What The Source Failed to Mention.

On January 4, 2017, TPR The Source had a show called,  "Is San Antonio 'Stuck Behind The Wheel'?".

They had 3 guest....

• Ray Lopez - City Councilman - District 6 and chair of the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation Policy Board
• Jeff Arndt - President/CEO of VIA Metropolitan Transit .
• Linda Alvarado-Vela - Planning and Public Involvement Manager for the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

They also had two reporters as well

Through out the entire show, they mentioned some solutions like managed lanes, passenger trains and car pooling, everything else other than bicycling and walking. Below are my impressions of some of the guest and what they talked about....

Ray Lopez
It's funny how they had a guy on who voted against the multimodal system he so championed. I remember meeting him for the first time at this event at the Pearl I think back in 2012.  He described rail as part of this 'multimodal system.' He described it as people would get in their cars and drive to the train station and hop on the light rail, then they'll take a bus or a rubber tire trolley to their final destination.  What I heard was, "you get in to your car, then you park, then you get into this bigger car to transfer to this ugly car to your final destination.' I doubt that his ideal would come to fruition because even he refuses to take the bus to pick up his kid from school because he would have to wait for an hour for the next bus.  Doubt that others are willing to do the same even with a train.

Comparing Dallas to San Antonio
The one thing that got on my nerves is that these people couldn't stop comparing what they have in Dallas, to what can be accomplished here in San Antonio.  That's because DART put it's light rail down old railroad right of ways.  Houston is a better example of what will happen if they ever put in light rail which is right down the middle of the street.  The thing about Houston is that they have these wide streets which I refer to as stroads (see video) to be able to put down these rails without really impacting vehicle lanes.

Another thing that they didn't talk about is that the light rail in Dallas really fails to get people out of their cars.  What it does do, it keeps people who can't afford cars from needing to buy a car. When I rode the DART system two years ago, the people I met and talked to seem to have money. That if they lived in San Antonio, they would break down and buy a car. But because the DART system works like a 'glove', they don't really feel the need to buy one.  If you want to know why people aren't using the rail in the DFW area, I ask you to go back and read Doing Commuter Rail Right Part I.  Apparently even if we get rail, we won't be operating it well either.

SA Traffic Jam Future
You got to love the doom and gloom predictions that Linda Alvarado-Vela along with Ray Lopez put out through the entire show on how 1.5 million more people are coming to San Antonio in the next 20 years and they all are going to drive. To be honest, I don't see that many people moving to San Antonio. I'll be surprises if 500,000 more comes to Bexar County. Let me tell you why their predictions are wrong.

• Young people today prefer transit to driving and with our transportation options limited to driving, young people will move to more transit friendlier communities.
• Driverless cars will be on the market in 5 years and Uber and Lyft are set to pink slip their current rank of drivers. They promise to make owning a new car not worth the effort.
• For the past 20 years, MPOs along with transportation departments have been saying that the growth of VMT will continue to grow forever have been proven wrong again and again.

There's No Money.
With all the solutions they put forward, they left out the fine print, no money for said projects. Adding a vehicle lane or managed lane to the freeway, building a light rail network, all cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Take into account for TxDOT lacking money for basic road maintenance, and you come to realize how screwed we are. You'll hear from the Toll party on how we have the money to fix the problems with congestion, telling you how this politician or that politician is stealing your future away by supporting toll roads. Or you can accept reality that the reason why the MPO and TxDOT were looking to toll roads as a solution was because they saw the budget shortfalls of today coming back at the turn of the century. It is because of the Toll Party efforts that we don't have light rail nor managed lanes on any of our freeways. To say they (our political leaders) are against driving leaves our a simple fact that they to drive cars and like you don't want to be stuck in traffic.

For the record, I do agree with the toll party on public/private partnerships, they tend to screw everyone for profit.

Alas not Least
The one thing that I have dedicated this blog for is the cheaper solution such as bicycle lanes and protected bicycle lanes. I'm also a big supporter of rail transit which isn't cheap and constantly inform people through this blog how it's better than buses. But at the same time, I don't misinform you about such realities of how said systems would work and won't be as advertised. But let's lay out the most obvious fact of all that is not mentioned anywhere, which is our congestion is a sign of our city being a successful place to live. Now before you accused me of wanting to be stuck in a traffic jam, I like you don't want to be stuck in one.

 I cannot help the fact that we live in a city where those in charge refuse to provide alternatives and only 3% of the population shows up to vote in city elections. Those 3% of people ate against bicycle lanes calling it graffiti. Since the majority of local citizens aren't showing up at the polls, we'll we deserve to be stuck behind the wheel.

Streetcar IV: The Future of Rail in SA

29-1

As the year comes to a close, and the streetcar is a goner, what does the future of rail transit look like for San Antonio?  If you ask the average San Antonian on what they want to see in rail transit, they'll say that San Antonio needs a subway, or a monorail system which stretches from downtown to at least loop 410 or even 1604.  They will not say Light Rail, or Commuter rail although if you show them the plans collecting dust on the Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail, they'll, we'll all say we need it now.  The same I've notice if you take any San Antonian for a ride on a light rail vehicle in either Houston (Image 29-1) or Dallas. (Image 29-2)  Via has plans on the books for a two route light rail system, (Image 29-3) but I doubt that we'll ever see it and recently from the latest 25 year long range meetings that the Alamo Area MPO held, they extended the North/South Study area to the Stone Oak Area. 

But guess what San Antonio, We'll never ever, and I mean ever get a subway or a monorail system here because we don't want to pay for it.  If you venture to lightrailnow.org, you come across the article called "New subway (metro) systems cost nearly 9 times as much as light rail."  In this story they site Buffalo's LRT system and how light rail vehicles are using the tunnels, not the famed subway vehicles we see on TV shows.
Quote from Story:

"But the “why not a subway?” issue keeps rearing its head — mainly reflecting the resistance of the motor-vehicle-focused mindset to having urban space, especially street space, shared or usurped by mass transit operations. Overwhelmingly, surface LRT in one type of alignment or another (from street reservations to the re-use of abandoned railway corridors) has triumphed … although there have been cases where pressure to “build it out of sight” has forced new LRT startups underground (or even canceled planned projects altogether).
The tremendous investment cost of digging a subway and installing underground stations is obviously a huge deterrent to the development of such systems — both in the initial financing, and in sopping up available resources that could otherwise be plowed into vigorous expansion of the system. Buffalo’s 6.4-mile LRT line, for example, was constructed almost entirely (81%) in subway … and hasn’t been expanded one foot since its original opening in 1985."

29-2

Dallas also has a subway tunnel too and they originally planed to build a subway line only to give up and turn it into tunnel for their 90+ mile light rail system. (Image 29-2)  But when we look to Dallas for inspiration, we forget what they had and we do not, a very friendly former US Senator named Kay Baily Hutchinson to provide federal funding.  So these stories are any indication if we ever dig a tunnel for rail in San Antonio, chances are that we'll have a light rail vehicles operating in it. Another thing Dallas has going for it was a good number of abandoned rail lines crisscrossing the city to put down the light rail tracks.  San Antonio on the other hand lacks these abandoned rail lines to put any light rail system down, so as I've stated before in other blog post that if San Antonio is to get any light rail, it will mostly go down the big stroads in San Antonio as is indicated on the planning maps.


Now we hear all the time that we want a Monorail system just like, no better than the one at the 68 Worlds Fair.  Well as I looked into monorail system on Wikipedia, I found a disturbing trend.  You see, all these monorail systems seem to be short, I mean streetcar short unless they were in China.  Out of all the systems that Wikipedia list, the longest in North America is in Las Vegas. According to the Wikipedia article, it doesn't even enter the city of Las Vegas.  The most famous one in Seattle is quite short, barely a mile. So if these three systems are any indication that if we ever build a monorail system, chances are we won't get one connecting Loop 410 to Downtown.

I could waste my time and point out the failures of Personal Rapid Transit, but here's the thing, we have such a system already in place, it's called driving your car. So if someone tries to sale it to you this, chances are they're from a think tank that gave us Obamacare, like Heritage or Cato. 

Now if we really want to see how rail transit will most likely look here in San Antonio, we have to look to the City of Weird as in Keep Austin Weird for they are the closest city to us and the most similar community when it comes to driving habits and in the number of times begging the Federal Government for transit funding.  Recently Austin, had a proposition that failed that would have brought Light Rail roughly along I-35.  Now it's funny how it died because if you were to just count the votes along the proposed rail line, it would have won.  Now not all the anti rail advocates were against it because it was rail, but because where it would have not been built along Lamar.  The same sadly will happen here in San Antonio for when it goes to the ballot, everyone except the ones that live along the proposed route, will vote against it unless the voting happens to take place during a presidential election. 

Currently Cap Metro operates a 32 mile Commuter rail (Image 29-4) from Leander to Austin's Convention Center downtown, Monday through Saturday.  In 2004, Austin voted to add rail along it's freight railroad tracked it own.  Only after much delay, it started Operations in March 2010.  Since then an average of 2,500 trips take place daily and it's full of critics from on where it's located, to it doesn't serve enough people.  My criticism on it is that it don't operates to 10 or 11PM everyday.

29-3

This is what San Antonio's future rail system is going to looks like because we don't want to slow down traffic for it, we don't want to vote yes for it, and most of all, we don't want to pay for it.  The future is sighted on Via's 25 year long range plan map called the Kerrville right-of-way Acquisition.  On this map, you'll see a grey dotted line snaking from the Westside Multimodal Center to Fiesta Texas and it's not I-10, but a railroad track currently a freight line that roughly parallels I-10 and use to go all the way north to Kerrville and Fredricksburg.  Today the Rail line dead ends at the Rim, and if you go there, you'll see a rail yard full of hopper cars.  This terminal is used by Martin Marietta Materials, the company that dug out the quarries that Fiesta Texas, the Rim are currently located in.  I don't know when they'll be finished with their digging, but it should come a close some time around 2020. Once the freight operations cease, Via has plans to buy the rail line.  Whether they choose to keep it operational as a freight line like Cap Metro is up in the air, but they'll definitely peruse an option to put some type of passenger rail on these tracks.

29-4

Whether they use the same diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) (Image 29-4) as Cap Metro is up in the air, but more than likely, they will and I cannot say how many stations there would be, but I can at least guess that the stations will probably be at the following locations:

• The Rim/Loop 1604
• De Zavala/Huebner/Wurzbach
• Loop 410
• Basse Rd/Hildebrand
• Fredricsburg Rd
• And finally Westside Multimodal Center

29-5

And chances have it, that they will try to expand it further south along to Blue Star and down the Railroad track that currently delivers coal to the CPS coal generators at Calaveras Lake (Image 29-5) and even down to Elmendorf.  I bet once they have it operational, there will be some talk of extending it to Beorne or even Kerrville and Floresville, but I can bet it will all be TALK for the money will never ever be available unless they change the funding of this rail line from the current begging for federal and state funding to doing something that we use to do in funding transportation, which is Land Value Added tax.  We use to use this method to fund all our transportation needs way before a gasoline tax.  When they built a electric trolley line or a new rail line the property along the way would go up in value and that added value would go towards the maintenance and operation of that rail line.  I hear this is how they currently fund transit system in Japan, but that is something I cannot confirm nor provide a link to.  By judging how we currently fund our transit which is not by bus fare, but by a 1/2 cent sales tax, it don't think it's a working for everyone believes at some level that Via Sucks. 

29-6

Union Pacific Railroad will also stand in the way like one of their freight trains blocking traffic at a railroad crossing.  They dragged their feet when it came to the linear creekway trails going underneath their railroad tracks.  I'm personally counting on Union Pacific to seal those feet in cement to prevent that train from getting next to the Westside Multimodal Center, (Image 29-6) and even further to Blue Star and Elmendorf.

It will be fun to watch as the years go by hearing the same things over and over again, how San Antonio needs a subway, and lacks the political will to get rail transit done, but I can be assured up to my death, to point this out in the years to come in future blogs that isn't the case so much as your methods of selling what could be best to the general public. Chances are they'll be naysayers will say that buses can do a better job, but if that's the case then why in my video I created that it's way easier for the wheelchair to get aboard the DART Light Rail Vehicle instead of the Via Bus?  As always work to Keep San Antonio Real, realize that we all end up Keeping San Antonio Lame by making sure cars can move faster than transit, and keeping it easier to drive an automobile than riding a bicycle or walking.

Images:
29-1:  Houston Metra Downtown Transit Station Looking north.  From the video....http://youtu.be/aQmPnTjegJ8
29-2:  DART Light Rail Garland Station Looking Southwest.  From the Video...http://youtu.be/YV2ksedrTjo
29-3:  Via's 25 long Rang Plan Map.  Originally posted in Mr Nirenberg, Ever think of Walking? as Image 20-2.  Map can be found on PDF format at http://viainfo.net/Planning/LRCTP.aspx
29-4:  Austin's CapMetro Commuter Rail DMU arriving at Highlands Station.  From the Video...http://youtu.be/PmrjyXCxqzU
29-5:  A picture of the Railroad Tracks along S Presa and Southcross where currently goes out to the CPS Energy coal plant at Lake Calaveras and Dead ends just South of Loop 1604 along Old Corpus Christi Rd right Before Saspamco.
29-6.  Picture from the W Commerce St Overpass of the Westside Multimodal Center looking north referring to a prediction that UPRR will prevent any future rail from accessing the old Train Station. 

Mr Nirenberg, Ever think of Walking?

When a Council person or any other similar politician complains about the state of transportation in San Antonio, I wonder why they aren't walking, taking the bus or riding a bicycle for if anybody did any of that, then their complaints would have merit.  But no, they complain about how there's too much traffic and we need a Comprehensive Transportation Plan on the books to fix it.  I've been hearing about this for over 10 years and during that time, I've seen very little improvements in the area of a "comprehensive transportation system" for San Antonio. 

On Sept 12, mysanantonio.com published an opinion from District 8 Councilman, Ron Nirenberg titled "Times Have Changed; So Should Transportation."  In his opinion piece, he highlights the problems in transportation that we all know about, lack of funding, how there's no rail, and how we need a "Comprehensive Transportation Plan" to fix the problem.  Um here's the thing Mr Nirenberg, we have a comprehensive transportation plans already, just go to the Alamo Area Planning Organization, or look up the City's own Bicycle Master Plan. Governments are full of plans on the books.  A good example is the Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail has been on the books since 1998 and I believe that a hard copy of this plan sits at the Central Library downtown at 600 Soledad collecting dust. Via also has their long range transit plan on their website aptly named "Long Range Comprehensive Transit Plan."

Ron Nirenberg highlighted the problem with transportation in his opinion quote: 

"Rail relocation, which would make those routes safer, faster and less congested, has been proposed, but it thus far has not gained enough political or financial momentum."

Not enough political or financial momentum is the problem that he's sites as the reason why we're stuck in traffic or at least in the context of this quote, of having hazardous material on freight trains traveling through the central part of the city.  Well he's only half right because he, like the rest of the City of San Antonio and the entire state of Texas for that matter cannot comprehend the ideal of not needing a car to get around. Think about this concept of not needing a car for a minute, because when you go from point 'A' to point 'B' in San Antonio, you get there by driving a car, so how can we have "Comprehensive Transportation System" in place when the average person can't realize the alternatives because the only alternative that they can think of involves driving a car going from point 'A' to point 'B'.  There is no walking, there is no taking the Via Bus, there is no riding a bicycle, there is just the car traveling on the clogged stroads to get there.

The reason why the Representative for District 8 and the people he represents cannot understand the basis for a "comprehensive transportation system" which is using the two feet that god gave them is because they live in a place where the places, from home to the grocery store and to work are separated by extreme distances that make walking impractical.  This is because as they were building houses and retail outlets in this part of town, they never took time and thought how one could walk from their house to the grocery store or bicycle between those places safely. At the time gasoline was cheap and this was the American Dream. District 8 is a great example of the failure of suburban sprawl exemplifying how it makes sure everyone who lives out there, has to own a car to get around and because gasoline is now staying roughly at $3 a gallon, the money that is needed to keep the car up and running doesn't stay in the community but leaves that community because the majority of those places that fuel and repair cars aren't local except for Valero. That money doesn't stay in the community except for the minimum wage clerk's paycheck. Over time, we'll continue to see less and less local tax revenue to pay for road repair.  It gets even worse when you have parking minimums for business making it impossible for the average joe to start a business.  Chuck Marohn, the host of the Strong Town podcast explains it better than I on why in the long run, the suburbs are doomed. 

20-1

When you ask the average San Antonion on what they want in rail transit, they'll say that they want a Subway, they want a Monorail. They want these very expensive forms of rail because they don't want that rail take up space on the ground that is used for cars. But this isn't what Via's 2000 light rail plan had in mind that Mr Nirenberg mentions at as quote, "a large scale, regional commuter rail plan." As you look at the maps for the light rail, (Image 20-1) you'll see how it will most likely go down Commerce/Buena Vista east/west and north/south on Flores/San Pedro. The reason for this, unlike Dallas Light Rail which goes down old railroad tracks, we here in San Antonio lack such old railroad tracks, also known as right of way to put the light rail down. Personally, I don't believe we'll ever have rail transit or a sufficient bicycle lane network because we're not willing to give up that lane that we currently have for cars for those alternatives. If we're going to have a "comprehensive transportation system" in San Antonio, the basis of this blog, we need to start making political sacrifices to take spaces that cars use and turn them into sidewalks and protected bicycle lanes. Even the latest plan from Via still has some light rail, but not as much.(Image 20-2)

20-2

As time goes on, we'll have less and less of federal dollars to put to roads not because the political will for more car lanes isn't lacking, or as Mr Nirenburg says, "Conflicting political agendas have led to the diversion of funds that should be spent on basic road construction and maintenance." Because we depend on these handout of the federal government to keep San Antonio moving, we're going to have less and in my opinion, no more chances of putting in rail either down the stroads by removing a car lane or above the traffic.

The reason why we have no "political momentum" for rail, for sidewalks, for alternatives because everyone is driving. Your action confirmed that you, Ron Nirenberg has no political will for "Comprehensive Transportation System" for you voted to remove that alternative, comprehensive transportation infrastructure on S Flores. Even though I wrote how we didn't need a streetcar to improve development on Broadway, you sir made sure that Via's attempt to change the political momentum to a more alternative, comprehensive transportation system was derailed even before the first rail was laid.

To go forward Mr Nirenberg you and your peers need to understand that if you want that "Comprehensive Transportation System" as you stated in your mysanantonio.com opinion, you and your peers are going to have to make political sacrifices standing up for unpopular projects such as removing a drive lane for a protected bicycle lane and wider sidewalks.  The rail transit you want is out of the picture at least for the next few years for the money that you need for that rail is not coming home.  All you can afford now is what you voted against, bicycle lanes and more bus service. I understand better than anybody out there on why people won't use the bus, why they won't ride a bicycle but these are the only alternatives you have left for a "comprehensive transportation system." This is all we can afford to do now.  We have plans on the books, but if we don't follow through with those plans, what's the point with having one?

Personally when I read your opinion piece, I yawned and thought how you, like the rest of the city will always be complaining and whining because they're stuck in traffic and maybe stuck in traffic because a cyclist like me is taking the lane to safely share the road.  Think about that next time Mr Nirenberg when your stuck in traffic.

Images:
20-1:   Via's Original Light Rail Plan which was killed back in 2000.  You can see this map forever immortalized by the blog Light Rail Now.org. http://www.lightrail.com/maps/sanantonio/sanantonio.htm
20-2:   Via's Current Long Range Comprehensive Transit Plan map which can be viewed at it's entirety at http://www.viainfo.net/Planning/Documents/FinalPlan/08_The_Plan.pdf



Upcoming Planning Meetings


Speaking of comprehensive transportation plans, it's that time again when the MPO dust off the old 25 year long range plan and starts to make a new one.  You can find out more at this web address.  http://www.mobility2040.org/

Also I've been unable yet to get a meeting page up and running, however, my Bicycle Events page is ready for Viewing.  http://bikesanantonio.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Streetcar Part II: Buses aren't Better than Rail

Sorry for not getting this out last week but life got in the way. 

During this entire debate about the streetcar, I've constantly heard that buses were better choice.  I don't know why San Antonio thinks that buses are better than rail, but they do at the detriment to the city's transportation system. Yet when I'm in Dallas or any other city with passenger rail, I stick to that passenger rail system because it is easier to use, because the ride is smoother, there's hardly ever any delays and I don't get lost. Yet we here in San Antonio believe that rail is worse just because we're simply told so.

When you ride the bus like I do every day, you get use to the bumpy ride, the wheelchairs taking forever to board, and mothers struggling to fold strollers.  We take this for granted and we're told by the same anti rail people to SUCK it up and deal with it. Yet when I ride the rail in other cities, I don't see mothers folding their strollers, wheelchairs taking 5 minutes to board or worse yet, dealing with a full bicycle rack, so how are buses better than rail?  Explain to me why in this video it is taking this lady in a wheelchair two minutes to board and get strapped in while boarding the bus while the guy in the wheelchair is taking what, less than a second to board the light rail train. and the rest of the time positioning the chair into the wheelchair parking space.

The argument brought forth every time that buses are better than rail because buses are flexible, they can go everywhere and that's true, but that is also the biggest weakness to buses success and it's flexibility is used against the hostage users every time causing less ridership and more car dependence.  If our highway system were as flexible as we are with the routing of buses, then we would be against having highways in the first place.  They would be untrusted, have a sense of utter Confusion and lack of dependability.  So lets apply the same rule that makes buses so great, the flexibility to the highways of San Antonio.  Below are a series of maps of the highway system in San Antonio, TX.  On the first Image, you see what is the normal system of highways,  I-10 going Northwest and then east, I-35 going from the Northeast to the Southwest, and Loop 410 going around San Antonio as well as US 90, US 281, and I-37.(Image 18-1)  Now if our highways acted like a bus system, they would probably look like this today (Image18-2)   And even worse, the routes numbers would be like this over that same map.(Image 18-3)

18-1

18-2

18-3

Now apply this same concept to the routing of our bus system.  Every time we reroute a bus because of (construction, low ridership, lack of resources, ect) we lose riders, because of that constant rerouteing or cancellation of routes, we in essence creates a sense of utter confusion and lack of dependability yet we are led to believe that buses are better because of their flexibility. This is what is keeping the Choice Users off the bus because there's a constant confusion on where the bus is going.  Because of the bus flexibility, people have a hard time understanding how to use the bus system.

From my daily observation, I constantly see people boarding the bus and bitching to the bus driver which by default, doesn't know the whole system, that they're lost.  It is not uncommon for me to overheard people asking others about the 75 and the 76, bus routes because even today hostage users don't understand that the 75 makes stops every 2 blocks while the 76 is a skip stop bus and makes stops roughly at major destinations.  What people need to understand that it takes a certain type of skill to use a bus system.  It requires the user to remember what bus route goes where and when.  If you don't have this skill, you'll end up boarding the wrong bus and being late to an appointment.  What people need to understand that the skills required to use a bus system is the knowledge of how to read a map, how to read a bus schedule, and where the buses are going on that map.  And since most people have a hard time reading a map in the first place and the bus drivers don't know the entire system by heart, it is no wonder why people opt out of riding the buses in the first place.  Now added to the ability to change bus route on a dime, thus making using the bus system very frustrating thing to use.

We see this frustration reflected in our pop culture which consider the bus a disgusting thing to ride.  When songs are written about buses, they're describing a horrible experience like Weird Al Yankovich "Another one rides the bus," or the bus in the opening of the music video "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N'Roses..  And because of this constant negative experience, even the kindergarten song "The Wheels on the bus goes round and round," mentions a crying baby, yet we're told over and over again that buses are better than rail.

Some of our car commercials reflect also reflect buses in a negative light as well.  For example, the recent Drive Time commercial has the rescue of the hostage user by getting him off the bus and into a car.  Others like this Bar NONE commercial has the hostage user being approved at the bus stop while at the same time you hear how bad the bus are.  It continues like this other one from Car Loan Pal shows the sorry state of affairs of not having a car and being a hostage user, a person who is stuck riding the bus.  But I guess this car commercial tells it like it is from Cars 2 GO saying you 'better not pick up any bitches at the bus stop' and yet we're told over and over again that buses are better than rail.

Passenger trains however are treated differently in our pop culture for it's not just the fact that trains have been around a lot longer, but when the passenger trains are portrayed in music, they are put in a positive light.  From the old blues song about "Rock Island Road" by LeadBelly, to modern day rock videos like Howie Day's "Collide," there's no shortage of the praise for the train; from Luther Vandros, R.E.M, Aerosmith (1:52), Cyndi Lauper (4:21).  I can go on and on, but I guess Enya takes the cake as it for she's not singing about Buses and Winter Rain, she's singing "Trains and Winter Rains.  If buses are better than rail and were the preferred way to travel, then why is Enya on her way home riding the train?   Yet we're told over and over again that buses are better than rail.

I'm not finish yet for the heavy metal band It's Casual sang a song about Los Angeles's Subway, "The Red Line."  This guy isn't banging to riding the bus, he's celebrating the subway.  And lets face it, even our lousy governor Rick Perry has gotten into the act of supporting the evil communist train in Dallas, for just recently he made this statement celebrating the recent connection of the Orange Line to DFW Airport.  Yet we're told over and over again that buses are better than rail.

I don't know about you, but if the best thing about buses is that there flexible, and yet they're uncomfortable, bumpy and take a utter long time to put wheelchairs and bicycles on board, then why are they so great?  If San Antonio wants to have a dependable public transportation system, we are going to need to invest in passenger rail infrastructure, light rail or otherwise.  Bus have there use, but not for the mass movement of people.  They have their limits, not just in the passenger capacity, but in utter dependability.  This is the main reason why GM brought out all those streetcar systems in the early 20th century and  San Antonio wasn't immune to this for by 1932, the rail was gone.

If San Antonio is to have a good public transportation system, it will eventually have to adopt rail as a mode of travel.  The Streetcar, would have provided this only in the downtown area, but we're going to need a system that serves all of San Antonio's 535 square miles if it going to be effective.  And yet as you read this now, next week, you be reading how we don't need a streetcar to have a great city.  That's because even though more people would have used it, the goal of the Streetcar wasn't to improve transportation but to increase downtown development.  This is something San Antonio doesn't wish, for it wishes for the speed of a Subway, not the slowness of a Streetcar. 

 Images:
18-1 thru 18-3:  used original image from http://mobility.tamu.edu/mip/img/san_antonio-map600.png  and photo shop the rest. 

 Up Coming Important Meetings
If you want to make a difference, please attend.

 

Lee's Creek, Joe Ward and Sunset Hills Parks Plan Review Public Meeting

When:  Wednesday, August 20, 2014 6:00 PM

Where:  Joe Ward Community Center,  435 E. Sunshine, San Antonio, TX 78228

What Should You Ask For:  The thing to ask for at this meeting are good sidewalks,  20 mile per hour speed limits and safe ways to get to the park down Hillcrest and St Cloud such as bike lanes down those stroads.  

San Pedro Creek Improvements Project Public Meeting

When:   Saturday, August 28, 2014, 9AM-12PM
Where:  Christopher Columbus Italian Society 201 Piazza Italia.
Description:  Bexar County and San Antonio River Authority, in cooperation with the City of San Antonio, will host a public workshop seeking input on concept designs for the San Pedro Creek Improvements Project.  The project will focus on flood mitigation, the revitalization of natural habitats, water quality, and recreational and economic opportunities.
What Should you say:  Ask that safe routes for bicycles be included on the streets such as bike lanes, Protected bike lanes, cycletracks, and good sidewalks to and from the creek to safely connect neighborhoods. Ask that NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) standards be applied to these improvements. 


Up Coming Bicycle Events

Glow Roll SA 
When:   Saturday, August 28, 2014
Where:  Travis Park, 301 E Travis
Description:  Every 4th Saturday!
3p-9p: Amor y Arte Travis Park
5p-6p: NYA
5p-9p: Shop & Eat, artisans from SA Made by Hand Mercado
6p-8:30: Live Dance Routines/Instruction
6p-8:45: Bike Decorating with The KickStand SA
9p: Wheels Down (*ride thru Downtown SA & return back to Travis Park)

Andy's Bike Garage will be on hand for bike service & bike accessories!
Come light up the night on your bikes & take a social ride with us through Downtown SA!! Glow Sticks provided, limited supplies while they last!  Or go to the DollarTree and buy them. ;)

 Cycle In-Cinema .  
When:   Every Thursday, June-August at Dusk, 8:45pm
Where:  Main Plaza, 115 N Main Ave, 78205
Description:  Out Door Movie.  

Siclovia:
When:  Sunday Sept 28, 2014 10AM to 3PM
Where: Broadway downtown
Description:  Where San Antonio returns the streets back to the  people for a few hours.  Really a great event.  More info at http://www.ymcasatx.org/siclovia