Texas Capitol Complex & North Austin Complex Projects Update Thread

[papertowelroll]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

What’s the % of Austinites & metro area folks who actually use bicycles for commuting to work, shopping, taking kids to school, running daily errands, hauling the elderly around, etc.?
Not to mention commercial vehicles transporting goods, utility vehicles maintaining infrastructure, AFD & EMS emergency vehicles, etc.?

I’ll hang up and listen.

I do commute to work on a bicycle, though I think bike lanes in Austin are pretty good overall.

Honestly who really gets f'ed in this city are motorcycle drivers. It's be nice if we had motorcycle only lanes to encourage more people to commute that way instead of clogging the roads with single occupancy SUVs.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by papertowelroll

I do commute to work on a bicycle, though I think bike lanes in Austin are pretty good overall.

Honestly who really gets f'ed in this city are motorcycle drivers. It's be nice if we had motorcycle only lanes to encourage more people to commute that way instead of clogging the roads with single occupancy SUVs.

Given the _huge_ public health care costs of motorcycles, the very last thing the city should be doing is encouraging more people to ride them.

[drummer]

I like motorcycles in theory (I rode one a fair amount in Asia in one of the cities I lived in), but what scares me is people who are reckless on them. Beyond that, drivers who aren't observant add more risk to them as well. All around, it's tricky because of careless individuals on both side of the equation, and that's the challenge for me.

[Riverranchdrone]

Motorcycles are like the jetski's of land. They are a public diturbance.. Everyday I see motorcycles cutting traffic by riding on the shoulder, lane splitting, riding on the sidewalks, bike lane and running red lights. Its like these motorcycles drivers think the rules of the road don't apply to them.

[OfficialPBreton]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

What’s the % of Austinites & metro area folks who actually use bicycles for commuting to work, shopping, taking kids to school, running daily errands, hauling the elderly around, etc.?
Not to mention commercial vehicles transporting goods, utility vehicles maintaining infrastructure, AFD & EMS emergency vehicles, etc.?

I’ll hang up and listen.

Your answer to "we've spent 70 years disincentivizing anyone using anything other than a personal vehicle to do anything or go anywhere" is "well who uses the other options anyways?"

Please at least appear to be interested in solving transportation issues in the city.

[Armybrat]

Originally Posted by OfficialPBreton

Your answer to "we've spent 70 years disincentivizing anyone using anything other than a personal vehicle to do anything or go anywhere" is "well who uses the other options anyways?"

Please at least appear to be interested in solving transportation issues in the city.

I’ll take an interest whenever the powers that be in the CoA get their heads out of their collective asses and propose something efficient and actually cost effective.
I have used public transportation in NYC & Tokyo, and was impressed that they knew what they were doing.
But what can we expect from a city that took years to get a kiddie train functioning again in Zilker Park?

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by armybrat

but what can we expect from a city that took years to get a kiddie train functioning again in zilker park?

lol

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by drummer

I like motorcycles in theory (I rode one a fair amount in Asia in one of the cities I lived in), but what scares me is people who are reckless on them. Beyond that, drivers who aren't observant add more risk to them as well. All around, it's tricky because of careless individuals on both side of the equation, and that's the challenge for me.

You don't have to be reckless. Even a fender bender accident can be deadly.

[drummer]

^ Fair point.

And the kiddie train in Zilker analogy is a hilarious and painfully sad point...

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

I’ll take an interest whenever the powers that be in the CoA get their heads out of their collective asses and propose something efficient and actually cost effective.

Honestly at this point, I don't even care whether it's cost effective. I know that's not particularly realistic (or popular) with everyone, but if there were a choice to double the property tax increase in exchange for a project connect that is twice the scope, then I'd have gladly gone for it.

Originally Posted by Armybrat

I have used public transportation in NYC & Tokyo, and was impressed that they knew what they were doing.

While true, both are difficult comparisons. Tokyo is a city that is literally 15 times the population of Austin, and is located in a country that handles governance across the municipal-state-federal levels totally differently.

NYC on the other hand is relatively unique in the U.S. (based on population, geography, massive tax base, among other factors) where a significant chunk of the workforce has no real alternatives to relying on public transit for their commute. If all public transit shut down for 48 hours in Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, or a number of other cities, it would create a big hassle for a chunk of the population. Compare that to NYC, where all public transit shutting down entirely for 48 hours would be the functional equivalent of a natural disaster for the city.

[Urbannizer]

[Urbannizer]

[atxsnail]

Originally Posted by Geckos_Rule

NYC on the other hand is relatively unique in the U.S. (based on population, geography, massive tax base, among other factors) where a significant chunk of the workforce has no real alternatives to relying on public transit for their commute. If all public transit shut down for 48 hours in Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, or a number of other cities, it would create a big hassle for a chunk of the population. Compare that to NYC, where all public transit shutting down entirely for 48 hours would be the functional equivalent of a natural disaster for the city.

My favorite comparison statistic for NYC subway ridership is that the NYC subway serves more riders in a day than all the airports in the country combined and it's not even particularly close - 3.6 mil vs 2.9 mil. And that's just subways. MTA buses serve another 1.4 mil daily.

NYC transit is just so massively important it's hard to fathom.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

I’ll take an interest whenever the powers that be in the CoA get their heads out of their collective asses and propose something efficient and actually cost effective.
I have used public transportation in NYC & Tokyo, and was impressed that they knew what they were doing.
But what can we expect from a city that took years to get a kiddie train functioning again in Zilker Park?

This mentality is the exact reason why transit sucks in this town.

First off, APF was in charge of the train. Not the city. Second off, ATP hired and contracts people and firms that have worked on other transit projects across the country. Third, please explain in detail how the train proposal should be different. If your critique calls for more track then explain where that money is suppose to come from.


The city is a bunch of people who don't know what they are talking about constantly crapping over everyone who does that is trying their best in a difficult regulatory state environment.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by freerover

This mentality is the exact reason why transit sucks in this town.

First off, APF was in charge of the train. Not the city. Second off, ATP hired and contracts people and firms that have worked on other transit projects across the country. Third, please explain in detail how the train proposal should be different. If your critique calls for more track then explain where that money is suppose to come from.


The city is a bunch of people who don't know what they are talking about constantly crapping over everyone who does that is trying their best in a difficult regulatory state environment.

This perfectly explains why I hate living here.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

This perfectly explains why I hate living here.

That mentality is true nearly everywhere in this country. It is not unique to Austin.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by paul78701

That mentality is true nearly everywhere in this country. It is not unique to Austin.

As someone that has lived around the world, it is FAR more prevalent in Austin and Texas than anywhere I have lived. It is very frustrating.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

This perfectly explains why I hate living here.

Same and same

[Armybrat]

Well then….move

[Jdawgboy]

I don't hate living in my city that I was born and raised in... But I do hate living in this state. If we could move the city out of the state or move the state out of the city and become something like Singapore; then that would be awesome...