BIKE: commuter rail in Mudville

[Patrick Goetz]

Jeb Boyt wrote:
> 
> After the failure of the 2000 light rail initiative, Cap Metro put a 
> good deal of time and effort into analyzing possible alignments through 
> the University and Downtown.  They did not identify a feasible 
> solution.

That's because they didn't try very hard.  At least one completely 
feasible solution was staring them in the face and they chose to ignore 
it.  No, wrong:  they actively shunned it.  I offered to have a 
Carter-Burgess engineer do a free lunchtime seminar on modern monorail 
technology for Cap Metro staff and even offered to provide lunch for 
anyone who showed up.  A Cap Metro staffer then informed me that an 
order came from high up in the organization forbidding them from having 
the lunchtime seminar.  And no, I'm not making any of this up or 
exaggerating in the slightest.  Apparently technical knowledge falls in 
the category of censored information at Cap Metro.

I've been told that Cap Metro CEO Fred Gilliam is anti-rail.  And the 
chairman of the Cap Metro board, Lee Walker is an Aggie.  Is it any 
wonder that they couldn't identify a feasible solution?  And no, the 
fact that hundreds of cities have successful urban core rail systems 
doesn't bother them in the least.  Just because everyone else does it, 
doesn't mean that it's not impossible in Austin.


>  Now we have before us a commuter rail proposal that is more 
> affordable than light rail and that won't require that the streets be 
> torn up nor will it displace cars from lanes.
> 

Hey, great.  I'd like to offer a suggestion which will make the commuter 
rail proposal even more affordable and even less disruptive for 
automobile traffic:  why not run the commuter rail line from Leander to 
the Northwest Park & Ride and stop it there?  This way major 
intersections won't be blocked during rush hour and it wil cost even 
less to implement without compromising the utility of the system much. 
The Red Line riders are going to have to tranfer to a bus eventually 
anyway, why not just have them transfer at the Northwest Park & Ride?

Do you see the absurdity of what you're saying?  More affordable is not 
always better.  A cardboard refrigerator box would be more affordable 
than a house or apartment, but I'll bet you're not living in one.  A set 
of rollerskates would be more affordable than a car or bicycle, but I'll 
bet you're not using rollerskates to get to work every day.