BIKE: Re: KUT yesterday morning: TXDOT Monorail

[Nawdry]

At 2/25/04 00:18, David Dobbs wrote:
>That historically transit-hostile auto uber alles TxDot speaks favorably 
>about Monorail's possible appeal to Austin speaks volumes about this 
>technology's flexibility and universal applicability as an alternative to 
>automobiles in the real world.


My take on the TxDOT rep's faintly pro-monorail comments is, first, it's 
probably extremely off-the-cuff and not based on any data, either on 
monorail costs and feasible, or on actual surveys of Austin public opinion 
(particularly INFORMED public opinion).

Second, pro-highway, anti-transit partisans seem to have a pattern of 
trying to nudge planning in the direction of totally grade-separated 
alternatives to surface transit options, particularly LRT (light rail), 
which they hate with a passion because it clearly competes for substantial 
surface space with motor vehicles.  I suspect they also realize that these 
grade-separated alternatives (from monorails to subways) are so expensive, 
very few will ever see the light of day, and of what does there will be 
very little of because of the expense. Let us not forget that Wendell Cox 
lobbied hard, albeit unsuccessfully, for running an extension of the St. 
Louis MetroLink LRT in subway in lightly populated suburban areas.

Monorail as a transit technology certainly has as yet exhibited neither 
"flexibility" nor "universal applicability".  Virtually every monorail in 
operation has the character of a relatively lower-capacity, shuttle-type 
peoplemover, sometimes in the role of a feeder to heavier rapid transit 
lines using standard railway technology.  Clearly, in this kind of niche 
application, monorail and similar AGT modes (often with a narrower profile) 
have a role.

Since these issues were last discussed, to my knowledge, on this list, 
abundant additional information has emerged, and I would be glad to put 
this on the table, if the list moderator(s) would permit such a 
discussion.  The gradual deterioration of the Seattle project is a case in 
point.

LH