AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[JAM]

Prop A is going to be a boondoggle, just like it is everywhere else. Get ready for raised taxes and old outdated transportation like trains. smart cars are coming, and so is everything else. personal vehicles are here to stay like it or not. quit asking no parking built into structures downtown or this is what we are going to end up with

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by JAM

Prop A is going to be a boondoggle, just like it is everywhere else.

Everywhere else, except where transit is wildly successful.

So except basically every single large city in the world.

[N90]

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.

Yes but I don’t just look at progressive culture through the lens of who you vote for only.

I look at progressive culture as a medium for progress and that includes infrastructure. If Project Connect fails then there is no difference between Austin and Nashville when it comes to progression as it relates to infrastructure.

Houston isn’t looked at as a progressive city even though it votes blue and hasn’t had a Republican mayor in over 30 years. But they voted for transit more than once. First time in the 2000s to get light rail and then again in 2019 to expand light rail even more to Hobby Airport and other areas of Inner Loop.

Dallas isn’t looked at as a progressive city but they’ve aggressively expanded DART light rail. Every time I visit Dallas, I stay in either Uptown or Downtown and I never have to rent a car or even get in one. From DFW airport or Love Field, I can take the train. All the inner city neighborhoods that I wanna explore for nightlife, food, shopping, or museums I can do by DART light rail. That’s a huge convenience to me. I can even use TRE to get to DT Fort Worth and then back to DT Dallas. The light rail, commuter rail, electric trolley, and streetcars in Dallas work well as an alternative to driving.

At a bare minimum, Austin should at least get this plan rolling and passed. I’m skeptical of it passing because I see a lot of ignorant area reps in Austin spouting nonsense about the plan but I would like to hope that it passes.

It would make Austin a far better city and the subway under downtown is incredible, needs to be done.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by JAM

Prop A is going to be a boondoggle, just like it is everywhere else. Get ready for raised taxes and old outdated transportation like trains. smart cars are coming, and so is everything else. personal vehicles are here to stay like it or not. quit asking no parking built into structures downtown or this is what we are going to end up with

No. Just no. Move somewhere else if you want to continue to live like this.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

No. Just no. Move somewhere else if you want to continue to live like this.

I think we're going to end up moving if we don't want to end up driving live we are in LA where every street is full of cars and barley move when the traffic lights are green. It's like Austin residents would rather do nothing so they can complain than actually do something.

[N90]

At least in LA they’re aggressively expanding transit and have a plan to do more. So even if the traffic and congestion there sucks on the roads, at least they’re giving you a relief option by train.

That’s what Austin needs to do too.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by N90

At least in LA they’re aggressively expanding transit and have a plan to do more. So even if the traffic and congestion there sucks on the roads, at least they’re giving you a relief option by train.

That’s what Austin needs to do too.

That's what Austin is trying to do. It seems like traffic has to get way worse off the highways for people to realize we need it.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by freerover

That's what Austin is trying to do. It seems like traffic has to get way worse off the highways for people to realize we need it.

That's my fear. People want to avoid change for as long as possible, but then the costs go up as does the traffic, etc... And then folks move farther out and the cycle continues.

[Novacek]

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.

I've no clue how Prop A is doing, and I encourage everyone to continue fighting for it (it very well may be Austin's last chance for a long time).

But another potential difference is that the vote was in the entire county (due to Nashville being a consolidated city/county). It probably wasn't the deciding factor, but I'm sure it didn't help.

[ahealy]

Yeah, I really don't know what will happen if this doesn't pass. We desperately need something YESTERDAY. When most folks with office gigs go back to work, we will be harshly reminded of how horrible things were with our roads--this city could barely function pre-covid. I literally never see friends in South Austin....ask them how they feel about visiting me off Parmer lol. We need tunnels, PRT, rail and better ped infrastructure nowwwwwwwww.

[lonewolf]

are we expecting a big left/right schism with prop A? if i had to guess it would lean left but i don't sense a large discrepancy. would expect age to be a bigger factor tbh

[freerover]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

are we expecting a big left/right schism with prop A? if i had to guess it would lean left but i don't sense a large discrepancy. would expect age to be a bigger factor tbh

Stupid liberals that think they know what they are talking about are voting against it and the right hates mass transit and even small tax rises. I think it might be lucky to break 40%

[JAM]

i used to want a train, but fast forward 15 years and look at the advancements. who would wait for a train, when they can just call an Uber. More of this is to come. Only successful in huge metropolitan areas, not little po-dunk Austin. By the time they get this thing built, transportation technology will have advanced so much, that the train will be nothing more than an expensive experiment. there are many ways to take cars off the road. and the costs they project are surely a pipe dream. 5G will transform transportation.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by JAM

i used to want a train, but fast forward 15 years and look at the advancements. who would wait for a train, when they can just call an Uber. More of this is to come. Only successful in huge metropolitan areas, not little po-dunk Austin. By the time they get this thing built, transportation technology will have advanced so much, that the train will be nothing more than an expensive experiment. there are many ways to take cars off the road. and the costs they project are surely a pipe dream. 5G will transform transportation.

Case in point.

[N90]

Originally Posted by JAM

i used to want a train, but fast forward 15 years and look at the advancements. who would wait for a train, when they can just call an Uber. More of this is to come. Only successful in huge metropolitan areas, not little po-dunk Austin. By the time they get this thing built, transportation technology will have advanced so much, that the train will be nothing more than an expensive experiment. there are many ways to take cars off the road. and the costs they project are surely a pipe dream. 5G will transform transportation.

This is a ridiculous position.

Uber isn’t public transport. All you’re doing is getting into someone else’s car and getting on the same roads and going through the same congestion as everyone else. Might as well save yourself a pretty penny and use your own car.

And we’re not devoid of Internet right now. Newsflash, most drivers either have GPS built into their car or a smartphone with wireless 4G Internet. So no, 5G isn’t some sort of big savior for people suffering long commute times and endless congestion. 5G won’t get people off the road or taking any alternatives compared to 4G.

And I think it’s laughable to say rail is obsolete. Name ONE credible city in this world that either doesn’t have rail or doesn’t have a plan to get it real soon.

Tokyo, Singapore, Dubai, London, Seoul, Paris, Hong Kong, Moscow, Amsterdam, Berlin, Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi, NYC, Mumbai, Osaka, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Barcelona, Toronto, Chicago, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Manila, Cairo, Dallas, Tel Aviv, Rome, Milan, Taipei, Houston, Istanbul, Bangkok, Doha, Lagos, Los Angeles, Tehran, Atlanta, San Diego, Sydney, Marseilles, Lyon, Washington DC, Miami, Melbourne, Brisbane, Boston, Montreal, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Durban, Cape Town, Lima, Antwerp, Bogota, Minneapolis, Ankara, Izmir, Perth, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Busan, Denver, Portland, Nagoya, Munich, Mexico City, Amman, Salt Lake City, Hamburg, Brussels, Phoenix, Monterrey, Calgary, Guadalajara, Santiago, Edmonton, San Juan, Ottawa, Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham, San Jose, Athens, Algiers, Sacramento, even Honolulu, etc ALL have some kind of rail. That’s 95 cities of all sizes and backgrounds from every corner of the world. They all have either HRT or LRT or both. You really think ALL of these places are wrong?

Austin has neither HRT or LRT and you really think it can manage without some kinda intercity rail?

[N90]

It’s easier to make a list of cities that don’t have LRT or HRT.

Austin, Karachi, Detroit, Kabul, Johannesburg, Lahore, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Antonio, Orlando, Raleigh, Kansas City, Memphis, Jacksonville, and Tampa.

Not exactly the kind of list you want your city’s name on but TX manages to have two on this list.

[KevinFromTexas]

I don't think parking garage levels in buildings are going anywhere, particularly in residential buildings, even if we have more transportation options. People will always have their cars. Sure, local car trips would be less frequent with better transportation, but there are always trips out of town that will make one practical. The only reason cities of yesterday didn't have parking podiums was because having a personal car was a much more rare thing because the economy then just didn't afford one to people, and the architecture of that era didn't include them, at least, not in a noticeable way. It's also naive to think that all of those old buildings didn't have parking. If they didn't have underground parking, then they had surface parking since land was cheap or even an adjacent garage. Those went away as land prices went up, of course.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by N90

It’s easier to make a list of cities that don’t have LRT or HRT.

Austin, Karachi, Detroit, Kabul, Johannesburg, Lahore, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Antonio, Orlando, Raleigh, Kansas City, Memphis, Jacksonville, and Tampa.

Not exactly the kind of list you want your city’s name on but TX manages to have two on this list.

You listed 15 cities. In most countries in the world, streetcars are considered a form of light rail. Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis, and Tampa have streetcars. That leaves 11 cities. Las Vegas has a monorail, which can be considered either a light rail or heavy rail replacement. That leaves 10 cities. Raleigh is in the process of building a light rail and streetcar lines. That leaves 9 cities soon.
So your list should be much smaller.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by freerover

That's what Austin is trying to do. It seems like traffic has to get way worse off the highways for people to realize we need it.

Ever tried to get out of Downtown at evening rush hour? It often took me 30 - 45 minutes just to cross I-35. Once I crossed it, I could be home in 15 minutes. If we had rail and better bus service into Downtown from multiple directions, people would be less inclined to drive to work, and the demand for over sized parking garages would be reduce. We just can't continue on the course we are on. IT DOES NOT WORK!!!

[H2O]

Originally Posted by JAM

i used to want a train, but fast forward 15 years and look at the advancements. who would wait for a train, when they can just call an Uber. More of this is to come. Only successful in huge metropolitan areas, not little po-dunk Austin. By the time they get this thing built, transportation technology will have advanced so much, that the train will be nothing more than an expensive experiment. there are many ways to take cars off the road. and the costs they project are surely a pipe dream. 5G will transform transportation.

Self driving cars will not take cars off the road. it will just take drivers off the road. There is a geometric constraint to how many cars can fit in a given amount of road space. Self driving cars will still take at least 30 - 45 minutes to get out of Downtown at PM peak. By then, it will probably be closer to 6o or more.