the internal combustion engine and commuting/travel itself. Your concerns will become outdated. Do not freeze yourself with light rail which you later will need to move. Wait until things become more clear. Use BRT in San Antonio as a transition into that technology and era. Perhaps light rail will work at that time or perhaps not. No one really knows right now.

The bottom line is think big. Unfortunately many of my colleagues think small and do not get the whole picture until its too late.

I am not an owner or affiliated with any kind of transportation system. I just have strong beliefs after traveling a lot and seeing how things work and do not work.