AUSTIN | Transportation Updates - Page 77

MichaelB · #**1521** Posted **Sep 6, 2009, 9:03 PM**

check out todays (Sundays) political cartoon in the statesman!

hookem · #**1522** Posted **Sep 9, 2009, 4:58 AM**

Just wondering, I saw this on the news a couple of days ago... is this new "ready date" a mistake that Capital Metro just left in the budget?

from 9/4: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/cap_metro_budget

Quote:

The agency also now has an expected deadline of October 2009 to finish its long-awaited MetroRail and get it running for commuters.

Seems odd to refer to "October 2009" when it's just next month. Especially considering 3 days prior, there was this article:

from 9/1: http://www.statesman.com/news/conten.../0901rail.html

Quote:

"We just don't know how long it will take," said Doug Allen, Capital Metro's executive vice president and chief development officer. "We have to really dig into it."

I'm guessing it was just an old date from the budget, and that there is no way they'll be running next month. More blatant incompetence at Capital Metro. But I haven't heard any retraction or anything, so I wonder does anyone know anything about this... ?

Spaceman · #**1523** Posted **Sep 9, 2009, 4:36 PM**

It'll never run!!...at least the way CM says it will operate...smaller servive area than originally planned...NW Austin will be out of the loop. The trains will replace the "Dillos" and run in the DT only...This joke is no longer funny..

TXAlex · #**1524** Posted **Sep 13, 2009, 3:35 AM**

When did Austin become Europe.

I left for 3 weeks to Spain and during my trip I stopped in Madrid. I had a rental car and parking was a nightmare.

The garages were $50/day and there was no free parking on the street. There were they horrible money depository machines on every block and cars with cameras driving arround giving automated tickets.

I found it absolutely apauling.

We arrived back in Austin a week ago and have visited downtown and everywhere you look where there was free parking there is no a horrible money depository machine.

These roads have been paid for how is it that now we are being taxed to park all of them now!

This is really dissapointing.

Scott Wood · #**1525** Posted **Sep 13, 2009, 4:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXAlex

When did Austin become Europe.

I left for 3 weeks to Spain and during my trip I stopped in Madrid. I had a rental car and parking was a nightmare.

The garages were $50/day and there was no free parking on the street. There were they horrible money depository machines on every block and cars with cameras driving arround giving automated tickets.

I found it absolutely apauling.

We arrived back in Austin a week ago and have visited downtown and everywhere you look where there was free parking there is no a horrible money depository machine.

These roads have been paid for how is it that now we are being taxed to park all of them now!

This is really dissapointing.

Newsflash, driving a car in a dense urban area is expensive -- not because we need the road to be "paid for" (though the cost of maintaining it never ends), but because there is more demand than there can reasonably be provided capacity for.

Destroying what would otherwise be good pedestrian-and-transit friendly urban spaces in order to create lots of parking is what I find appalling.

KevinFromTexas · #**1526** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 1:35 AM**

Besides, driving is a such a craptastic way of getting around downtown anyway. Maybe in the suburbs it's the best way since it's more practical there, but in denser areas it is not. And not only that but I'd much rather walk in an urban setting, than drive. Unless it's raining fire from the sky or anvils, I'd rather walk.

TXAlex · #**1527** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 2:30 AM**

We I would rather walk as well but austin is not a pedstrian freindly utopia and some still have to drive in to get downtown.

West 6th near Z tejas (west of lamar) is not downtown but it is now littered with pay stations that were not there before.

There are businesses that I'm sure will suffer from loosing spaces that were once free to the now pay for everything 10 times bs we now have.

There will never be enough people who live and work downtown to elimiate vehicles.

Craptastic try any european large city. The drivers are garbage the parking is garbage and expensive.

I never indorsed large surface parking lots but parking on the side the road is not going to dissappear and paying $3 for 3 hours in places that were up until days go free, is retarded.

People have to get around and you Scott Wood are not paying for us all to have underground trains like the Bay Area, London, NYC, etc.

Austin's public transportation is horrible, disjointed and ineffective.

Keep Austin Weird...and make you pay for it!

Scott Wood · #**1528** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 4:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXAlex

We I would rather walk as well but austin is not a pedstrian freindly utopia and some still have to drive in to get downtown.

I believe we have enough park and rides -- with free parking

-- and bus service that I'm not sure that very many people "have to drive" to get downtown (outside of very late night hours -- is it still free to park then?). It may be more convenient, sure, and you pay for that convenience to go to you rather than to someone else who also wants it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXAlex

West 6th near Z tejas (west of lamar) is not downtown but it is now littered with pay stations that were not there before.

How easy was it to find an open spot when it was free? If they're metering street parking that was not congested, then I agree that's probably unwarranted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXAlex

There are businesses that I'm sure will suffer from loosing spaces that were once free to the now pay for everything 10 times bs we now have.

There will never be enough people who live and work downtown to elimiate vehicles.

I don't see why living and working downtown is the only way to reduce the use of private vehicles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXAlex

People have to get around and you Scott Wood are not paying for us all to have underground trains like the Bay Area, London, NYC, etc.

Why would improved transit have to take the form of a subway?

I do pay fares and sales tax to Capital Metro, and would have no problem with fares being raised to a level comparable to what is charged in other cities (especially if a discounted monthly pass is provided for those of limited income). Capital Metro's fare recovery rate is pretty low.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXAlex

Austin's public transportation is horrible, disjointed and ineffective.

The only way that's going to change is if ridership improves. Subsidizing drivers with free parking is not going to help with that.

M1EK · #**1529** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 1:52 PM**

Four responses and nobody's actually hit the important point:

As far as I'm aware, the times of day you have to pay for parking and the amount you have to pay for parking haven't changed. The only difference now is you pay at the pay-box instead of at the meter.

priller · #**1530** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 2:16 PM**

Exactly, they just replaced one meter with another, more convenient kind. Why is that a problem? Okay, so W. 6th has meters when they didn't before, but the vast majority are just replacements. Are there other streets now that are newly metered?

I like the machines because I always had to scrounge for change. So much more convenient to use a card.

My main complaint about the new machines is that now you don't have a good way to know where the lines of the parking space are. People use the old meters as a guide to help "line up" the car and make sure it was within the parking space. Now there's now such guide and I've notice people park all over the lines. Don't like that! Cars need to stay inside the lines! (Not that I'm obsessive-compulsive or anything...)

AustinExPat · #**1531** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 2:32 PM**

Is it really only $3 for 3 hours? I had no idea it was that cheap.

Yes, driving in Europe is terrible. It would be a lot worse if people there drove more. And don't forget the price of gasoline! I go to Munich regularly and would NEVER rent a car there or anywhere else in Europe. Too many more attractive options.

AustinExPat · #**1532** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 2:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by priller

My main complaint about the new machines is that now you don't have a good way to know where the lines of the parking space are. People use the old meters as a guide to help "line up" the car and make sure it was within the parking space. Now there's now such guide and I've notice people park all over the lines. Don't like that! Cars need to stay inside the lines! (Not that I'm obsessive-compulsive or anything...)

I wonder if the idea is to make the parking capacity flexible, i.e., you can fit four SUV's in a certain area, but if seven Cooper Minis show up instead, they can all fit in the same space.

TXAlex · #**1533** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 2:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1EK

Four responses and nobody's actually hit the important point:

As far as I'm aware, the times of day you have to pay for parking and the amount you have to pay for parking haven't changed. The only difference now is you pay at the pay-box instead of at the meter.

There are many new place that were free that you now have to pay.

Republic Square never had parking meters, Baylor street infront of Treaty Oak was free, West 6th west of Lamar was free, parking around the state parking garage, around the 360 tower. That is my beef with the change.

I understand why governments like the electronic pay stations. The elimate the need for meter maids (who aren't that great anyway and cost too much). Soon you will see cars that have cameras on top of them roving the streets just like in all of the large european citys.

http://www.omgimageek.com/archives/69

And it makes it way esier and cost effective to hand out parking tickets as the main reason for parking meters is the violations.

I loved living in the Bay Area which had awesome public transport.

Cap Metro doesn't even come close to providing addequate service. If it did I would ride it but getting from one side of town to the other takes an hour+ while by car it takes 15 minutes. Life is too short for that!

M1EK · #**1534** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 5:29 PM**

Republic Square always had meters back in the day; and we need MORE places to have paid parking, not less. Pretty sure I remember seeing meters on W 6th before too - and if not, it's abysmally overdue - the demand was high and should have merited charging for space a long time ago.

Go to your local library and check out "The High Price of Free Parking" some day.

Myomi · #**1535** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 9:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by priller

My main complaint about the new machines is that now you don't have a good way to know where the lines of the parking space are. People use the old meters as a guide to help "line up" the car and make sure it was within the parking space. Now there's now such guide and I've notice people park all over the lines. Don't like that! Cars need to stay inside the lines! (Not that I'm obsessive-compulsive or anything...)

Actually Priller, that is the point. AustinExPat got it exactly right. Eventually those parking lines will fade away and then we will just have areas where you can park. I think I read somewhere that without meters and lines you can actually park about 10-15% more cars in an area, leaving it up to drivers to pack in where they can. Now all the spots don't have to be big enough to fit a Texas-size pickup truck. Now, my compact car can take up just the amount of space it needs (and the truck can take up the space it needs). In the end, it yields more parking in downtown. Heck, now it actually is legal for a Smartcar to park bumper to the curb since they don't stick that far out.

The one bad thing (depending on how you look at it) is that the meters make it much easier for the city to change the rate that we have to pay for parking. Down the line, instead of having to change each meter, the city only has to adjust a few machines. Since I think parking is dirt cheap anyway downtown, that isn't really a big deal to me. But it is all how you look at it.

hookem · #**1536** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 10:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1EK

Republic Square always had meters back in the day; and we need MORE places to have paid parking, not less. Pretty sure I remember seeing meters on W 6th before too - and if not, it's abysmally overdue - the demand was high and should have merited charging for space a long time ago.

Go to your local library and check out "The High Price of Free Parking" some day.

Yes, I remember the meters being at Republic Square, at least on 5th and Guadalupe streets. I used to park there all the time. Google Street view confirms this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sa...tab=il&start=0

West 6th had/has them too, like around Katz's, Opal Devines, the Hoffbrau, etc... all the way up to Lamar. You can also see this in street view. However, west of Lamar, like where Z-Tejas is, I don't see any on street view. So perhaps those are new.

TXAlex · #**1537** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 10:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hookem

Yes, I remember the meters being at Republic Square, at least on 5th and Guadalupe streets. I used to park there all the time. Google Street view confirms this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sa...tab=il&start=0

West 6th had/has them too, like around Katz's, Opal Devines, the Hoffbrau, etc... all the way up to Lamar. You can also see this in street view. However, west of Lamar, like where Z-Tejas is, I don't see any on street view. So perhaps those are new.

I meant the intel/now federal court house site. Which of course is now under construction and may not have any parking around it once built.

I am only speaking of west 6th west of lamar. 5th street west of lamar as well.

priller · #**1538** Posted **Sep 14, 2009, 10:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myomi

Actually Priller, that is the point. AustinExPat got it exactly right. Eventually those parking lines will fade away and then we will just have areas where you can park. I think I read somewhere that without meters and lines you can actually park about 10-15% more cars in an area, leaving it up to drivers to pack in where they can.

What I've seen happening, though, is people leave too much space between their car and the car in front of them, so it ends up being fewer cars there than before.

A few more pet peeves, now that I've used them a few times:

-- When you buy the sticker, you don't specify how much time you want -- ie, "I want to park here for 45 minutes" -- instead it shows you what the end time will be, eg, "It's now 12:06, the sticker lasts until 12:51". To me it's much more straightforward to simply buy how much time you want, rather than have to calculate what time you will return.

-- The stickers go on the inside of your windshield, but the sticky stuff is not on the face of the sticker (like your inspection sticker, eg). So you peel off the sticky back piece, then stick half of that on your sticker and half on the windshield. Seems kind of awkward to me.

M1EK · #**1539** Posted **Sep 25, 2009, 2:37 PM**

From the crackplog

Quote:

What I Would Have Said

on the Jeff Ward show yesterday had I not had to bail out while on hold. Short form because I'm writing this as I'm complaining about a bogus EZPass charge from last November that the lovely folks in New Jersey are just now trying to stick me with.

Follow the link above for the whole story.

hookem · #**1540** Posted **Sep 25, 2009, 5:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1EK

From the crackplog

Follow the link above for the whole story.

You should call in today, while the topic is still fresh for follow up. I was listening yesterday, and would have loved to hear your perspective aired. I did think Carole Keeton-Strayhorn's scrutiny of Cap Metro was looooooong overdue. How easy is it to just fire Cap Metro as a whole, and start over with a new transit company? I'll bet it's not possible with the strong connection between Cap Metro and UT.