Bicycle Austin forum

RedFalcon

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 233

CP Clarkson

Does anyone know why CP Clarkson is showing up on google maps as a Redline (route 550) station?    Is there a new stop planned?  Or is this just the fossilized remains of what could have been a stop.  OR, does Cap Metro think it can just wish better service into existence by having stops added to the map?

While I was trying to figure it out, I found this:
https://www.capmetro.org/stopdetail/index.php?stop=5960

Stop 5960 looks like a bus stop, but to anyone who doesn't know better it sure looks like a train stops there too.  I just took the train yesterday and there wasn't anything there.

Look at intersection of East 52nd and Caswell Ave.

Maybe this has been on google maps all along I never noticed it, but I'm sure I would have by now.

Last edited by RedFalcon (2017-09-12 13:01:49)

daveintex13

Member

Registered: 2010-01-07

Posts: 24

Re: CP Clarkson

Hey Red:

I don't know the answer to your question but I also see that station on Google maps and capmetro's Connections 2025 plan. From what I've heard, the long term plan is to add a station in that area (Clarkson & 52nd) to serve the Travis County building (near Quality Seafood) and other development expected in the future. I prefer a stop closer to Hancock Center myself, which would conveniently be closer to me. I've also heard the Highland ACC station might be moved. But why has Google already moved into production a database with that CP Clarkson station included? That I don't know. They had to get it from CapMetro, right? Or maybe Google's working on time travel?

Also, you might already be aware there is currently a huge hole in the ground on Middle Fiskville (behind Burger Tex). It's so deep, the tops of the digging equipment do not reach above ground level. And they're still digging. So something is afoot there. Go take a look.

~davew~

RedFalcon

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 233

Re: CP Clarkson

But why has Google already moved into production a database with that CP Clarkson station included? That I don't know. They had to get it from CapMetro, right? Or maybe Google's working on time travel?~

Since I don't have a car and get around by bike and public transit I pay attention to stuff like this.  I looked in Connections 2025 stuff, but you found something so I guess I missed it.  I find it vaguely disturbing that google knows about a possible station and puts it on the map long before it even gets built.  If google is digging a big hole....well, I'm going to switch back to Firefox.   

Speaking of new metro rail stops, it would be nice if Cap Metro could acquire the lot where 'Weirdos' was.  This is the sw corner of the Parmer/ Mopac  intersection.  The track runs right next to it.  Nothing has ever stayed in business at this location anyway, but it could be turned into a transit hub, I would think.  If the new bus route #50 to Round Rock could come down and stop there it would be a great connection.  The 142 and and the 240 could stop as well.  Hey, maybe even the 243 that goes through the Great Wells Branch Food Desert.  Oh, and Car 2 Go could have satellite parking here too.    This might help a lot of people around here become car lite, if not car free.

Why am I thinking these crazy thoughts?  Maybe it was that tube station bombing.  I used to live in London and that got me thinking about world class public transit.   It is hard to live in 'bike friendly Austin' and not get frustrated after growing up in Den Haag and London.  It guess it wouldn't bother me so much if Austin didn't brag so much about being so great.

Last edited by RedFalcon (2017-09-15 18:37:31)

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: CP Clarkson

It is hard to live in 'bike friendly Austin' and not get frustrated after growing up in Den Haag and London.  It guess it wouldn't bother me so much if Austin didn't brag so much about being so great.

Yeah, that's the thing that galls me.  Bike-hostile environment?  Okay.  But then the city pats itself on the back about how great it is for cyclists?  Gag.

I spent a month each in London and Den Haag, too.  I didn't find London much better for here than cycling (and a friend of mine got hit & run'd in the U.K. recently, as I posted here recently, with permanent injuries).  But the Netherlands is the damn model, man.  And it's not so much infrastructure (though they have it), it's drivers' attitudes.  Like I always say, it doesn't matter how many miles of protected bike lanes we stripe, unless and until we change drivers' hearts and minds, the streets will never be safe.  I'm thinking now of how a driver and his wife or girlfriend both flipped me off with both hands (total of four hands) because I dared to enter the crosswalk, forcing them to stop (as required by law) when they clearly didn't want to.

austin_jimbo

Newbie

Registered: 2017-12-20

Posts: 1

Re: CP Clarkson

The straightforward answer is that the CapMetro data feed (https://data.texas.gov/Transportation/GTFS/r4v4-vz24) includes several "stops" on the MetroRail Red Line which do not represent actual stops.  These are currently:

Stop Name, CapMetro link
================
CP East Leander, https://www.capmetro.org/stopdetail/index.php?stop=5956
This is near the existing Leander station.

CP West Parmer, https://www.capmetro.org/stopdetail/index.php?stop=5957
This (Rutledge and FM 620) is near the existing Lakeline station.

CP Robinson, https://www.capmetro.org/stopdetail/index.php?stop=5958
This is supposedly "Southeast Corner of SH 45 W and FM 620" but the coordinates put it on private land south of 45.  Maybe there will be a subdivision there one day??

CP West Serta, https://www.capmetro.org/stopdetail/index.php?stop=5959
This is at Metric and Rundberg.  It would actually make a lot of sense to put a train station here as it is near a bunch of warehouses (including the Amazon Fulfillment Center on Rutland) AND houses/condos/apartments AND there is already a parking lot there.

CP Clarkson, https://www.capmetro.org/stopdetail/index.php?stop=5960
This is, as you noticed, not (yet) a train station.

CP Austin Junction, https://www.capmetro.org/stopdetail/index.php?stop=5961
This is at 5th and Pedernales near "The Pedernales" condo development.  Would be nice to see a station here as another one is needed between the Plaza Saltillo and MLK stations.