BIKE: commuter rail in Mudville

[Mike Dahmus]

On 10:51 PM 10/9/2004 -0500, David Dobbs wrote:

>At 13:23 -0500 10/9/04, Patrick Goetz wrote:
>>I've been told that Cap Metro CEO Fred Gilliam is anti-rail.
>
>Reality.
>
>Fred Gilliam built the the Memphis Streetcar in 1993 designed from the 
>beginning to become light rail.  That transition is in progress and the 
>orginal 2.5 mile line is now 6.5 mile with 4 more miles under federal review.

Reality:

Fred Gilliam is anti-light-rail. I'll back Patrick up on this. When he 
became chairman of Capital Metro, it was very very clear that the bias of 
the agency was shifting away from LRT and towards BRT - and what do we see 
in the long-range plan but a ton of BRT-like "Rapid Bus" lines?


>Well, after struggling through the syntax here I guess you mean we could 
>have rail in the urban core, but first you have to have agreement of the 
>stakeholders involved.  Because UT and the State wanted a 
>campus/government complex circulator (sometimes referred to as the 
>"Longhorn loop"), while folks farther out all the way to Leander wanted 
>light rail to be more of a commuter service, an appropriate compromise 
>within the projected budget could not be found.
>
>Remember, by being Casey ("That ain't my style," said Casey) you and your 
>monorail fantasy friends can claim credit for defeating the light rail 
>initiative that would have created an "urban core rail system." That 
>1800-vote loss for LRT out of a quarter million votes cast in the 2000 
>election leaves us where we are; i.e., win an election this November for 
>our bike trail and commuter rail or see the only significant source of 
>alternative transportation funding go away.
>
>Urban rail in the core will eventually happen, but that's not what's on 
>the ballot this year.


Reality:

This is a lie. Urban rail in the core is not promised even in the 
long-range part of this plan. Urban rail (other than streetcars) is 
effectively (politically and technically) made impossible by the 
implementation of commuter rail in this plan.

Don't believe the hype. Urban rail is not going to happen if you vote for 
this plan.

More reality:

A scaled back LRT line (take 2000, subtract South Congress) would have 
passed. Cap Metro did not put it on the ballot, not because they were 
afraid of the voters, but because Fred Gilliam doesn't believe in light 
rail, and they think their future lies more with Mike Krusee than with the 
voters of Austin.

More reality:

The 1/4 cent (or 1/2 cent) of Cap Metro's money's going to be even easier 
for the ROAD warriors to take once commuter rail is built and proves to be 
an unmitigated disaster for ridership (since it will match South Florida in 
requiring shuttle-bus transfers for nearly all passengers, which will keep 
choice commuters away from the line).

Like most rail folks, I'm scared Cap Metro will lose their 1/4 or 1/2 cent 
if they lose this election. I'm even MORE scared that it'll go anyways and 
not come back once we build commuter rail - since it will have been SHOWN 
to the voters that "RAIL DOESN'T WORK".

Of course you and I will know that the real lesson was that CRAPPY RAIL 
DOESN'T WORK, but that's too subtle for mass politics, ain't it?


Mike Dahmus
mdahmus