Sunday, 2004-10-24
all systems no
With a heavy heart, I voted no for Capital Metro's commuter rail plan. It just wasn't what it should be. I couldn't be any more pro-transit and therefore any less against the All Systems Go proposal.
Here's why:
- How can a mass-transit plan not provide direct routes to the largest employment locations in the city? Any proposal that doesn't involve rail passing The Capitol or The University of Texas should be a no go.
- Related: Commuters will need to take buses to get to prime downtown Austin locales? This renders the advantages of transit nil. Considering our current car culture, many will continue to prefer the convenience of their own autos.
- Not only will we have to transfer, but the lines (in addition) have a thirty minute headway? Speaking to our car culture again.
Chip Rosenthal has made an outstanding point: "Commuter rail is intended to move people relatively quickly over long distances. Think Cedar Park to the Capitol, not 6th Street to campus. A working commuter rail line would be great, it would relieve some of the pressure on routes such as I-35 and Mopac."
Journey on over to Mike Dahmus' blog; his opinions are better formed and more detailed than my own. They are also the primary reason why I reconsidered my support of commuter rail.
comments
2005-08-03 10:30 / Jerry Roane:
Capmetro needs to look past the past and pick a newer technology for spending tax dollars. Buying a diesel train in this day and age is absurd. The pollution from trains accounts for 10% of Texas NOx pollution yet trains do not move 10% of the people and things. The amount of iron and steel that a train takes to carry a few hundred people (2 buses worth) causes these vehicles to waste energy and pollute more than you can imagine. Capmetro has not even done the pollution calculations per passenger or they would not have proposed such a plan. Patent number 6,923,124 is a more current technology that pollutes much less and costs much less yet gives the riders freedom to go where they want when they want to go there door to door in air conditioned comfort.
2005-08-05 17:44 / Jonathan Horak:
Personal rapid transit (PRT) is an interesting proposition, although only just that as of yet. When a large-scale PRT plan is built out, and after vetting the system (if it proves efficient, effective) I think we'll see more local governments take interest.