SAN ANTONIO | City and Metro Transportation Thread

[WorldTexas]

A rail corridor up 35 is still years away, but at least TxDOT is finally getting away from it's highways-only line of thinking.

Is Texas on track to high-speed rail?
By Vianna Davila

The new TxDOT study also will look at building up more traditional passenger service between large cities or connecting to existing routes.

TxDOT also is conducting a separate, statewide ridership analysis, examining where it makes the most sense to add or enhance rail service.

“We really want to emphasize, this is not just about high speed,” Moczygemba said. “This is about improved Amtrak service and anything in between.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...il-3954588.php

[adtobias]

San Antonio needs a real rail service.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by adtobias

San Antonio needs a real rail service.

San Antonio already gets a daily Texas Eagle and tri-weekely Sunset Limited, which by the way are real trains.

San Antonio already has a local transit agency called VIA which is funded by a one-half cent sales tax levied in San Antonio and seven other incorporated municipalities, plus an additional one-eighth cent sales tax levied in San Antonio by the Advanced Transportation District. Therefore, San Antonio funds VIA five-eight cent sales tax rate. The approved operating budget for FY 2012-13 is $176,890,000. The metropolitan transit authority portion of the budget is $151,214,731 and the Advanced Transportation District portion is $25,675,269.
VIA has 91 bus routes servicing San Antonio averaging 137,290 riders on weekdays. VIA’s fleet consists of 418 buses, comprising 194 North American Bus Industries (NABI) diesel buses, four NABI compressed natural gas busses, 176 New Flyer diesel buses, 30 New Flyer diesel-electric hybrid buses, and 14 Optima streetcars.

VIA Workforce numbers:
Total 1,977
Full-time Employees 1,662
Bus and Van Operators 1,192
Vehicle Maintenance Employees 249
Facilities Maintenance Employees 82

Every transit agency in Texas that is operating trains today is funded with a cent sales tax rate. That's the first item on any agenda San Antonio should address if they really want VIA to run trains. A cent sales tax rate should increase VIA's yearly revenues by at least another $75 Million, which could be spent on rail. Having sufficient funds available to design, build, operate, maintain, and pay the staff must always be addressed first.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

I heard recently that Amtrak was considering upgrading the Sunset Limited to a daily service.

[cole world11]

The northbound 281 ramps to E bound/W bound 1604 are now open!

[JACKinBeantown]

San Antonio & Austin need this every hour on the hour. Good for business, good for tourism, good for going to sporting events, good for avoiding driving in bumper to bumper traffic surrounded by 18-wheelers, good for people who don't/can't drive, good for drinking and not driving...



lonestarrail.com

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Also incredibly expensive. Last estimate I saw was pushing $600 million.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

Also incredibly expensive. Last estimate I saw was pushing $600 million.

I though it was pushing 4 times that, over $2 Billion. Don' forget, the UP expects an entirely new bypass corridor built just for them before they will share 1 inch of existing track for more passenger rail.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Originally Posted by electricron

I though it was pushing 4 times that, over $2 Billion. Don' forget, the UP expects an entirely new bypass corridor built just for them before they will share 1 inch of existing track for more passenger rail.

Yeah I think your number is right. Mine was either old or fictional.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/n...ain-dep/nS39Q/

Posted: 10:26 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012
SAN ANTONIO
New life brought to historic San Antonio train depot

By Vianna Davila

Thousands of passengers have filed through the station since it opened in 1907. But it’s been more than 30 years since the building on North Medina Street west of downtown was used for travel. After World War II, passenger rail service gradually declined, and the station closed in 1970. The building was abandoned, deteriorating into a squatters’ hovel.

But two years ago, VIA Metropolitan Transit bought the depot from Generations Federal Credit Union, which renovated it in the mid-1980s.

The station will become the hub for VIA’s planned streetcar system and, even sooner, for its bus rapid transit service, VIA Primo, which will use longer, articulated buses that stop at fewer places but more frequently.

[necropolis]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/n...ain-dep/nS39Q/

Here's the rest of the article too,

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...fe-4008017.php

[cole world11]

I drove down the new interchange today! It's huge and really nice. I don't like how the exit ramps to 1604 E/W were left exits not right exits so we'll see how this plays out in the future. It's awesome for the project to be almost done though.

[sirkingwilliam]

VIA is having a streetcar meeting at the end of this month to discuss the alignment of the downtown lines.

VIA released this image in a press release. It shows the type of streetcar train they are going to use for downtown.

I've seen a animation of the north/south line streetcar and it'll be colored purple.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

VIA is having a streetcar meeting at the end of this month to discuss the alignment of the downtown lines.

VIA released this image in a press release. It shows the type of streetcar train they are going to use for downtown.

I've seen a animation of the north/south line streetcar and it'll be colored purple.

I think you're putting too much emphasis into the photo on that flyer. It's a modern streetcar, nothing more. We should wait until they actually order a streetcar from a manufacturer before we'll know what they will look like.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by electricron

I think you're putting too much emphasis into the photo on that flyer. It's a modern streetcar, nothing more. We should wait until they actually order a streetcar from a manufacturer before we'll know what they will look like.

The animation I saw had the exact same streetcar and you can see what I believe is the same streetcar with a red,white and blue color scheme similar to the Primo BRT buses. That could be the east/west line seeing as how the brt will run east/west between the westside multimodal and the Thompson transit center.

Pretty sure that's the streetcar they've selected. I believe in their timeline selecting the streetcar came before finalizing the alignment of the lines.

[oldmanshirt]

On the funding side, it looks like the controversy over use of ATD dollars for streetcars has been addressed. I think the county is making the right move here, even though anyone who knows knows that LRT and streetcar are not the same, just as this transit plan has nothing to do with the rejected 2000 plan.

Streetcar plan approved
By Vianna R Davila
Published 6:29 p.m., Saturday, November 17, 2012


Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...#ixzz2CXyiqmb3


The Texas Transportation Commission approved taking $92 million in state dollars set aside for U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 and putting it toward VIA Metropolitan Transit's downtown streetcar system.

The commission, which oversees the Texas Department of Transportation, unanimously approved the proposal at its monthly meeting Thursday.

Now, Bexar County plans to take $92 million in Advanced Transportation District sales tax revenue originally set aside for streetcars and use it to help pay for U.S. 281 and Loop 1604.

[Paul in S.A TX]

photo credit

Photo - San Antonio Express-News
new 281 @ 1604

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by Paul in S.A TX

photo credit

Photo - San Antonio Express-News
new 281 @ 1604

Why would the Express News use that picture? Only the northbound lanes seem to be open in this picture. Should have waited a day or two when 1604 to 281 southbound lanes were open.

Btw, hurry up with the dang environmental study so the northern half of the interchange can break ground!

[adtobias]

still looks like a lot of traffic.

[JoninATX]

San Antonio Westside Multimodal Transit Center

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $15 million grant to VIA Metropolitan Transit to pay for the development of San Antonio’s first intermodal transportation hub.

VIA was awarded the funds under the capital grants section of the TIGER III Discretionary Grants Program. This grant will fund the development of the Westside Multimodal Transit Center in the Cattleman Square area.

“The Westside Multimodal Center is the hub of our mass transit future,” said City of San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro. “Because of this and other investments, people coming down the I-10 and State Highway 151 corridors will soon find it easier to get to downtown and on to their destinations in other parts of the city.”

The Westside Multimodal Transit Center (WMTC) will lay the groundwork for multimodalism in the San Antonio region and transform the central business district in the immediate vicinity. The facility will draw together several modes of transportation to increase mobility and encourage transit-oriented development, creating a bridge between downtown and the population of the West Side.

http://www.ktsa.com/pages/14818053.p...tentId=9564458