Quote:
Originally Posted by sakyle04
I would SHOUT "no".
working LRT requires density or park and ride. you're crazy if you think jane-soccer-mom is going to drive her mercedes to a LRT station, park, unload the kids, and then pay to ride to the Rim.
or utsa.
or la cantera.
i am not even convinced that the Rim/La Cantera area is dense enough for LRT to be useful there. i really think the purpose of it there will be to pick up folks to go downtown. for example, if i want to go to DICK's and Target and Gap, I would either have to walk 8 miles in the blazing sun or have some sort of annoying intra-shopping center conveyance (that happens to cross under I-10).
LRT in stone oak? only as a connector to the med center there and only after a thousand other corridors have been served.
rich people don't get out of their cars. not even for the most convenient rail-system. ask new yorkers.
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I can somewhat understand your concern, I really can, but I think you're looking at this through a very narrow window. I am all for urban development and building as urban and dense as possible. However, I don't see the big deal with a light rail line next to this Parkway instead of through the median of 1604.
Remember, it'll be a similar parkway as to Wurzbach, which is a hybrid road. It performs like a freeway and not like a busy road with stop lights and intersections.
A line east to west would connect 281 with 10.
It would serve big developments like Ridgewood Park and Agora Palms, run through Stone Oak then go west until it hit the Rim and could then connect to the UP line rail.
Also, not everyone in Stone Oak is "rich." I'm not sure what your definition of rich is but there are middle class families in the greater Stone Oak area, as well as the Encino area east of 281.
You also have to think about people who have to drive to Stone Oak for work. A downtown line that connects to the Parkway line would be used by people going to and coming from Stone Oak. It's a bigger picture issue than a "it's not urban or dense so no" issue. There's a reason the VIA express line from Stone Oak to Downtown is packed every day. People, rich and not rich are getting out of their cars and getting on a bus.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/MYS..._html4895.html
I think the pros out weigh the negatives.
That's just my two cents on the matter.