Transit-Oriented Development Discussion Tomorrow

ol pappy,

You just don't get it. The train doesn't go anywhere near UT; it requires a stupid shuttle bus transfer which makes the overall trip even less attractive than the existing express bus routes, and that's not a hard standard to beat.

It IS possible to build a starter rail line that's so bad that it can take decades before you get another chance. South Florida did, with Tri-Rail, which just like ours relies on people who didn't like taking buses before suddenly changing their mind when we put the word "shuttle" in front of it.

Mike, maybe if you made your words more interesting, I'd want to read them more.

Spencer, I don't hate rail and I'm a native Texan so please do not speak for us all. I love the idea of trains. I especially love the idea of converting streets like Mo-Pac and Lamar into rail roads and outlawing cars but that ain't ever gonna happen.

1,000 people a day sounds good enough for me. Hell, just get everyone going to UT off the busses and onto trains and I'm a happy camper.

Don't forget the fact that only about 1,000 people per day will actually ride this joke of a rail system, according to Cap Metro itself.

You think Texans hate rail now? Wait until they can point to this system as a reason for why passenger rail can't be successful here.

Dear Ol Pappy:

Perhaps you should bother to read once in a while. Crestview Station is being sold as a TOD, meaning they are pushing for higher-density on the understanding that residents will want to use the RAIL TRANSIT THERE.

Do they not have the Statesman in your mental hospital or what?

Hey, Mr. Smarty Pants, if Paula Professor lived in Crestview and wanted to go to UT, she wouldn't need to ride the train, they'd probably give her a parking permit. If she's a nice lady and she wants to stop the Earth from being a nice place where we humans can live, she'd ride the bus there. It only takes about 15 minutes to get from Crestview to UT anyway (not 2 blocks like your ridiculous write-up says) so your whole scenerio is stupid from the get go. I think a more reasonable use for those trains would be to say someone lives in the Gangland Apartments on Oltorf and they need to get to the Whataburger on Metric to work - they don't have to spend an hour in the car getting angry and wanting to KILL KILL KILL. They can sit back on the train instead and read Ulysses for 30 minutes.

But we can't get to that stage with trains running up and down the interstate if we don't start someonewhere. And your wanting to nip the project in the bud because you have unreasonable expectations for transit in this town is not helping those who need good transit options most. People that ride the gol'dern bus everyday like me.

Basically, what I'm saying is that your example sucks. And even if she did get hit on the head with an anvil and decide to take a train to UT that let her off after her stop, she could always walk the 5 blocks to UT or ride her bike over there.

Done and done:

http://mdahmus.monkeysystems.com/blog/archives/000405.html

I want choo-choos too. But I really want fast & cheap choo-choos for commuting to the beach in the summertime.

i wants me some trains in texas. i'm so excited.

Dangit, you're about a day too early - I spent the morning marking up some maps to show how lame the commuter rail plus shuttle bus trip will be from Crestview Station to UT/Capitol/downtown but haven't written the article part yet.

Here's something for the meantime: http://mdahmus.monkeysystems.com/blog/archives/000401.html

Summary: You don't get true TOD if the transit service is low-quality. And transit service which takes you far away from where you actually want to go only to tell you to hop a shuttle bus to get to your real destination is about as low-quality as it gets. Even the existing express buses will be more attractive than commuter rail due to this problem.