****SPAM**** BIKE: Phases I, II, III for the Red Line

[Mike Dahmus]

alan_drake wrote:

>I have not lived in Austin for eight years, and by detailed knowledge of Austin urban geography is fading.  And I am sure that Austin politics have changed more than the hills have.
>
>By happenstance, I ended up in an “Old Urban” neighborhood, the Lower Garden District of New Orleans.  Much like the “New Urban” environment proposed by many, but with worn out sidewalks :-)
>
>I very much like this and became more interested in transit as a result.  I have looked around the world and found a particularly interesting system, the new “miniMetro” of Copenhagen.  Low cost, multi-mode*, profit making and their means of financing.  They dramatically raised the value of a closed military base (plus some surplus port property) by putting elevated transit down the center of it and paid for the entire transit "Y" by selling off base land.  (Think Mueller).
>
>*Copenhagen Modes (some wiggle in these #s since plans changed)
>
>In subway (TBM, cut & cover, NATM) – 11 km
>Elevated (55% embankment (think TxDOT ramp), 45% viaduct (think monorail)) – 5 km
>Old RR ROW (grade separated) – 2 km
>In trench – 1 km
>Taking 2 freeway lanes at grade – 2 km
>
>Austin should be quick, easy and cheap tunneling (TBM is an improving technology, ever cheaper a few %/year).
>
>Three changes I would make to Copenhagen; Manual operation (with provision for future automation), dual 3rd rail and OCS operation (easy), and as tight a turning radius as possible.  The last point is OK for their existing rolling stock (27 m), but tighter is always better when threading through an urban environment.
>
>Phase I – Red Line (ugh)
>
again: here's the problem: If I'm right about suburbanites' dislike of 
transfers to shuttle-buses, there will be nothing built after this, no 
matter how great the plans. The success or failure of the starter line 
(in the minds of the voters) will determine whether there will be any 
extensions or expansions, period.

Remember that the Red Line doesn't go where the people who actually like 
rail transit could use it (people in Hyde Park and West Campus aren't 
going to take a bus to the rail line just to ride the rail southeast and 
then take another bus to downtown; nor are they going to take a bus to 
Highland Mall to get on the rail line just to have to ride another bus 
from the rail station in northwest Austin). You're relying on almost 
entirely suburban users for the population of riders for this starter 
line. These are not people who like riding buses, folks.

(I've now used my second post for the day; so please nobody write 
anything interesting about transit for the rest of the day please ;+)

- MD