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The City of Austin has posted a survey seeking local input about the Downtown Austin Plan. The planning process is being led by ROMA Design Group and is supposed to address issues such as density codes, funding mechanisms, transit routes, and affordable housing. The survey is available in English and Spanish and will be up until Oct. 12 or until they get 10,000 responses. Questions include "If I had $100 dollars to spend on public improvements downtown, I would spend in on _________.", "Where do I take my out of town visitors?" and "What do I dislike most about downtown?" We’re confident that our readers, whose strong opinions about all things development-related are evident in our comments section, will have lots of helpful hints for the folks at ROMA.
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Awesome. That was a lot of fun.
They do need one more question though, "How do you feel about the proliferation of grackle shit on Congress Ave.?"
Argh. Despite the fact that they link to me, they apparently conflate streetcar with light rail (hint: streetcar is like a bus stuck on rails; it still shares a lane with the cars of all the people driving, and thus provides no real additional benefits for local residents - while light rail would run in its own lane and thus not get stuck in traffic).
Thanks for the heads up, Austinist.
Yeah, that was good. I put in my two cents that perhaps they should think about putting in high speed public transport to the places that use public transport (North Central, East, and South) before they run it up to Leander.
mdahmus, if local residents used a streetcar that would mean that they're not driving so that actually would provide a benefit for traffic.
I'm not saying it's the solution.
Personally, as a 78703'er I walk or bike anyway.
They link to you? Must've missed that while I was taking the survey. you're a legend in your own mind.
linked in the "links" section
Guest #6:
Building streetcar won't get anybody else to ride since it doesn't do anything better than the bus (well, not entirely true, but for people who currently drive to work, it's basically no better and even sometimes worse than existing bus service).
Building a form of transit with a reserved guideway (like light rail, although others qualify) can and will get people to decide to leave their car at home.
Building a form of transit which requires 2 daily transfers to slow, stuck-in-traffic, shuttlebuses can and will teach people for a decade or more to come that "nobody will ever use public transit". Oops.
On streetcar versus bus
I'm recommending public plazas where people can sit and eat their lunch and kids can ride skateboards. Perhaps a mime can dance about and annoy people.
Seth
"Perhaps a mime can dance about and annoy people."
It would make the San Franciscians feel more at home.
I'm suggesting that downtown needs more condos.
"I'm suggesting that downtown needs more condos."
Nah, pave the hill country!
...for people who currently drive to work, it's basically no better and even sometimes worse than existing bus service...
My understanding from the recent public meeting held by the City's Downtown Planning team is that the streetcar might serve students and visitors in addition to workers.
There are two types of line - dedicated and shared. With the dedicated lines, there may be advantages in dependability over buses.
Thanks
Garreth
Yes, after a lot of push-back from the city, the new plan includes elements of reserved guideway. It didn't, back when this plan was first floated (and this article first posted).
Vigilance is essential since ROMA sincerely believes in the streetcar fairy dust that makes it work even when it's stuck behind everybody else's car.