AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[freerover]

Originally Posted by Geckos_Rule

I remember seeing a very convenient Google Maps, showing where exactly the rail and bus lines for project connect would go...but I can't seem to find it digging through threads. Anyone have a link?

The map doesn't include the new circular routes or the new park and rides though.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1F3vCcpR-gZDI-bAIjr1_vGHBkQkrmScf&hl=en_US

Vote Yes on Props A and B

[atxsnail]

Statesman endorsed Prop A

https://www.statesman.com/opinion/202010...-connect-is-steep-but-overdue-investment

They declined to endorse Prop B

https://www.statesman.com/opinion/202010...ring-community-into-bond-planning-effort

I doubt very much that media endorsements actually sway many undecided voters, but I think they provide a pretty good insight into where the median reader of the AAS and Chron sits on these items. I feel pretty good about Prop A passing. Prop B feels like a toss-up.

[lonewolf]

i think prop a will pass, i really don't think prop b has a chance

[austin242]

I know someone that votes whatever way the chronicle endorses so they are voting Yes on both.

[freerover]

Get out and VOTE FOR PROP A and PROP B.

[nixcity]

^Please help inform others as well as the anti PACs have come out hard and are pushing their false narratives; the worst of the lies is that our total property taxes will increase by 25%, that is completely false, it will go up around 4%. They also claim it will take no cars off the road; well that's ironic considering one third of their funding comes from car dealerships.
http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/documen...OhBgIQ4tOHt9f0ezy_-xeZ1xlubZGm5YX9WWrW-c

https://www.statesman.com/news/20201008/...led-against-anti-prop-campaign-nonprofit

[freerover]

Originally Posted by nixcity

^Please help inform others as well as the anti PACs have come out hard and are pushing their false narratives; the worst of the lies is that our total property taxes will increase by 25%, that is completely false, it will go up around 4%. They also claim it will take no cars off the road; well that's ironic considering one third of their funding comes from car dealerships.
http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/documen...OhBgIQ4tOHt9f0ezy_-xeZ1xlubZGm5YX9WWrW-c

https://www.statesman.com/news/20201008/...led-against-anti-prop-campaign-nonprofit

[nixcity]

That is a fantastic visual, where can I find this to share?

[freerover]

Originally Posted by nixcity

That is a fantastic visual, where can I find this to share?

https://austintexas.gov/2020PropA

[electricron]

Excellent graphic showing property taxes, but that is not the whole story.

CapMetro collects a full penny sales tax (1 cent per dollar, $1 per $100 collected), so does the city of Austin, and the State of Texas collects 6.25 cents per dollar, or $6.25 per $100.

What people spend and have sales taxes on and what their property own is worth are two different things, but please do not suggest CapMetro tax revenues will be limited to just their property taxes collect.

I have no idea how the different taxes relate to each other, but the low figure shown in the graph - while accurate for property taxes - does not reflect total taxes collected to subsidize public transit and CapMetro.

Let's look at it from another point of view. The nominal household in Austin data from city data website:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Austin-Texas.html#b

Estimated median household income in 2017: $67,755
Assuming Uncle Sam collects 12% of that in income and social security taxes, that leaves $59,622 left after Federal taxes.
Let's assume the average household saves 3% for savings, that leaves 57,833 left for spending.
At 8.25% sales tax rate, the State, City, and CapMetro collects $4,771 in sales taxes per household, with CapMetro collecting $578.33 per household
Estimated median house or condo value in 2017: $332,700.
Proposition A would collect 0.0875 per $100 of that every year, totaling $274 per median household.

You can show in a graph that it is just a 4% increase in property taxes, but in reality it increase the taxes collect for CapMetro and transportation in general by a whooping 47%.
The math = (274 + 578)/578 = 1.474

Well, that scenario above does not include what the city was already spending on roads, so the 47% increase is not the whole truth.
If someone would be nice to find it and post it here, we can add that to this calculation. But somehow, we all know the total amount of money tax and spent for public transit is going to be far larger than the 4%.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by electricron

You can show in a graph that it is just a 4% increase in property taxes, but in reality it increase the taxes collect for CapMetro and transportation in general by a whooping 47%.

I don't think anyone ever claimed that it was just a 4% increase in Capmetro's budget*/the amount currently spent on transit.

That's really just a testament to how much we've been neglecting transit in Austin, that such a relatively small increase in taxing burden has the potential for such a transformative effect on the system.

Though your numbers don't need to go through rough household estimates. CapMetro's proposed 2021 budget is $331M.

For prop A, Austin's total taxable value is $174 billion. 8.75 cents on that is 152M.

So Prop A, in the first year, would represent a ~46% increase in regional transit funding in the first year (much more in later years assuming we start getting FTA grants).



*Technically it's a 0% increase, as Prop A doesn't go to CapMetro, but it does go to "transit" via ATP.

[verybadgnome]

One stat I have not seen is the mode share for the city and region before and after Prop A that takes into account possible cannibalization between transit modes. Of course any such analysis will have to take into consideration increased WFH which is a certainty, e.g. Travis County employees.

I was disheartened to learn just now that even after all the investment in DART that the public transit share in Dallas/Dallas region stands at just 4%/2% respectively.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

One stat I have not seen is the mode share for the city and region before and after Prop A that takes into account possible cannibalization between transit modes. Of course any such analysis will have to take into consideration increased WFH which is a certainty, e.g. Travis County employees.

We always needed more work from home. We need that AND transit.

The ASMP 50/50 goal called for almost doubling the share of telework, which is closer to 4X given population increase.

any long term changes from COVID merely get us part way to where we needed to be anyway.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by Novacek

any long term changes from COVID merely get us part way to where we needed to be anyway.

THIS. I am a bit worried with so many anti-prop A ads showing up all over. They're definitely pandering to the NIMBY crestview/allendale crowed with some of them.

When I was voting I noticed a "In this home we believe..." all about light rail being obsolete, etc. I almost projectile vomited. Hopefully Austinites aren't that dense, but I've grown more cynical in my 30s...

[N90]

That’s to be expected.

Remember transit plans failed to materialize in 2014. I won’t believe it until it actually passes.

It also seems that Austin’s coming up with excuses now to reject Project Connect. Typical of a Texas city. Always so hostile towards PT expansion. Remember just a few months ago an idiot representative from Austin offered 5G as an alternative to rail transportation. It’s like bro, people already have Internet on their phones, so they already know alternative routes they can take to avoid traffic and congestion. We’re not living in the caveman ages here. But rail is needed to relieve the traffic on the road. 5G with faster Internet speeds than 4G isn’t going to magically make Austin a less congested city...

[N90]

I guess we’ll find out exactly how progressive Austin is next month when it’s put to the test.

[StoOgE]

Its also one of the most effective ways to deal with increased cost of living in the city. Mass transit is much cheaper than car ownership.

[N90]

“ MacKinnon, a Nashville resident who was chairman of Austin's Urban Transportation Commission and a proponent of Austin's 2014 rail bond, said he sees Proposition A failing, just as Nashville's transit plan did.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.statesm...austinrsquos-prop-vote%3ftemplate=ampart

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by N90

“ MacKinnon, a Nashville resident who was chairman of Austin's Urban Transportation Commission and a proponent of Austin's 2014 rail bond, said he sees Proposition A failing, just as Nashville's transit plan did.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.statesm...austinrsquos-prop-vote%3ftemplate=ampart

Austin is a much more liberal city than Nashville. The corollary isn't there.

Clinton beat Trump by 40 points in Austin and 20 in Nashville. Yes, they are both blue cities, but the hue is very different.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

Austin is a much more liberal city than Nashville. The corollary isn't there.

Clinton beat Trump by 40 points in Austin and 20 in Nashville. Yes, they are both blue cities, but the hue is very different.

That's not a really good way to judge it. A. lot of those Clinton and Biden signs are next to a CODE NEXT no dense housing signs.