AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[JoninATX]

Thanks for that link Kevin. Speaking of bikes here are the latest numbers from B- Cycle.



http://movabilityaustin.org/2014/01/...of-bike-share/

It's making progress, btw the next set of 15 bike stations opens Feb. 2. I guess this weather set them back a week.

[audiomuse]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I'm pro-bike for sure, but I gotta wonder how this would work.

http://www.austinpost.org/article/bi...ttee-bikes-i35

Really wish they'd do something like this:




They have them alongside highways all over The Netherlands. Apparently what they're currently planning for bikes is wide shoulders along the access roads. Not a good idea, we need complete separation

[hereinaustin]

Originally Posted by audiomuse

They have them alongside highways all over The Netherlands. Apparently what they're currently planning for bikes is wide shoulders along the access roads. Not a good idea, we need complete separation

I road bike a lot, but I'm thinking I would never bike along I-35 unless there was complete separation. If 360 weren't perfect for accessing the good biking hills in Austin, I might not even use that. Wide shoulders are great, but they're hardly enough. Austin drivers are pretty good about paying attention to bikes, but I-35 has plenty of people passing through who might not share the road (or shoulder).

[lzppjb]

Bike lanes on 35 would piss me off. It's just stupid. And dangerous.

[texastarkus]

Originally Posted by audiomuse

Really wish they'd do something like this:

They have them alongside highways all over The Netherlands. Apparently what they're currently planning for bikes is wide shoulders along the access roads. Not a good idea, we need complete separation

[Tyrone Shoes]

Originally Posted by texastarkus

Well...er...ok...I guess

At one point the city/TX DOT had to post signs on MoPac to keep bikes off after someone was killed.

[MightyYoda]

Originally Posted by hereinaustin

I road bike a lot, but I'm thinking I would never bike along I-35 unless there was complete separation. If 360 weren't perfect for accessing the good biking hills in Austin, I might not even use that. Wide shoulders are great, but they're hardly enough. Austin drivers are pretty good about paying attention to bikes, but I-35 has plenty of people passing through who might not share the road (or shoulder).

This is just stupid, it's a waste of money unless they do it right. Stop half-assing projects TxDoT.

[audiomuse]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

Bike lanes on 35 would piss me off. It's just stupid. And dangerous.

It's a misleading title. What they're planning is not bike lanes in the usual sense of the word but wide enough shoulders along access roads for which bicyclists could use.

What they need to be doing is building a separate multi-use path. They have several of them in Portland like the I-205 path

[KevinFromTexas]

I'm very pro-bike, and even I think this is a wee bit nuts. Now I don't think it's a bad idea to treat I-35 as a transportation corridor with other modes of transportation included, those being rail and even bike paths. Of course the question is how and where to make those fit within that corridor. A smarter idea for bicycle travel related to the interstate would be to include rail along the corridor that allows passengers to bring their bikes . Then once they get off the train, the rest of their trip can be on two wheels. I would LOVE to be able to hop on a train and take it to San Antonio or any other city in Texas and bring my bike.

[ATXboom]

Austin Bergstrom breaks 10M passenger threshold. When is the east wing expansion going to break ground?!

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...they-were.html

[DoubleC]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

Austin Bergstrom breaks 10M passenger threshold. When is the east wing expansion going to break ground?!

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...they-were.html

Impressive...that's a lot of barbecue. Mostly from the Salt Lick I bet.

Wasn't the expansion announced to break ground by 2016? I forget where I got that number. Also, are all the gates currently leased?

[Samwill89]

Apparently the New "BRT" Roll-out is a disaster.

Reddit and other sites are blowing up with complaints about the poor service and the media has yet to pick-up on it. Some here long ago forsaw the issues occurring now:

I used to be able to catch the 1M, 1L or 101 at my bus stop every 10 minutes or so. Now I have to wait 30 minutes for the new 1 (the old 1M) and it is so crowded sometimes it doesn't even stop. The 801 which replaced the 101 doesn't stop at all of the 101 stops, mine included. The 801 flies by my stop every 15 minutes completely empty. Anyone else hate the new bus reconfiguration? I called Cap Metro to complain but it felt like farting into the wind.

Edit: I just sent CapMetro an email to complain about this very issue. You should too.
customer.Service@capmetro.org

Here are some other avenues we might use to escalate the issue. Local news affiliate tip lines...

KTBC (512)472-0988
KVUE (512) 459-9442
KXAN http://kxan.com/contact-us/
KEYE 512-835-0335
Statesman http://www.statesman.com/mailfriend/...34/d2c37d129f/

Edit2: I just made a basic petition. Please sign and share. http://chn.ge/1ek9aPD

Yeah, I use the same buses and completely agree. I spent around 2 hours waiting for a bus yesterday because the 1 just kept not stopping because it was full. I ended up walking from downtown to Ben White.
I think they failed by having 3 different tiers for the bus passes, and HEB isn't even carrying the premium pass for the 801. I think another failure is by effectively cutting in half the 1 route. You want to get rid of the 1L / 1M? Fine, but those buses were pretty full before the change. Now instead of 2 buses coming every 20-30 minutes, we get 1 bus in the same time period.

I used to be able to catch the 1 without difficulty at a stop 90 seconds from my front door. Now it's an extra half-mile to catch the 801, or else I can wait for the now jam-packed #1 bus (which is turning people away because there's nowhere for them to stand). Cap Metro is too busy patting themselves on the back for their fancy new buses to care about all the people they've screwed with the new configuration.

Just as we feared, the BRT (as is) has made transit and traffic worse. I believe that a good BRT could be every bit as good as LRT, but this iteration shows how incompetent CapMetro is as a transit agency.

[East7thStreet]

Friend of mine used to take the 1M to work everyday until this change. The IM doesn't even go north of 183 anymore. Whose idea was it to cut back the most popular route in Austin?

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

Friend of mine used to take the 1M to work everyday until this change. The IM doesn't even go north of 183 anymore. Whose idea was it to cut back the most popular route in Austin?

That's completely false. The 1M had _no_ changes (other than name) and operates the exact same routes and frequency as before.

http://www.capmetro.org/news-item.aspx?id=3107

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Samwill89

Apparently the New "BRT" Roll-out is a disaster.

Reddit and other sites are blowing up with complaints about the poor service and the media has yet to pick-up on it. Some here long ago forsaw the issues occurring now:









Just as we feared, the BRT (as is) has made transit and traffic worse. I believe that a good BRT could be every bit as good as LRT, but this iteration shows how incompetent CapMetro is as a transit agency.

A couple of people bitchy doesn't make a disaster. Especially when its operating exactly as designed.
_Especially_ when some in that thread are posting blatantly false information (like claiming the 801 has more stops than the 101 had, or that the 1M was removed).

[ATXboom]

Bergstrom expanding:

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...-wants-to.html

[Samwill89]

Originally Posted by Novacek

A couple of people bitchy doesn't make a disaster. Especially when its operating exactly as designed.
_Especially_ when some in that thread are posting blatantly false information (like claiming the 801 has more stops than the 101 had, or that the 1M was removed).

It is certainly more than a "couple of people". The local media is picking up the story after receiving numerous complaints and are reporting similar problems after their own attempts at boarding buses. Also, the petition has hundreds of signatures now. And CapMetro has implied an unprecedented level of interest in the meeting with the public next week.


KEYE coverage

My FOX coverage

[KevinFromTexas]

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/moveit/...ng/#20454101=0

High speed rail: an idea with no funding
Posted on February 7, 2014 | BY VIANNA DAVILA

Whether or not parts of Texas can sustain high-speed, passenger rail service that also extends all the way to the border and to Monterrey, Mexico, is the subject of an ongoing study by the Texas Department of Transportation.

The study focuses on an 850-mile corridor from Oklahoma City to South Texas. Officials at a public meeting Thursday called this a “planning level” effort — there is no funding for construction yet, no alignments have been chosen and it’s not yet clear when, or if, the line could be operational.

San Antonio Express-News - Via Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[Jdawgboy]

I think it would make more sense for the rail routes north/south and east/west to meet in Austin unless it has more to do with existing infrastructure. Austin is expected to become the dominant and larger population region in Central/south Central Texas.

If not Austin, at least have the lines meet between the two cities.

There has been a lack in effort for any good transportation infrastructure for Austin despite being the Capital city. There isn't even an expressway connecting Houston to Austin which baffles a lot of people.

We need a good east/west transportation route whether it be a freeway or rail to the city. It would be beneficial economically to do so.

[Tyrone Shoes]

If it ties into US 290 at Cedar Valley....I understand why HEB just bought Nutty Brown and area around it for a Central Market.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Texas 45 tollway on faster track after money shuffle
By Ben Wear

American-Statesman Staff
The long-delayed Texas 45 Southwest project could be on the fast track to construction within the next two years, thanks to a push by Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty and a money swap approved Monday by local transportation planners.

Daugherty, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, the Texas Department of Transportation and Hays County officials have agreed on a tentative plan to fund the $100 million four-lane tollway. And the 16-2 vote Monday by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board, by effectively taking federal money out of the equation, paved the way for a quicker environmental review of what would be a 3.6-mile-long road.


http://www.statesman.com/news/news/l...y-shuff/ndKSK/