BIKE: Austin Commuter rails

[Joe Moore]

I keep reading all the opinions and educated rambling regarding building
some sort of commuter rail in the Austin metro area and have to add my 2
cents worth as to why all of the light rail plans I've read about in Austin
wont work!  Below is why I wont vote for the rail plan in the next election.

1.  The population density in the Austin area is way to low to support the
costs of a typical light rail and it will probably be another 20 to 30 years
before the population density is high enough!
2.  The route they are trying to sell us on this time doesn't go anywhere
the majority of commuters can actually use to get to work.
3.  Austin's industrial parks are spread out all over the Austin
metropolitan area such that commuters travel every which way to get to work.
We don't have any high density industrial plants/factories where over 10
thousand people work in one location, such that a mass transit system could
be effective to move large numbers of employees.
4.  Austin is too hot and humid 6 months out of the year, so hot, that
commuters don't not want to walk more than about 500 feet in order to get to
work.  After taking the train, the majority of commuters that would use the
proposed rail route, will have to wait in the heat another 5 to 10 minutes
to catch a Cap-Metro bus, then after taking a bus, will have to walk the
rest of the way to work in the heat.

If Austin was to ever get serious about mass transit, they would open their
eyes and realize that mass transit has to go from where people live to where
they work and play, rather than just trying to build a rail commuter system
so that the city can brag that we have one.

In my opinion, for mass transit to work in our area, we would have to have
the following;

1.  A high speed mass transit line that goes from the Austin-Bergstrom
Airport heading west to I35. At I35 it would head north through downtown
Austin, the UT stadium/campus, then continue North up the I35 corridor, with
stops at the highest density work/living areas.
2.  In downtown Austin, there would be a central hub station from which a
ring of secondary lines would radiate out towards areas of higher
work/living contentration.

I believe such a system would cost more than tax payers would ever support
or afford!  We have to low of a population density for an inexpensive system
to be effective.  On the other hand, an effective system that would serve
enough residents would cost to much to be supported.

Joe

P.S.  I just arrived home from a few days in Las Vegas. The Mono-rail wasn't
in service.  But I did notice that the system goes from one Hotel/Casino to
the next, and both of Las Vegas' convention centers.  The monorail can move
thousands of people from where are staying to where they are working or
playing!!!  I noticed as well, that the Monorail is a system designed for
visitors to Las Vegas, not the workers that live and work there.  Where is
the mass transit system for the residents of Las Vegas?