Author of Blog: Daniel Day

Showing posts with label Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Commuter Rail is Dead, Long Live Commuter Rail

A saying I read in a forgotten book which had a passage that said, "the king is dead, long live the king."  and if you been following the Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail also known as the Lone Star Rail District this past year, my title fits perfectly.
57.1

Back in February 2016, Union Pacific Railroad decided to walk away from negotiation with the Lone Star Rail District. And since then, story after news story since then always had a headline saying how the project is not dead. They're several source at the end of this post.

On August 17, 2016, CAMPO (Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) board voted 17 to one against the commuter rail. But even then our local KSAT news had the biggest backer of the Commuter Rail, Joe Krier of district 9 pleading to keep the project alive. And to top it off, as I was starting to write this at the beginning of September, the Lone Star Rail District website had a list of CAMPO long range planning meetings urging people to tell CAMPO to keep the project in the long range plans. (image 57.2)
57.2
What most people don't understand, and that includes the backers, that if you want to have the commuter rail, maybe you should ditch the train and get buses running in it's place instead for the only way we're getting a commuter rail if our representatives make a federal or state law stating that Union Pacific will either provide the track or the service and that's not gonna happen ever. Cities like Atlanta, and states like New Jersey already offer intercity commuter bus services using Greyhound like buses. Houston's Metro (image 57.4) already use these type of buses for their express routes.
Now there was a time when San Antonio had such a service using buses and not that long ago. The reason why you never heard about this service is because VIA and CapMetro didn't allow these buses to use their existing bus stops and transit centers and fail to provide links to these services on their websites. There was limited bus service provided by Texas State University between San Antonio and Austin. The Alamo Area Council of Governments offered shuttle service from Palo Alto College to Poteet, Pleasanton, and Jourdation. And today in Austin the  Capital Area Council of governments provides shuttle service from several communities including San Marcos.
57.3

Texas State University use to have intercity bus service called the Bobcat Tram Interurban that between Randolph Park-n-ride, to the University with limited number of stops in New Braunfels, Kyle and Buda. Between 2007 to 2013,  you probably saw a brown bus parked across the street from Randolph Park-n-ride for VIA never allowed it to stop inside their facility. I only used the service three times. A trip to Austin cost $12 and the bicycle rack could hold three bicycles. I decided to buy a multi-ride card (image 57.3) for $40 at the time. In August, 2013, the service was canceled. When the service was canceled in August of 2013, I heard only crickets from the backers of Lone Star Rail District.

It is also worth noting that Greyhound barely provides services to San Marcos. Before Megabus took up residence at 4th and Broadway, Greyhound had several buses stopping there. Today there's only two trips available.

The service that ran from Palo Alto college to Jourdation was provided by the Alamo Regional Transit or ART. Now I don't remember when this bus was running and I never heard of it being canceled. I only found out about it when I went to use the restroom when I was out there. I never used the service because they never did have a bicycle rack on the bus. Today ART provides paratransit services to counties that are apart of the Alamo area Council of Governments.

The intercity shuttle service provided by CARTs (Capitol Area Regional Transit) run several small buses from their transit center in East Austin to several towns including San Marcos and they only run during rush hour. Also like ART, CARTs provide paratransit service to the members of the Capitol Area council of Governments.
57.4

Yes the rail would have been better than a bus, but let's face reality. Dwelling on this project is a waste of time and money. Unless laws are made from Washington DC or maybe Austin forcing Union Pacific to provide this service or the track, this dream will never be. Joe Krier with all his good intentions is simply beating a dead horse. Hey Joe, the horse is dead, long live the horse. It's time to start providing buses instead of waiting on a train in ten years that will never be.



Images:
57.1 Trinity Railway Express arriving at Victory Station in Dallas, TX
57.2 A Screenshot from http://www.lonestarrail.com/ in Sept 2016
57.3 A picture of a sample 10 ride ticket for the Bobcat Interurban bus.
57.4 A Metro Commuter Express Bus on I-69 in Houston, TX

Sources:
Despite setbacks, Lone Star Rail Project still on the table
http://kxan.com/2016/04/15/new-development-for-central-texas-commuter-rail/

Rail line from SA to Austin may be up for discussion again soon 
http://www.ksat.com/news/rail-line-from-sa-to-austin-may-be-up-for-discussion-again-soon

How Austin-San Antonio commuter rail backers plan to get back on track 
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2016/04/15/how-austin-san-antonio-commuter-rail-backers-plan.html




Future of San Antonio-Austin passenger rail could hinge on local planning group 
http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Future-of-San-Antonio-Austin-passenger-rail-could-7379356.php

Derailed: Union Pacific puts brakes on Austin-San Antonio commuter rail
http://smmercury.com/2016/02/12/derailed-union-pacific-puts-brakes-on-austin-san-antonio-commuter-rail/

San Antonio To Austin Commuter Rail Not Dead Yet
http://tpr.org/post/san-antonio-austin-commuter-rail-not-dead-yet#stream/0


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Monday, November 23, 2015

Doing Commuter Rail Right Part I

I would like to admit that I was wrong about something.  In my post Streetcar IV: The Future of Rail in SA, mentioned that if any rail transit would be built in San Antonio, it would be along the rail line that parallels I-10 on the northwest side.  Well it looks to be that I was wrong, for now there's talk about actually building the Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail and the city council approved the money for the project back in August.


46-1
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for this project and whatever the outcome may be, I will be using it and encouraging everyone else to use it if only to encourage people to see what a proper protected bike lane should look like. In the end, it's not like it's going to be a great success. Now I'm going to put this in a two part series. In this blog post, I'll be focusing on the train operations.

46-2
If you ever rode the DART light rail in Dallas, or any of the other rail transit systems in the DFW area, you would know by now that this train takes about 45 minutes to get from the end of the line to downtown. It takes the Trinity Railway Express about an hour to get from Downtown Fort Worth to Dallas Union Station. The train makes stops at all the station along the route. To ride this train, you have to buy a ticket to ride from one of many tickets machines at the station. If you happen to board the train without a ticket, you'll most likely encounter a fare enforcement officer of DART and if you fail to produce a ticket, you'll either get a $150 fine or a warning which I received after failing to produce a day pass I purchased earlier on a DART bus. This same situation also is on the Red Line in Austin.

Now when I was in Chicago, I rode the Metra Electric District train. I purchased my ticket from a ticket machine as I've always done when I went to other cities, but I didn't have to. For as I just finished purchasing my ticket, I almost missed the train. It's a good thing that the conductor saw me and open the door to allow me to get aboard. As I was riding the train to Millennium Park, I came to discover that I could have purchased my ticket from the conductor on-board the train. For the record, the conductor's official title on-board the Metra Electric District is Trainman. 
46-3

Now this train doesn't stop at every single stop along the way. Several stops are bypassed and can be requested when informing the Trainman that you want to stop there. If you happen to be at one of the stations which the Metra Electric District bypass, there's a light you can turn on to signal the train that you want to board.
46-4

The PBS News Hour recently did a story on the DART light rail system in which they mentioned the fact that more people ride the light rail in Houston compared to Dallas, yet Dallas has more miles of track. The reason that the story gave was that Houston's Metro light rail system is built where people already go compared to Dallas DART system which is built along old railroad tracks. The Metra Electric District is also build along a railroad R.O.W., it was built back in the 19th century built along an active class one railroad, Canadian National.

So here's a question, if the goal is to get people to ditch their cars in choice of transit, why can't DART, DCTA,  the Trinity Railway Express (TRE), CapMetro, and now The Lone Star Rail District, (LStar) the name for the Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail, do what they do on the Metra Electric District?  The way we plan for transit here in Texas seems to go against the reason on why we all drive cars. The way we operate all the rail transit service including the way we're going to operate the LStar, is by having the train stop at every station. This is akin to driving your car along the freeway and stopping at all the gas stations along the way from origin to your destination.
46-5

We punish everyone who fails to buy a ticket either on their smart phone or at a station. Instead of punishing the people who are unable to buy tickets early on, why don't we give them a chance to buy them on the train with a small surcharge fee so they're more likely to use the system again especially if they're running late.

If we're going to operate the LStar the same way the TRE, and every other transit system in Texas operates it's trains, I can say with certainty that only one percent of commuters between Austin and San Antonio will ever use it. If we fail to plan for express trains between Austin and San Antonio, driving will still be the preferred choice. If we make it hard for first timers to use the train, we simply make it harder for other people to choose it. We have a chance to not repeat the mistakes that every other system in Texas has done. We can either learn from their mistakes or keep on doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result; the very definition of Insanity.

If you wish to comment on the future LStar, you can click here. Don't be afraid to leave a link to this blog post.

Images: 

46-1: The DCTA Commuter Train at Downtown Denton Station.
46-2: The Metra Electric District Train at Homewood Station. 
46-3: A Lady hurrying off the Train while The Trainman stands watch at Homewood Station
46-4: DART Light Rail Blue Line Arriving at Garland Station
46-5: TRE Arriving at Fort Worth ITC Station. 
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