AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[Myomi]

Originally Posted by alexjon

NIMBY - "Not In My BackYard"

The idea that any growth or progress is detrimental to a city.

Some people use it to mean someone who doesn't want growth in their part of town, but it goes much further than that.

NIMBY doesn't necessarily mean that people are against growth. Nor does it mean that people are opposed to growth in their neighboorhoods. The concept of NIMBY stems from the fact that there are certain buildings and infustructure projects that no one wants to be next to, even if those projects benefit the entire community and even the people protesting them. Taking such a definition, all of us have obvious things that we do not want in our backyards and the term becomes a useful consideration when planning city growth. Obvious examples are prisons, landfills, train tracks, airports, etc. They benefit the city as a whole, but there are a slew of reasons to not live next to them.

The problem in Austin is that groups pevert the concept of NIMBY into such grotesque forms that it makes it seem that they are pretty much against all growth. In this city that prides itself on its liberal attitudes, group pull the NIMBY card many times just to hide the fact that they are to conservative to accept changes to their status quo. Many of the times though, the roots of their reasoning has nothing to do with what makes anything NIMBY.

[alexjon]

The current ideology of growth generally nullifies the older definition of NIMBY, so while Jane Jacobs may have railed against freeways in cities, those are generally not being built en masse anymore. It's housing, it's retail, it's light rail, it's subways. People are re-assessing their view of the city and those who have invested in themselves more than they've invested in their city are left in this awful position of being left crowing a pale visage of what was a noble cause.

As long as it doesn't smell or give me cancer, I say build it.

[Jdawgboy]

I heard that Cap Metro has hired some sort of consultant to re-align the bus routs. Aparently the bus that I use alot will be changing from the #16 to the #5 wich kinda sucks because Ive always known that bus to be the 16 ever since I can remember. I believe it also has to do with the new south Austin transit center and the re-alignment of just about all of the buses routs south of the river save a few here and there. Changes will start Aug 24th I think.

[tildahat]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

I heard that Cap Metro has hired some sort of consultant to re-align the bus routs. Aparently the bus that I use alot will be changing from the #16 to the #5 wich kinda sucks because Ive always known that bus to be the 16 ever since I can remember. I believe it also has to do with the new south Austin transit center and the re-alignment of just about all of the buses routs south of the river save a few here and there. Changes will start Aug 24th I think.

Yeah, they were going to completely cut the battle bend bus (which I take to work) drop 101 south of ben white, and have only every other #1 go south of Ben White. Now I think the reinstated the 101 south of BW and both all #1 buses continue south of BW but splitting somewhere south of me. We got a circulator bus every 30 minutes for 2/5-3 hours morning and evening in (greater) Battle Bend. Odd how they caved on almost everything, I guess they were just trying to see what they could get away with without people complaining. Though it sucks for me personally, I can see why they didn't wan't to keep running the #1 through a neighborhood...

[KevinFromTexas]

From the Austin American-Statesman


TRANSPORTATION
Capital Metro buses beginning to crowd

Video
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1697222169

[KevinFromTexas]

Interesting chart on the rise in ridership.
http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...9capmetro.html

Main link here:
http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...9capmetro.html

[M1EK]

This actually shows the operating cost problem with buses compared to trains - now that demand is surging, Capital Metro can't fit enough people on the express buses - but they can't simply "add another car" either; they have to buy a complete new vehicle and pay another operator.

[KevinFromTexas]

I think this will end up being the driving force to bring light rail. Pack those buses shoulder to shoulder with everyday people, and they'll be inspired to vote for rail. Necessity, the mother of all inventions...

[DrewDizzle]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I think this will end up being the driving force to bring light rail. Pack those buses shoulder to shoulder with everyday people, and they'll be inspired to vote for rail. Necessity, the mother of all inventions...

But... but... but... we have commuter rail.

[alexjon]

You have to fight the double-headed dragon of taxation and a flagging economy to get light rail passed this year. It's very powerful.

And it has teeth!

[M1EK]

Problem is those packed express buses are running from places that would want to slap on more COMMUTER rail lines that just terminated at the convention center anyways (or Seaholm, equally useless).

[SecretAgentMan]

New Details on Downtown Light Rail

KUT by Matt Largey



The plans are still in the early stages, but consultants provided some early figures that could give a sense of the project's future.



Listen to story at http://kut.org/items/show/13437

[SecretAgentMan]

$600 million streetcar plan offered for Austin

City consultant's proposal still a work in progress, and many hurdles remain before concept could become a reality

Statesman by Ben Wear







Central Austin should have a 15.3-mile streetcar system, consultants hired by the Austin City Council told members Thursday, a slight refinement of a proposal that the ROMA Design Group unveiled in April.



The proposal, similar in many respects to downtown rail plans that have been circulating for about three years, remains well short of a finished product. And the proposal lacks what is perhaps the most critical information: how the city or Capital Metro, or some entity to be named later, would pay for it.



The plan, when it does take final shape in a few months, is likely to be reviewed by a "transit working group" formed by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board, the principal transportation planning group in Central Texas. Finding a workable way to pay for a rail plan, officials have made clear, is critical to taking it from back burner to serious debate.



In the end, some sort of public vote on the streetcar plan will almost certainly occur. But that won't happen until next year at the earliest.



Though the route unveiled Thursday is essentially the same as the one in the April proposal — from the old Mueller airport property, through the University of Texas and downtown and then out Riverside Drive to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport — the latest version of ROMA's rail thinking does carry more specifics.



Most tellingly, given criticism in April of costs expressed only in a broad range, the consultant said the line would cost $550 million to $614 million to build and $21 million to $23 million a year to operate.



Those costs, according to Jim Adams, a principal with ROMA, assume laying double tracks throughout the line, buying 20 electric-powered rail cars and running them at 10-minute intervals, 17 hours a day.



Though the April proposal said such a line might have either streetcars or light rail, ROMA now recommends streetcars. Streetcars typically run somewhat slower than light rail, with more stops and, often, on rails sharing a lane with cars.



The current ROMA proposal would have the streetcars sharing lanes with automobiles at least on Congress Avenue and Manor Road. For Congress, ROMA presented two versions, one with the streetcars in the center lanes and another with them in the outside lanes.



The center-lane version would probably preserve the angled street parking now on Congress, and the outside-lane approach would require parallel parking instead, Adams said. But he said that having the streetcars and overhead wires in the center lane would obstruct views of the Capitol and potentially cause problems for parades.



On Riverside and other downtown streets that have more space than Congress or Manor, Adams said the streetcar line probably could have its own "dedicated" lane.



The plan has a few new wrinkles.



ROMA suggests that the commuter line under construction by Capital Metro, which will terminate near Fourth and Trinity streets, be extended a couple of blocks west to Brazos Street.



The proposal also includes a streetcar leg to the Seaholm Power Plant seven blocks west of Congress and a quarter-mile appendage running (with service evenings and weekends) from South Congress to the Long Center for the Performing Arts.



ROMA predicts that the service would have more than 32,000 boardings a day and help spur development in more than 2,800 acres of vacant or "underutilized" land along the route.

[SecretAgentMan]

Cost of Downtown Light-rail Line Revealed

KTBC



On Thursday Austin City Council members learned that the proposed light-rail line through downtown would cost between $560 and $614 million to build and an additional $20 million each year to maintain. The line would connect the Mueller development with the airport and stop at several key areas downtown.



Watch the story at http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pag...Y&pageId=3.2.1

[alexjon]

I hope you guys realize what kind of deal you're getting, even if it isn't as efficient as it should be.

[SecretAgentMan]

This is probably the most important part of the plan that the media has completely ignored. The Downtown rail spine formed by the two lines through the CBD, Capitol Complex and UT can be extended north, south, east and west in the future. And because the plan is to build as much as possible to lightrail standards (pretty much everything except the Mueller line northwest of UT), future capacity can be increased by buying full-size LRVs that can be coupled into mutli-car consists. (Platforms would have to be extended)



Source: City of Austin

[SecretAgentMan]

In the meantime, while we wait for north/south urban rail expansion, we will at least have this. Another recommendation coming out of the Downtown Plan is dedicated bus lanes on Guadalupe and Lavaca that will make this closer to true BRT (at least Downtown)

Cap Metro: Buses Need Traffic Light Priority

KUT by Nathan Bernier



Part of the plan involves buses that get special treatment at traffic lights. CapMetro is holding two more public meetings on its MetroRapid plan. The first is Monday, July 28th from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church at 1500 West Anderson Lane. The second is Wednesday, July 30 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Skyline Terrace-Foundation Communities in the first floor conference room at 1212 W. Ben White Blvd. For Capital Metro's frequently asked questions on MetroRapid, click here. http://allsystemsgo.capmetro.org/cap...rapid-qa.shtml



Listen to story at http://kut.org/items/show/13474.

Source: Capital Metro

[M1EK]

As I just posted, Rapid Bus is a fraud; a waste of time; and a diversion - it's a slap in the face to the central Austinites who pay essentially all of Capital Metro's bills. Won't work; will cost a lot of money; will waste time and money we can't afford - and in the process further locking us into dependence on diesel fuel at exactly the time we should be backing away from it.

I'm not surprised to see _you_ shilling for it, though. Extra points for not mentioning that implementing Rapid Bus on these corridors will actually get in the way of any future imaginary expansion of the streetcar line north and south. Rapid Bus isn't a step towards rail; it's a step AWAY from it.

[alexjon]

Sounds like Seattle, M1EK. Central city Seattle pays almost 60% of local tax revenue and yet all the big non-LRT improvements are going elsewhere, like West Seattle and the Aurora Corridor.

The same West Seattle and Aurora Corridors that want to chain themselves to the viaduct because it's their private downtown bypass. "It's historic! It won't collapse! Show some love!"

Bah, BRT. Bah viaduct!

[M1EK]

At least central Seattle is getting LRT. Central Austin is getting nothing but Rapid Bus from Cap Metro, and that's only if our city councilmembers on their board don't heroically torpedo it like they did last time (a decision with which I whole-heartedly agreed).