AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[BlueEyes_Austin]

Originally Posted by M1EK

If you think most people consider getting on Airport east of I-35 and then continuing west on 45th to be an E-W corridor, then you've got yourself an answer. That's a pretty big if, though.

Yeah, that four lane 45th street isn't a major corridor for E-W traffic at all.

Do you ever, ever admit you are wrong about anything?

[Myomi]

I don't know if "major" is the right word...it's pretty narrow, and that bend approaching duval can get pretty iffy when traffic starts getting heavier. And with no turning lane on it, it easily can go down to one lane as people try to get into the neighborhoods (which is of course worse of a problem when traffic gets heavy). I think the only reason anyone can consider it a "major" road is that there really aren't many good E-W roads in Austin, especially if you consider I-35 to Mopac. You get cesar chavez, 5th/6th, and then a bunch of these small "major roads" all the way up to anderson. In any other circumstance, these roads would be major residential roads (or whatever the proper term for them is). Certainly not major E-W arterial roads.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes_Austin

Yeah, that four lane 45th street isn't a major corridor for E-W traffic at all.

It is a major corridor; but it doesn't cross Airport, to say nothing of I-35, which was the original point - closing 51st closes the only crossing of both I-35 and Airport between 2222 and 38th. As you get close to Airport on 45th, traffic declines drastically - not coincidentally.

I was taking issue only with your claim that 45th was part of such a corridor because you could cross I-35 on Airport itself. Don't you ever admit you're wrong about anything?

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes_Austin

Do you ever, ever admit you are wrong about anything?

Originally Posted by M1EK

Don't you ever admit you're wrong about anything?

Knock it off you two.

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by M1EK

If you think most people consider getting on Airport east of I-35 and then continuing west on 45th to be an E-W corridor, then you've got yourself an answer. That's a pretty big if, though.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I routinely drive in from Bastrop and take Airport to 45th, hang a left, and scoot up to Lamar. There seem to be a lot of other cars doing the same thing. There are too many speed bumps and too much traffic on 38th. I go up to Lamar on 45th and sometimes backtrack down Lamar to my destination at 34th and Lamar. It is less stressful than 38th during peak traffic periods in the late afternoon.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by M1EK

For reference, the 2000 light rail line was projected to have somewhere in the high 30,000s to low 40,000s after settling out. We can now never build that line, thanks to this 500-person carrying commuter line that doesn't serve Austin.

If the estimates for the commuter rail (Red Line) is off by half, why have you not admitted the estimates for the 2000 light rail plan may be off by half too? After all, both estimates were made by the same organizations, using the same software, for the same purposes....if one estimate was a off by so much, why not the other estimate too?

Instead of the estimated 40,000 riders, half would only be 20,000 riders.
Still, 20,000 is still much more than 1,000 or even 2,000 riders.

Does anyone have any statistics on how many riders were riding express buses from the park & ride stations to what are riding express buses and the trains today from the same stations? That stat will determine whether the trains are attracting new transit riders, or just riders that were once riding the buses.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by electricron

If the estimates for the commuter rail (Red Line) is off by half, why have you not admitted the estimates for the 2000 light rail plan may be off by half too? After all, both estimates were made by the same organizations, using the same software, for the same purposes....if one estimate was a off by so much, why not the other estimate too?

Instead of the estimated 40,000 riders, half would only be 20,000 riders.
Still, 20,000 is still much more than 1,000 or even 2,000 riders.

Does anyone have any statistics on how many riders were riding express buses from the park & ride stations to what are riding express buses and the trains today from the same stations? That stat will determine whether the trains are attracting new transit riders, or just riders that were once riding the buses.

One estimate was vetted by the Feds, the other wasn't; one rested on the contention that people in Austin would ride good rail like they do in other cities; the other rested on the contention that people in Austin who don't currently ride really good buses straight to work would ride bad shuttlebuses each and every day.

One matches experience with other cities; the other doesn't.

And no, there's no data on express bus ridership right now - just anectdotal reports that some people have already gone back to said buses.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I routinely drive in from Bastrop and take Airport to 45th, hang a left, and scoot up to Lamar. There seem to be a lot of other cars doing the same thing. There are too many speed bumps and too much traffic on 38th. I go up to Lamar on 45th and sometimes backtrack down Lamar to my destination at 34th and Lamar. It is less stressful than 38th during peak traffic periods in the late afternoon.

That makes it a N-S corridor for your purposes (makes sense since Airport goes more N than W in that part of town).

The key here is that Airport doesn't connect to any other major E-W roads until you get down to 38th anyways (and 38th basically ends at Airport).

Again, unless you're just trying to be argumentative for its own sake, it's clear that the E-W corridors that cross I-35 and Airport in that part of town are 2222 and 51st (38th ending at Airport but crossing I-35). 45th is a red herring - the only point is to try to score some kind of 'win'; it's not relevant to the discussion of closing 51st to traffic because most of the people using 51st to get from points east of I-35 would not find it easy to use 45th.

[paulsjv]

Last night coming home from work I was stopped at the rail guard under 35 right next to Airport for the commuter train. I tried to count the number of people on it. Not to my surprise I could count the number of people on one hand (4) who were headed north on the train.

Sad.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by paulsjv

Last night coming home from work I was stopped at the rail guard under 35 right next to Airport for the commuter train. I tried to count the number of people on it. Not to my surprise I could count the number of people on one hand (4) who were headed north on the train.

Sad.

You could actually see inside the tinted glass windows on those trains?

photo from austinchronicle taken on a cloudy day.


photo from allianceforpublictransportation taken on a sunny day

I'll admit you can see through the windows only when it's darker outside than inside the train...

photo from me......

[M1EK]

He said he was under I-35 at the Airport crossing. IE, in the shade.

[natrius]

Here's a story and video with updated information about Car2Go.

The Texas Tribune - Driven To Share

[M1EK]

My post; some quotes from Ben Wear's article about the 500-ish ridership:

Four days later, on Tuesday, with the 4:20 p.m. train waiting for passengers on a sunny and warm day, the station was virtually deserted. The Capital Metro workers leaned on the railings, sipping coffee drinks from the nearby Starbucks and chatting with the idle security guards. Ambassador Lyndon Henry , charged with helping people quickly buy fare cards at the two ticket vending machines (there had been fears people might miss trains because of stackups at the machines) had few customers to instruct. It was quiet and awkward; no one seemed to want to talk much about the situation.

Yeah, that Lyndon Henry. Todd Hemingson is already declaring the line a success that must be expanded; in a quote from In Fact Daily:

Hemingson then took the committee through an analysis of how the agency can take professional assessments and riders’ comments to, as he said, “build on early success.”



At the Downtown station, Hemingson said, the first priority will be to trim back the number of connector bus routes. When Metro Rail first opened, Capital Metro assigned two buses for each of the three connector routes in both the morning and the afternoon as a “fail-safe measure.” That number can be trimmed to one, he said, which will save the agency money while still satisfying commuter demand.



Capital Metro Board Member Norm Chafetz asked when such a change might go into effect. Hemingson told him that the reduction will be a part of service changes introduced in late May or early June.



Though connector bus routes are important, at certain stations staff is looking at other alternatives to increase connectivity with the surrounding community, Hemingson said.



At the MLK Jr. Station, for example, staff is considering a pilot van shuttle service program for employers who want to provide a direct transportation service for their employees between the station and their businesses. Cap Metro would provide the vans to employers, who would have to provide their own drivers. This could be particularly effective for increasing connectivity with the Mueller development, which, Hemingson said, is a “growing activity center near MLK but not within walking distance.”



“The problem with connector alternative routes,” Hemingson said, “is if you don’t have a large destination like UT or the Capitol complex, or if you have dispersed employment locations, the question is can you make the loop and get back to the station in time for the next train. A direct van shuttle goes direct from station to employment stop. In certain cases it would be better than a connector route.”



The van shuttle partnership concept could also work well at the Kramer station, Hemingson said, which is close to several big target destinations, among them National Instruments, IBM, the J.J. Pickle Research Campus, and the Domain. So far ridership to Kramer has been higher than expected, but, as Hemingson put it, connectivity between the station and its most popular nearby destinations (most of which are not within walking distance) is “non-existent.”

[KevinFromTexas]

I thought they were getting started on this. I noticed last week some surveyors on the I-35 frontage road.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 1:54pm CDT
TxDOT breaks ground on $26M exchange
Austin Business Journal

Work on a $26 million exchange between Ben White Boulevard and I-35 commenced today.

The Texas Department of Transportation project will allow drivers to move from one roadway to another without hitting stoplights.

Read more: TxDOT breaks ground on $26M exchange - Austin Business Journal:

..

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin...2/daily19.html

[priller]

I usually walk with my wife to her office on Congress in the morning. This week I made sure to note the connector buses while I walked along Congress to see how many people were riding them. In two days, so far, I've seen *0* people the connectors. Now this is only between 6th and 9th, so maybe they got off before that point, but still...

Today, walking back home, I went by the train station. When I walked up I noted 5 connector buses waiting. A train arrived (this was almost 9:00 am), and a total of 14 people got out. 4 of them had bikes. No one got on a connector.

Now I realize 9:00 is after most people get to work, but I still thought there would be more people on it.

[M1EK]

Clap harder! Or Tinkerbell will die!

[ChrisTaz923]

Originally Posted by priller

I usually walk with my wife to her office on Congress in the morning. This week I made sure to note the connector buses while I walked along Congress to see how many people were riding them. In two days, so far, I've seen *0* people the connectors. Now this is only between 6th and 9th, so maybe they got off before that point, but still...

Today, walking back home, I went by the train station. When I walked up I noted 5 connector buses waiting. A train arrived (this was almost 9:00 am), and a total of 14 people got out. 4 of them had bikes. No one got on a connector.

Now I realize 9:00 is after most people get to work, but I still thought there would be more people on it.

Last Friday afternoon I was down at the Capitol and thought I'd hop on the connector so I could ride the train back up to Lakeline. I was the ONLY person to ride the connector bus to the station.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by ChrisTaz923

Last Friday afternoon I was down at the Capitol and thought I'd hop on the connector so I could ride the train back up to Lakeline. I was the ONLY person to ride the connector bus to the station.

Did you ride the connector to MLK or to 'downtown'?

[M1EK]

Lots of coverage in today's Chronicle about the quarter cent debacle (the city spent a bunch of money they were obligated by Capital Metro; Capital Metro stiffed us).

Note that insiders like JMVC insisted back when this story first started breaking that there'd be no problem paying the money back; that Ben Wear was wrong when he was reporting that CM was out of money; etc.

Gone and Quartered

Where the Money's Going

Show Us the Money

Cap Metro: The Quarter-Cent Shuffle

[M1EK]

I was stopped at the light on Red River, northbound, at 4th st on my early commute home today. At about 4:20, a Red Line train left the 'downtown' station and crossed in front of me.

There were 8 people on it.

Eight.