AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[electricron]

From http://www.dailytexanonline.com/stat...side-1.1769978

Excerpts:
City of Austin officials presented much-awaited plans at Austin Community College’s Riverside Campus on Thursday night to residents and investors for the redevelopment of the East Riverside Corridor. The project aims to create a more inviting residential space along a stretch of East Riverside Drive extending roughly 3.5 miles from just south of Downtown to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The street is characterized by six lanes of fast-moving car traffic, narrow sidewalks and a relatively empty street grid.
“We want to create pedestrian-friendly commercial centers and create a more human-scale feeling,” said city planner Tonya Swartzendruber. Swartzendruber explained the importance of implementing a smaller street grid — 300 feet by 300 feet — in order to create a more neighborhood-oriented space similar to South Congress Avenue or Downtown.
It has not yet decided whether the city or by Capital Metro would operate the rail system. A design plan and budget have yet to be outlined as well. The city is hoping businesses and developers will be willing to invest in the area.
But large-scale obstacles do exist that could potentially set back the East Riverside Corridor redevelopment. The two big hurdles are, of course, the economy and the crime rate. Some Riverside residents are concerned about losing the culture of their neighborhoods.
City planners are considering proposing the plan to Austin City Council in September.

My take: The city planners have run amok.
Initially, a streetcar was proposed for Riverside. Now, the city wants to rezone and replot the neighborhood, including the streets. I don't blame those living in the neighborhood for decades worrying whether they will lose their neighborhood's culture. It's just another way around to implement the old, failed urban renewal program of the 1960s and 1970s, that existed before EPA was formed.
It's one thing to work with developers to rezone and re-plat old, abandoned airport property at Mueller, or with University of Texas property at Brackenridge. But for the city to do the same thing to private property owners along Riverside is another thing altogether.
You don't need streetcars nor need to re-plat city streets to add acres of park facilities along the river, if that's your ultimate goal. What the city planners real goal is to raise property values so high the existing property owners will be priced out of the neighborhood by higher taxes.
Additionally, how does the city plan to replat city streets into more pedestrian friendly neighborhoods in an area consisting mostly of large commercial and large apartment plots?

[SecretAgentMan]

You're just looking for trouble aren't you?

[Jdawgboy]

People are afraid to loose the character of the area??? LOL Strip malls with parking lots as far as the eyes can see. Prostitutes and druggies walking up and down the street at night. Violent crime and other issues have plague that area for years. Old run down apartments that are falling apart which are just making the crime issue worse.
I think we can make that area a livable, safe and nice place to live and still keep the latino cultural feel to it. I think a lot of this has to do with the fear of gentrification, which is a valid point but I think for the interest of the city as a whole, this is something that is needed. It is after all one of the main corridors from the Airport to downtown and I for one would like to see something a bit more inviting to visitors to our lovely city than the current Riverside corridor.

[NThomas]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

People are afraid to loose the character of the area??? LOL Strip malls with parking lots as far as the eyes can see. Prostitutes and druggies walking up and down the street at night. Violent crime and other issues have plague that area for years. Old run down apartments that are falling apart which are just making the crime issue worse.
I think we can make that area a livable, safe and nice place to live and still keep the latino cultural feel to it. I think a lot of this has to do with the fear of gentrification, which is a valid point but I think for the interest of the city as a whole, this is something that is needed. It is after all one of the main corridors from the Airport to downtown and I for one would like to see something a bit more inviting to visitors to our lovely city than the current Riverside corridor.

The only think about redevelopment along Riverside is that SH 71 is much more attractive to developers and businesses. Not only does SH 71 have a higher traffic count, it has empty land around it that'll make new construction a lot cheaper then buying areas lot by lot then develop it.

[Scottolini]

There's not very much undeveloped land at all along 71 until you get east of the airport. Maybe underutilized in some areas, but not undeveloped. Also, when/if rail goes in along Riverside that will only make it that much more attractive for redevelopment.

I will say I think there are much better ways than using Riverside to get downtown from the airport. Just stay on Ben White, flyover onto I-35 North, and you're there in no time. Or 71, north on 183, west on 7th is even better than Riverside.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by Scottolini

I will say I think there are much better ways than using Riverside to get downtown from the airport. Just stay on Ben White, flyover onto I-35 North, and you're there in no time. Or 71, north on 183, west on 7th is even better than Riverside.

How about following the potential Green Line 3 miles east of the Red Line wye towards Manor to just east of US 183, then turn south towards the airport with a brand rail corridor. Only approximately 4 miles of new single track rail line needs to be built to get to the airport. That does include a bridge over the Colorado. At $15 million per mile for 4 miles ($60 Million), plus refurbishing the first 3 miles of the Green Line ($15 Million), plus the costs for the new bridge, I say train service to the airport could be done easily for around $100 Million.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by electricron

How about following the potential Green Line 3 miles east of the Red Line wye towards Manor to just east of US 183, then turn south towards the airport with a brand rail corridor. Only approximately 4 miles of new single track rail line needs to be built to get to the airport. That does include a bridge over the Colorado. At $15 million per mile for 4 miles ($60 Million), plus refurbishing the first 3 miles of the Green Line ($15 Million), plus the costs for the new bridge, I say train service to the airport could be done easily for around $100 Million.

And think of the money we'll save on operating costs when nobody rides it, because just like the asstastic Red Line, it doesn't actually go anywhere where people might hop on without having to first ride a shuttle bus! Yay, DMU!

[paulsjv]

I came across this today. Makes me think about what it would be like if 35 was removed from the center of town in favor for 130 through Austin and transformed back to how it was before it was built.

Below is a cool blog post showing the before and afters of many big highways in the US and other countries. Very cool! Any thoughts?

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009.../#comment-3708

35 Before construction


35 After construction

[Scottolini]

I actually think compared to the first photo, that it looks better after expansion. Of course, in the alternate reality where I-35 was actually returned to East Ave., I am sure it would be landscaped to look much more attractive.

[NThomas]

From CapMetro's Blog:

Today about 200 people got to ride Capital MetroRail as part of our testing. It was the first ride offered to people outside of Capital Metro, except for the news media, and so it was an especially happy event for us.

Today was the second of two days of passenger simulation testing. The engineers got a feel for how the train handles when it's full, as well as practice boarding and deboarding passengers at the stations.

Yesterday, Capital Metro employees played the part of passengers and got on and off the train at each station along the line. The staff were testing the timings of the stops in relation to the full schedule.

[M1EK]

They actually invited me (which was unexpectedly generous), but I was in Port Aransas all weekend so couldn't do it.

[priller]

Interesting article: "Spatial Mismatch: Why density alone is not enough"

The article spells out the perils of having dense neighborhoods without appropriate mass transit. It uses Atlanta as an example, but I see many similarities with Austin.

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/08/04...e-isnt-enough/

[nixcity]

Mass transit MUST be of key importance over the next decade or else we could choke ourselves off.

[NThomas]

ASA is seeking some funds.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/st...03/daily5.html

[electricron]

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...1capmetro.html

[Aug. 2008 fare] [Current fare] [Approved 2010 fare] [Proposed 2010 fare]

Base single-ride ticket
50 cents 75 cents $1 $1
Express single-ride ticket
$1 $1.50 $2 $2.50

31 day pass
regular pass $10 $18 $25 $28
express pass $17 $36 $48 $63
MetroRail pass — $36 $48 $75


MetroRail day pass — $3 $4 $6
MetroAccess 10-ride book $3 $7 $9 $12
MetroAccess month pass — $22.50 $30 $35

Note: MetroAccess is the agency's door-to-door service for people with certain disabilities.
Source: Capital Metro

Let's compare these with DART fares.
Post September 14

Single Ride/Rail Only (Good for 90 minutes)
DART Local $1.75
DART System $2.50
Regional $3.75
Reduced $.85

Day Pass
DART Local $4.00
DART System $5.00
Regional $7.50
Reduced $2.00

7 Day Pass (Available for purchase at DART Store/Akard Station)
DART Local $20.00
DART System $25.00
Regional $37.50

Monthly Pass
DART Local $65.00
DART System $75.00
Regional $105.00
Reduced $32.00

Annual Pass
DART Local $650.00
DART System $750.00
Regional $1,050.00

DART Local
Red, Blue and Green Line light rail trains
Local buses (exact cash fare or Day Pass required)
FLEX service along local service route (exact cash fare or Day Pass required)
DART System
All DART buses and trains
Trinity Railway Express trains between Union Station and West Irving Station
DART On-Call and FLEX service
Regional
All DART buses and trains
All Trinity Railway Express service, plus the T in Fort Worth
DART On-Call and FLEX service
Reduced
Seniors (65 or older) with valid DART photo ID
Non-paratransit certified persons with disabilities with valid DART photo ID
Medicare card holders
Children ages 5-14
High school students with valid DART or student photo ID from a school within the DART service area

Monthly CapMetro vs (DART) comparisons.
31 day (monthly) $25 CM regular vs DART Local pass $65
31 day (monthly) $48 CM express vs DART System pass $75
31 day (monthly) $48 CM MetroRail vs DART Regional pass $105
31 day (monthly) $36 CM MetroRail vs DART Reduced pass $32

CapMetro averages around 10% fare recovery while DART averages 20-25%. Some people wonder why CapMetro has consumed most of its reserved funds. All one has to do is look at fare box recovery to discover why.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by electricron

CapMetro averages around 10% fare recovery while DART averages 20-25%. Some people wonder why CapMetro has consumed most of its reserved funds. All one has to do is look at fare box recovery to discover why.

No, all one has to do is look at what changed since the time when they weren't eating into their reserves - it's your beloved DMU line, of course. (now costing us operating funds as well as the capital hemorrhage).

The thing was sold originally as a quick-and-cheap project costing $45M in local dollars (50% federal match). It ended up being zero federal dollars, about $200M local capital dollars, and an ongoing few millions/month operating costs with zero fare revenue since it's been so atrociously mismanaged.

At the end, if it ever opens, it'll still be a disaster - the operating costs per passenger of (DMU + shuttlebuses) will far exceed that of any reasonable electric LRT solution, especially next summer when diesel climbs back up north of $4/gallon.

[M1EK]

I'm late on this due to family and work constraints.

My coverage at the crackplog

and Ben Wear's article here, excerpted below.

Some commuter train runs will skip outlying suburban stops, starting in north Austin on some southbound trips and stopping short on some northbound trips.

Foregoing the Leander and Lakeline stops on some morning and afternoon trips, officials said, might be necessary partly to ensure that passengers from those two stops don't fill all the trains and preclude boardings at closer-in Austin stops. The change also was prompted by slower trains. Agency vice president Todd Hemingson said test runs have made it clear that the full 32-mile run will take about an hour, rather than the 48 to 52 minutes originally estimated.

The agency is still finalizing the opening day schedule and is not ready to announce schedule times. In its monthly update Wednesday on the commuter rail project, the agency once again said it could not say when the line will open.

Also Wednesday, Capital Metro officials also said they now plan to use only four of the six trains, which the agency purchased for about $6 million each, because the line has just four limited sections where there is dual track to allow northbound and southbound trains to pass one another.

"We've found that it could be operated best with four trains," spokesman Adam Shaivitz said, rather than the five that the agency had said previously would typically be in service. The other two would be held in reserve and used in case of breakdowns.

[alexjon]

Originally Posted by electricron

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...1capmetro.html

[Aug. 2008 fare] [Current fare] [Approved 2010 fare] [Proposed 2010 fare]

Base single-ride ticket
50 cents 75 cents $1 $1
Express single-ride ticket
$1 $1.50 $2 $2.50

31 day pass
regular pass $10 $18 $25 $28
express pass $17 $36 $48 $63
MetroRail pass — $36 $48 $75


MetroRail day pass — $3 $4 $6
MetroAccess 10-ride book $3 $7 $9 $12
MetroAccess month pass — $22.50 $30 $35

Note: MetroAccess is the agency's door-to-door service for people with certain disabilities.
Source: Capital Metro

Let's compare these with DART fares.
Post September 14

Single Ride/Rail Only (Good for 90 minutes)
DART Local $1.75
DART System $2.50
Regional $3.75
Reduced $.85

Day Pass
DART Local $4.00
DART System $5.00
Regional $7.50
Reduced $2.00

7 Day Pass (Available for purchase at DART Store/Akard Station)
DART Local $20.00
DART System $25.00
Regional $37.50

Monthly Pass
DART Local $65.00
DART System $75.00
Regional $105.00
Reduced $32.00

Annual Pass
DART Local $650.00
DART System $750.00
Regional $1,050.00

DART Local
Red, Blue and Green Line light rail trains
Local buses (exact cash fare or Day Pass required)
FLEX service along local service route (exact cash fare or Day Pass required)
DART System
All DART buses and trains
Trinity Railway Express trains between Union Station and West Irving Station
DART On-Call and FLEX service
Regional
All DART buses and trains
All Trinity Railway Express service, plus the T in Fort Worth
DART On-Call and FLEX service
Reduced
Seniors (65 or older) with valid DART photo ID
Non-paratransit certified persons with disabilities with valid DART photo ID
Medicare card holders
Children ages 5-14
High school students with valid DART or student photo ID from a school within the DART service area

Monthly CapMetro vs (DART) comparisons.
31 day (monthly) $25 CM regular vs DART Local pass $65
31 day (monthly) $48 CM express vs DART System pass $75
31 day (monthly) $48 CM MetroRail vs DART Regional pass $105
31 day (monthly) $36 CM MetroRail vs DART Reduced pass $32

CapMetro averages around 10% fare recovery while DART averages 20-25%. Some people wonder why CapMetro has consumed most of its reserved funds. All one has to do is look at fare box recovery to discover why.

Apples and oranges.

[priller]

Wow, two 6-million dollar trains, kept around for parts. Awesome!

And they say they can't afford to keep the Dillos running because they cost too much to run.

Stupid.

[Spaceman]

These trains will never run............Cap Met pulled a fast one