Austin's Metrorail already at capacity

[RandomGuy]

Looks like Austin's traffic foibles have started to create a demand for alternatives. Gas prices probably aren't hurting either.

Newly packed trains a mixed blessing for MetroRail (http://www.statesman.com/news/local/newly-packed-trains-a-mixed-blessing-for-metrorail-1336164.html)


The line, which opened a year ago this Tuesday (about two years after its initial target date), ends its first year with a sturdy record for reliability and safety. This is no mean feat, given the project's troubled gestation and the resultant community suspicion that similar troubles would ensue once paying customers walked on board.

Instead, the trains have run on time 98 percent of the time, the agency says, a claim born out anecdotally by passengers and firsthand reporting. MetroRail had to cancel train runs four times during the year because of an overnight freight train derailment, a suspicious package by the tracks in East Austin (the sack contained a hunk of nail-studded meat, not explosives), the Feb. 2 snow day and bridge damage caused by a flash flood.

And the 32-mile Leander to downtown Austin line ends the first year close to or above its own projections of what ridership would be within a year: 1,700 to 2,000 boardings a day. Even the agency's sturdiest defenders would have hesitated to predict such a thing as recently as Christmas.


"I am not yet at a place where I feel comfortable making any recommendations for big (rail) service increases, or even moderate increases, for next budget year," [agency president Linda ]Watson said. "Yeah, there's a lot of things we'd like to do. But we need to have that solid financial foundation before we start adding service."

Which means, for the next year or two, crowded trains and, for some passengers, long trips holding onto a pole rather than napping or clicking on a laptop. That could drive people away, Langmore said, just as rail is catching on here.

"If they're standing up for 50 minutes, they'll go back to their old commuting patterns," Langmore said. "It's a very real issue."

They lowered fares, and increased ridership to capacity, but recent gas prices seem to have caused a spike in ridership.

Seems to me like they need to raise fares a bit to help cover the costs of expanding service.

[Winehole23]

Riposte, CG?

[MannyIsGod]

Its obvious these systems get far more use as gas prices rise. The commuter rail I take several times a week has seen a pretty big spike in ridership (from what I can see - purely anecdotal) over the past month.

[DarrinS]

RG will be happy when we're all crammed in like sardines, smelling everyone else's armpit funk, so long as it saves us from that toxic carbon dioxide.

[coyotes_geek]

Riposte, CG?

Smoke and mirrors. They're running fewer trains per day, less cars per train and eliminated a bunch of bus service in the 183 corridor to try and force people on the trains.

We paid for it, so I'm certainly rooting for the thing to work, but at the end of the day we still paid about $180 million for a train that is only getting used for about 900 round trips a day. Further investments in the bus system would have been a much better return on our mass transit dollar.

[boutons_deux]

LA is reducing its municipal bus count as their light rail network develops and rail ridership increases. Check out the documentary on the history of LA rail system: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"

Sometimes, America has glimmers of collective intelligence, but so far, only glimmers.

If the Feds would tax gasoline up to about $6/gal over about 5 years, America would get a lot more intelligent very quickly.

[DarrinS]

RG's Utopia!


FJKbLvU5kQM


b0A9-oUoMug

[Yonivore]

Smoke and mirrors. They're running fewer trains per day, less cars per train and eliminated a bunch of bus service in the 183 corridor to try and force people on the trains.

We paid for it, so I'm certainly rooting for the thing to work, but at the end of the day we still paid about $180 million for a train that is only getting used for about 900 round trips a day. Further investments in the bus system would have been a much better return on our mass transit dollar.
Agreed.

Commuters get a better deal and more accessibility from the bus routes. I have a park and ride and a metro train station equidistant from my house. For $30, I drive to the park and ride and take the bus to the front door of my building or, for $70+, I can drive to the metro rail station, take a train to a bus stop 10 blocks from my office and catch my regular bus the rest of the way or walk. That $40 would save me about 15 minutes each way.

Every time I've ridden the metro rail its been deserted...except for the day they were giving free rides.

[baseline bum]

DarrinS's wet dream

http://stylesectionla.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/traffic.jpg

[Winehole23]

RG's Utopia!There's no excuse for missing this badly given the reply in hand from RG upstream...unless you were unaware of it.

(Got-DAMM you lazy, D.)

[CubanMustGo]

Smoke and mirrors. They're running fewer trains per day, less cars per train and eliminated a bunch of bus service in the 183 corridor to try and force people on the trains.

We paid for it, so I'm certainly rooting for the thing to work, but at the end of the day we still paid about $180 million for a train that is only getting used for about 900 round trips a day. Further investments in the bus system would have been a much better return on our mass transit dollar.

Fewer trains per day: False. Train service has been added hourly throughout the day; previously, it only ran early AM and late afternoon. I *do* believe that the first run of the day in from Leander (at like 5:45AM) was cancelled due to low ridership but the total number of daily trains is up considerably. They've even tried some evening trains in March which probably account for some of the increase due to recently concluded SxSW.

Less cars per train: False. These have always been two unit trains. They can't even run three-unit trains (which would be a relatively inexpensive way to increase capacity) because the boarding platforms were only built for two unit trains. Brilliant!

Eliminated a bunch of bus service: True, and the train doesn't really drop you off in a very convenient location so it's either get a transfer onto a bus or walk, walk, walk to your destination downtown.

More smoke and mirrors in your explanation than in reality. It's a stupid, overpriced train but there's s no need to misrepresent what's going on to make your point.

[coyotes_geek]

Fewer trains per day: False. Train service has been added hourly throughout the day; previously, it only ran early AM and late afternoon. I *do* believe that the first run of the day in from Leander (at like 5:45AM) was cancelled due to low ridership but the total number of daily trains is up considerably. They've even tried some evening trains in March which probably account for some of the increase due to recently concluded SxSW.

They were running 19 trains a day at opening. Current schedule is 16.


Less cars per train: False. These have always been two unit trains. They can't even run three-unit trains (which would be a relatively inexpensive way to increase capacity) because the boarding platforms were only built for two unit trains. Brilliant!

My mistake.


Eliminated a bunch of bus service: True, and the train doesn't really drop you off in a very convenient location so it's either get a transfer onto a bus or walk, walk, walk to your destination downtown.


More smoke and mirrors in your explanation than in reality. It's a stupid, overpriced train but there's s no need to misrepresent what's going on to make your point.

It was not my intention to misreprsent anything. Again, I hope the thing works. Ridership numbers are going up, I hope that trend continues.

[Halberto]

The bus system needs more funding than that tiny train. One good outcome from the gas prices is that the ratio of normal to fucked up people is steadily increasing :lol

[RandomGuy]

RG will be happy when we're all crammed in like sardines, smelling everyone else's armpit funk, so long as it saves us from that toxic carbon dioxide.

Don't you ever get tired of strawman and ad hominem?

Just once, doesn't your soul just demand you be fair to someone you might disagree with?

I have resigned myself to the fact that you are a partisan fucktard, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that your only contribution to the conversation is to commit an intellectualy dishonest logical fallacy.

That said,

Trains are but one part of a transportation mix.

Cars as a transportation solution in Austin are something of a failure. The road system just can't keep up.

Trains offer the benefit of a ready alternative as gas starts its inevitable accelerating of cost increases.

Gasoline will get more and more expensive at a faster and faster rate for the rest of my lifetime, barring some biofuel revolution of some sort.

Either we can anticipate that and get some infrastructure in place now, or make the faulty assumption that sinking money into roads for cars is a wise long-term investment.

I take it from your post you are all about inefficiently allocating capital.

[Halberto]

No RG, he's all about being a brainwashed right wing zombie. You're talking to a wall there.