Stage 6: Commentary on Peer's Post

Come and Take It's post "Dazzled by Promise of Rail, Austin Leaders Still Need to Persuade Public" from Feb 6th is the author's personal feelings mixed with some objective observations in response to a Texas WatchDog report on the running punchline that Austin MetroRail is. CTI's initial statement of the rail being "wildly ineffective" is absolutely agreeable from my perspective; I in fact have not had the joy of riding the rail as I live no where near its service area. CTI's observation of Leander residents who work downtown town are the ideal riders is pretty accurate, however a more concise statement would be anyone who lives, works, or habitates along the rail and uses the complimenting bus service would be the ideal riders. Sadly, this is still a very small number of riders.

CTI states one original intent of MetroRail was to help relieve congestion along IH35. Most folks I know would agree MetroRail has not helped this one billionth of a percent, give or take a few millionths. I further believe Austin taxpayers have not embraced or accepted any demonstrated need for light rail.

While I agree whole-heartedly with CTI on the first two paragraphs, I disagree that Austin has been well-meaning in its rail adventure. I do think that it is too early to tell if it will be Rail or Fail and I feel that Austin under-invested in the Rail expedition. One single line between Leander and downtown Austin with a few stops is wildly ineffective, logistically speaking. I feel an inclusion of more lines is necessary to tip the speculation from a "maybe this will work" to "this will be an investment for our transportation crises for the next one hundred years". I cite lines from Lakeway into downtown, service to F1 track (that area is going to explode with growth and the roads will not be able to manage the volume), and any other lines to enable other riders to embrace and use the system. If you follow this link, here is a future rendering of other lines. I hope these become reality. Texasbytrain.org is another website further expanding upon trainsportation.

I appreciate the attempt by Austin, however it is falling short. One commuter rail that serves a narrow segment is astronomically ludacris, financially speaking. With the continuing sprawl both with our city and the Dallas/Ft. Worth/Austin/San Antonio, I feel that if we are going to invest in rail, we need to go big. We should be taking our cues from the TVR in Spain and Japan's Bullet. Consider the impact that would have on IH35 traffic, especially with Red River weekend and holidays. One single line is MetroFail.