BIKE: Bicycle Organizations Support Commuter Rail

[Mike Dahmus]

David Foster wrote:

> The Texas Bicycle Coalition, Austin Metro Trails and Greenways, and 
> the Austin Cycling Association have all endorsed Cap Metro's commuter 
> rail proposal, and here is the joint message they have released:
>
> "The undersigned bicycle organizations urge everyone who wishes to see 
> a more bicycle-friendly Austin to vote FOR Cap Metro's urban commuter 
> rail proposal next Tuesday.
>
> Here's why: Cap Metro has a proven track record of supporting bike 
> transportation, accommodating bikes on its buses (the first transit 
> agency in the state to do so) and returning millions of dollars to 
> build bicycle facilities as part of regional mobility efforts. 
> Consistent with this outstanding record, the agency is now committing 
> to provide state-of-art bicycle accommodations on rail cars, secure 
> and adequate parking at future rail stations, and safe and adequate 
> bicycle entry to and exit from future rail stations.
>
> Moreover, in response to requests from the  bike community, Cap Metro 
> has agreed to build hike-and-bike trails (rails-with-trails) parallel 
> to and at a safe distance from the tracks wherever feasible. Since 
> rail corridors usually pass beneath highways and  major roads, 
> rails-with-trails can allow people to walk or bike safely beneath 
> barriers such as 183, MoPac, I 35 and Ben White, and help close gaps 
> in our existing bicycle and trail networks.
>
> We believe that urban commuter rail can help make Austin one of the 
> premiere cities for bicycle transportation, and one of the most 
> liveable cities overall, in the nation.

And I want to remind all of you that, while these bike facilities are an 
unquestionably good thing, it is very unlikely that Capital Metro will 
build them unless the performance of the starter line is fairly good, 
and by that I mean it has to be good enough to convince voters to 
continue to build the system drawn in the long-range plan. The 
rails-with-trails trail is not going to be part of the starter route; 
it's going to be built afterwards IF AND ONLY IF the long-range plan 
continues to be implemented.

Whether or not this starter line is good enough to get us on the path of 
implementing that long-range plan (which I think is still awful) is a 
matter of opinion. I think by now you all know I believe the chance that 
this starter line will match the extremely poor performance of Tri-Rail 
in South Florida, which it closely resembles in all important aspects, 
is quite good).

So please vote simply based on whether you think this starter line is 
going to work. Voting yes in the hopes of getting bike trails is foolish 
if the plan itself is never going to get to that point. You might in 
fact be impeding the development of mass transit in our area and not get 
the bike trails anyways.

Regards,
Mike Dahmus
Urban Transportation Commission