October 04, 2008
MonoMetrorail
- Hell to the Yeah. I bet you think this is for commuters or people who want to save gas or something. You are wrong. It is for me to start bike rides from outside the city.
* Map of Stations and Route
* FAQ
Q Can I bring my bicycle on the train?
A Yes. Capital MetroRail trains will have bicycle racks conveniently located near the doors.
(This is also, by the way, one of the best ways to train for a marathon -- take the rail an increasing number of stops away, then run home.)
Excellent point, I didn't realize how bad the existing bus routes from there connect to campus, but hey -- the train tracks were already there.
I'm hoping they'll modify or add to the 641 (EC) shuttle and the 21 (Exposition), but right now from Alexander & MLK Jr, your options are the 20 Manor (closest approach to RLM 26th & RR, 1 mi total walking) or 18 (MLK) (captRLM SJ & MLK, TW .8mi).
Connectivity from the convention center to the north edge of campus is better: the #7 Duval and the #100 Airport are straight shots, but you'd have to sit for and pay for two extra stops.
Then again, let's hear from MsC/Pablo/Beckto about the surprisingly annoying connectivity from DC Metro to Univ. of MD.
But the thing is, why would I bother waiting for a connection, and then waiting for the train to go downtown, when I could take the #1, #3 or #5 downtown already, almost as quickly? Especially since the rail route takes that insane route way east only to swerve back downtown.
If they wanted to build a rail route that essentially replaced the #1, there would be a hell of a lot of support for that. Almost everyone who uses public transit would love it, and it would end up saving cap metro money, due ot the number of buses that it would take off of the road. And obviously, this line is great for people commuting in from Leander, but for everyone else, the route is strange enough that I wonder who would use it over the existing bus lines.
No, I was talking about getting from here to points north -- I'd never use the rail from UT to go downtown when I can hop the #7 every 20 mins.
But -- the route is there because the tracks were already there, the land was already there, the land was already graded, and the political will was insufficient for the tens of times more cost that what you're talking about involves. That "insane" swing east is because there was existing track on the old Austin-Northwestern line. How are you going to run rail replacing the #1?
The UT route that looks best is to tear up MLK and run light rail cross town (the green spur). You'd like it to hook a parallel track on the MoPac route -- but lemme know how you're going to cross the literal and figurative hill between Lamar and the highway.
None of the expansion plans talk about rail down Lamar. Rather, you're looking at high-speed buses (unless fuel goes up or real estate in tarrytown goes down). When there's more track built, look for it on the existing MoPac line down south Lamar, connecting to the airport along the existing tracks south of Ben White. And the route for someone from Leander is just fine compared to the morning traffic down loop 1.
- MetroRail was originally supposed to open this fall, but was delayed by construction issues with the Kramer and Howard stops (the two closest to us, incidentally). We drove by the Kramer one today and there was barely anything there.
- The fares for everything (including the previously free Dillos) goes up next weekend. See the new fare schedule here that includes the new MetroRail fares.
- Speaking of fares, the Bus Riders Union of Austin proposes to cancel fares since they apparently make up only 3% of CapMetro's yearly budget. Discuss.
Jebus, $2.00 for a Full Leander on the metrorail? That's like unfairly cheap. It's a $4 gallon of gas each way + $1.50(?) toll each way + parking ($2/d permit?) to drive from Leander to downtown.
The people who ride the bus are exactly the people for whom Bus Fare is an expense and not pocket change. Yeah it should be free.
Sorry, mrflip -- as many things as there are to rag on about College Park, I'm not biting on Metro connectivity: (1) half of the route on that Google map is actually on campus (shaded area), so it's actually only about a 10-minute walk to the corner of campus, which IME is only slightly more than from the average grad-student parking lot space; (2) it's a decent walk - residences and business, low-speed traffic, things to look at, not highway and office parks; (3) there are shuttle buses from the other side of the station; they aren't perfect, but I never felt stranded. Of course, I also didn't take them regularly. By contrast, think about what it takes to get onto Georgetown's campus... shorter to come from Virginia than any station in the District, if you can make it around Key Circle and the bridge without getting hit.
That said, the Purple Line is supposed to put a stop on the UMD campus (don't ask me how they'll get it through without hitting an underground garage, lab, or library).
I was only pointing to UMD because I'd heard other people complain. The best solution is to get a craptastic subway bike: a rusty undesirable $40 bike, lock it at the station when you leave and your building when you arrive; use metro to get from work station back to car or other short-haul bike or whatever.
I spent four goddamn years walking up and down libe slope which was uphill only one way but was constantly covered with snow or slush, so in this account you will not hear me rag on anyone. (Dimensions of libe slope from Unc'Ezra. My apartment was another two of those down from there.)
This guy is off by a factor of 50 at least. Among other things, I know SoCo is fancier than S Lamar, but THERE'S A RAIL RIGHT OF WAY AND A BRIDGE AND EVERYTHING running parallel to lamar from 2nd to Ben White, connecting to an existing spur out to the airport.
Let's see if TTJ can weigh in on this.
John -- within a factor of 10, how much to run light rail straight through an existing street in NIH, across Old Georgetown, down Arlington road, up Bradley and down Wisconsin to Friendship heights. Add in a bridge expansion.
Fine. Crossing the river at Lamar is perfectly fine. it would probably be better for bus connectivity anyway. But having a rail route, even if it is at a cut rate due to the existing rail (though the rail still needs to be upgraded, trains need to be bought and stations built--though I have no idea what the costs of these things are relative to the laying of rail).
But what I do know, is that having a light rail route that goes through the lowest density parts of town will serve to do very little but make all of the anti-light rail idiots and a lot of the neutral people resent the money spent, regardless of how much it is. It's great for people in Leander and Cedar Park, I guess (though the lack of downtown connectivity in the current route limits even that), but they aren't the voters that will be killing future expansions. The first route needs to sell the actual mass transit to people. Then, it will be much easier to expand the system.
Well, its hard to say. I mean, here in MD, the proposed purple line light rail plan, which will partially run on old existing train right of way (Goodbye Capitol Crescent Trail) is proposal budgeted at 1.2 to 1.6 billion. Its 16 miles long so you are looking at 100 million a mile. Of course that includes not just construction of the right of way, but also the power and maintenance facilities, as well as aquisition of running hardware and their control systems.
*thinking*
I really can't give you any number on how much it costs to build a light rail right of way in a congested area. It definately costs more than it does to build in a non congested area. No more in materials, it's all just production hits and how much exisiting infrastructure you have to relocate (Sewer, water, electric, phone, gas etc.), not to mention the supreme pain in the ass for people living on the streets with the construction ongoing for multiple years. I don't know, I would not be suprised to see 25-50% more per mile to build in a congested area. Light rail is almost a misnomer, it in fact refers to the weight of the rail itself, which sets the total allowable load of the train in weight and speed. That said, passenger rail cars have to be built to a certain standard and those trains still weigh many tons, so you have to relocate/reinforce all the underground utilities that run under the tracks.
Personally, even though I am a train fan, I like the idea of electric buses. Either old school overhead catenary fed http://transit.toronto.on.ca/images/trolleybus-9701-08.jpg, or possibly just battery powered with large packs that change out at the end point of each run. Give them their own dedicated road (see abandoned rail right of way). They would be dead quiet for running through residential areas, and require very little in terms of specialized equipment, personnel training, or facilities. But, they're not sexy, so people don't get excited about 'em. C'est le Vie.
So, 0.5 to 0.6 Billion dollars, at 125 to 150 M$/mile.
The current light rail is $105M, or $3M/mile.
This route is a factor of 40-50 times as expensive, even accounting for none of the exogenous costs that come from blocking traffic and business in downtown for three years.
--
People will move to where the rail line is. This will fuel growth on the East side, an entirely good thing, and it will densify central-ish Austin development, another good thing.
Judging from the looks I got when I lived on the east side, white Austinites will not be moving to the East side anytime soon, especially when you factor in the schools issue.
This will just make them more anti-mass transit than they already are.
Val, in DC, it would take anywhere from 2-10 years for a neighborhood to come up when a metro station opened in it. But if the demand is there, it happens.
Interesting social experiment of note. The biggest problem with rail type mass transit is exactly what Austin is going through right now; finding the space to put it. In London, they actually built a station for the Eurostar just outside the city in what is essentially the middle of nowhere. The idea being, rather than wait for development and try to build a train through it, lets just build a station and let the area develop around that instead. Its a multi million dollar gamble. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few decades.
That's fair, and we will see. And if this ends with actually putting in more high density residences along the transit corridor, I will be plenty happy (though the biggest demand for high density residences is UT, which is nowhere near the rail line, and which only modestly connects with the east side via buses).
I am just skeptical based on how segregated the city still is, and how fucked up the school district lines get when a neighborhood gets gentrified. Unless these things get fixed, there will still be a toxic mess at the end of everything.
But thank you very much for giving context from another city that has done this. It is a useful starting point to talking about this.
The first tentative MetroRail schedule is posted on CapMetro's blog. Not too exciting, considering there are no mid-day or late night trains combined with only 7 south/3 north in the morning and 3 south/7 north in the evening. As is pointed out by a (presumably) CapMetro employee, this track still carries freight and they only have 6 trains (for 5 running + 1 backup). They will have free WiFi (as the express buses already do) so I guess we'll just see how many people start using them.
To look at a city that actually uses light rail, check Baltimore, they have had one for about 20 years now. They were able to make use of some old right of way north of the city. In fact the "new" lightrail actually passes one of the old streetcar barns from way back in the day.
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I love that we're getting rail, but the route is really stupid. It's insanity to not connect light rail with UT somehow.
posted by Valatan at 02:21PM CST on October 04