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8-10k per DAY.
Ah, I don't know why I post numbers in a forum when people have no concept of what context to take them in.
Nevermind, the rail is a ty idea.
. Nevermind.
8-10k per DAY.
Ah, I don't know why I post numbers in a forum when people have no concept of what context to take them in.
Nevermind, the rail is a ty idea.
You amaze me with your ability to spot bull based on your grand expertise. European travel has opened your eyes to the future, no doubt. I hope to be like you one day, but only after my trip to The Louvre.
if the number were 10,000 people per day..that would only be .01% of the population of san antonio using the train... that doesn't even include austinites and all the people not from here just passing through... waste of money... what part of billions of dollars spent on a few people don't you understand?
I still say Texans like their trucks.
subway, no not right now, but some sort of light rail here in san antonio is needed. Via is growing, big deal, we are a big enough city that we need to have complimentary forms of public transportation.
Last edited by Drachen; 03-08-2005 at 09:25 PM.
First highlighted point: You proposed to just keep on building highway lanes, why didnt they just build some parking lots?
Second Point: Do you see the irony in this statment, "we shouldnt do it because it will save us money"
Third point: So you are saying we should wait around until this condition afflicts us THEN do something about it??
Lastly: I think I would rather have someone drive from the far west side of san antonio to any of the proposed train stations, than from the far west side of san antonio, to the north side of Austin.
Last edited by Drachen; 03-08-2005 at 08:38 PM.
Sorry manny as far as the whole rail system is concerned, I am all for it but I have to call BS on your "across town in under an hour" theory with via... I took the number 9 from right in front of the court house changed busses to the 647 at broadway and castano, which then stopped at a little "sub station" at nakoma and 281 (in front of the old theater) then the 647 became the 648 which went up to where I got off at HEB at 281 and 1604. When I changed busses on broadway, I had to wait 8 minutes for the 647, it stops at nakoma for 5 minutes before starting again. Round up thats 15 mins. The entire trip took 2 hrs - 15mins=1:45. That is only half-way across the city BTW. (oh and that wasnt my final destination... Via doesnt go to encino park, so I needed to take a taxi from there.)
Edit: there are other ways of doing getting from said point a to said point b, but they take longer.
Last edited by Drachen; 03-08-2005 at 09:26 PM.
8-11 thousand a day. This is with trains running every 30 minutes, as demand grows we could increase the amount of trains to increase supply. Also, I am sure (and this is in my own opinion) that as time passes we would add rail lines to increase supply. Now you may ask if we are going to increase the amount of rail lines, why not the amount of highway lanes, and the reason is, more people can fit onto a train for the space it takes up, than onto a highway. Oh, and there are also "hidden savings" as well such as we will have to spend less on medicare due to the the fact that 5-9k of cars wont be polluting from austin to san antonio, just as an example.
Last edited by Drachen; 03-08-2005 at 09:32 PM.
How many square miles are served by public transportation? Urban Sprawl sucks all the wind out of good public transportation designs. I think I said as much the other day.
Y'all keep discussing public transportation, but without intelligent urban design, you are wasting your time, no matter how good your intentions.
While I agree with you on this as it relates locally I do believe that a regional transportation system is a little different.
I'm of the opinion that mass transit is a waste of time for most Texans. The TRE here in Dallas is a joke. I live in Arlington and take the train to the AAC for hockey and basketball games, and have never seen more than 10 other people at my stop. BTW, that's only $2.25. METRORail in Houston is more of the same, even during the Super bowl.
Then again, when I lived in Denver people used it all the time when commuting downtown from Englewood and Littleton. In Chicago, there would routinely be 100+ people waiting from my stop in Addison to get downtown. Another thing is that there are massive PR campaigns in both towns for people to use the train, for convienence and for saving time.
, I like taking the train because noone else does.
Probably the best point of this thread. Unless there is a massive public inforamtion campaign and a complete makeover of public planning as we know it, this is either a pipedream or a waste of money.Y'all keep discussing public transportation, but without intelligent urban design, you are wasting your time, no matter how good your intentions.
they can't build parking lots because there is no room..have you been to europe or to the east coast??? space is a premium... esp in europe...you will not find huge parking lots like we have here....
in europe it is cheaper to use public transportation...not here...especially when you factor in waiting times and transportation times... 4 hrs of commuting is a lot...
if the trains in the u.s. that actually have a huge ridership don't even make enough money to stay afloat w/o gov subsidies..how the is our ty, limited service train supposed to?
EXACTLY! san antonio and austin are built OUT and not up... public transportion doesn't work efficiently in places like that...
I kind of baited you into answering that question, actually, because when I am driving to austin, there arent many places that I see room for 18 lanes of highway.
Its also cheaper to use public transportation here too (but as you said VIA sucks). If we have a good system in place, though, financed through, say, a gas tax, it would make it more viable to use.
P.S. I was an exchange student in Germany for a year, and travelled to most western european countries. As for the east coast I have only been to DC for a week.
Drachen, I do it on almost a daily baisis. I travel over 20 miles on VIA in under an hour.
You can move even faster on the Express Buses. They are only in place on the major routes, so it doesn't apply to every sitaution, but VIA service is MUCH improved over even a few years ago.
Also, don't be suprised to see those ridership figures go way up when the new study is completed. The older study was calculated using a travel time much slower than driving to Austin. The new rail will be at the same speed or faster, which will have an increse ridership effect.
I dont know the viability of this, but I think that for this particular line it would work in much the same way as a business that sells off assets to re-focus on its core business. The differences are that we would be a startup but would only have one line (core business). Amtrack actually makes money off of its most successful lines (i.e. Baltimore to DC) but loses money elsewhere. Thus the subsidies. Since this corridor is SO popular that we are even discussing it, I would think that we wouldnt have to worry too much about the demand.
I know that its improved, and I know that it won Best Metro Transit award in Texas in 03, and is a contender for 04, but I guess my opinion is skewed in that I never had to ride the bus here when I was younger, and my first experience was in Berlin Germany, and it was freaking excellent. So in my opinion via sucks.
Yeah, I'd imagine that mass transit is going to be hard pressed to ever be as functional in a city that has developed post 1950.
it is not cheaper to use via for most people... time is money...and most people don't have an extra 2-4hrs in their day to waste waiting on slow ass busses... my cousin wanted to take via to work bc he is kind of like manny(his views)... but he couldn't because there was no possible way for him to get to work under 2 hrs 45mins...and his work was 15 miles away.. ridiculous...
gas tax??? we already have a million taxes... you want gas to be 4 dollars a gallon like in germany? i don't think so... and it gas tax was financing..then obviously ridership isn't...
we are in the u.s...not europe... we aren't into giving stuff away for free... i was a legal, TAX-PAYING, resident of germany, not a foreign exchange student... i paid 46% taxes on my income... i don't see anyone in here wanting to do the same for a commuter rail, healthcare for all, etc..
when people say, it can be done in europe, why can't we do it here...apples and oranges..
Wait, so we're going to build I-69 and its various spurs, and SH-130, and TTC-35, and expand the crap out of I-35, and build rail?
Damn.
here is today's woai poll question..
INSTAPOLL
people are more willing to drive with higher gas prices than ride the bus... it is funnier that 5.7 said they would walk and 5.8 said ride the bus... so much for public transportation in san antonio...With gas prices set to skyrocket, what do you plan to do? [related story]
Walk everywhere...
5.7%
Buy a hybrid car...
5.4%
Pay up...
83.1%
Ride the Bus...
5.8%
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