Quote:
Originally Posted by austin242
The public transit ridership in Austin will never go up until the public transit becomes a viable option. For those of you who think a bus rapid transit line would be an adequate alternative to rail you are right for people who already use public transit but for those who don't will never get out of their car to use it. However the majority of people seem to be on board with forgetting their car when it comes to some type of dedicated rail.
They will have the option to change the city for the better in 2020. My prediction is that the Vote will be close but might fail like it did in the past if they can't convince people it helps their area of the city. It won't be because it was too expensive but more so because Texans are selfish. If you can't convince them that it's going to help them directly they won't care if it indirectly relieves traffic in their part of the city.
Luckily they made sure to include metro rapid lines in all the areas that the rail isn't being placed. That I think will get this vote across the line. Ridership after will skyrocket once this is complete 10yrs from now. By 2030 the city could be 1.5mil city proper with a metro of 3mil. That is a lot of people to move with no new surface infrastructure. Let's hope we vote yes and more.
Maybe we will even get that rail from Austin to San Antonio.   |
I'll agree that it will take good transit to get more people out of their cars. But I do not think 51% will stop using cars if trains become available. Dallas and Houston, Texas cities will some rail, only average about 2%-3% transit ridership market share, Austin will not be any different.
The new plan includes providing better transit services to southern Austin which the previous plans forgot. That may change the balance with the next rail transit referendum.
The UP has already spoken, any new train between Austin and San Antonio will never be on the rail corridors it owns. Lone Star Rail is deader than a squash armadillo in the middle of a highway.