We have a great interview with more details on this (among other topics) with a special guest in a few weeks 👀 Want to support the show? Check out our newly launched Patreon: www.patreon.com/TransitTangents
Austin is behind Houston and Dallas when it comes to rail transit but is now making choices that residents, workers, students, and visitors will find useful and integral to the city. While the Rapid Lines aren't true BRT, the frequency, multi-door boarding, digital displays and stop designs are a step in the right direction. DART (in Dallas) is a bit behind in this respect. Additionally, building tunnels in Downtown Austin is the best choice for speed and reliability.
Good news is that DART is currently in the testing phase of 3 new bus shelters with digital displays (they're similar designs, just different sizes, so they'd all get implemented), and has allocated something like 50 million over the next 20 years to replace and add new bus shelters. Plus, the network is currently being reworked to improve frequency and connectivity while decreasing travel time. Its by no means perfect (not much multi-door boarding and rapid lines are still... not rapid, to put it politely, since there's no bus lanes) but DART is doing what they can to "catch up."
Hmmm I would say Houston is worse off than Austin because their metro population is 3x that of Austin. But then again Austin had the opportunity to build LRT when it had half the population it has now.
I am PRO transportation because I am from Europe and I know how great transportation can be. But what I see is that they are not going to build Project Connect. They give us unrealistic distant deadlines in 20 years. And at the same time RIGHT NOW they funnel all the money into widening of 183, Mopac, and and will do that for Parmer.
Thanks for watching! And yes! We missed the opportunity to do an episode on a week without driving ahead of time, or even mentioning it ahead of time but that would have been a good one.... I'll try to put it in the calendar for next year.... -Louis
@@TransitTangents There is also a Bike to Work Austin day in Spring and Fall. ACL is an interesting case study as is Zilker park as a festival venue as it has no parking and you need to take the bus/ walk or ride a bus to it. There is also Bike World Day coming up and Get Out and Skate Day.
@@dARKONE06ACL is an awesome day for the Lamar pedestrian bridge, seeing ppl walk to food and clubs after, etc. it showcases ppl using Austin how they want to without even realizing they're doing it
I'm glad that Austin is making some new pushes, great rundown guys! The city as it is has very obvious needs for light rail, so hopefully it happens. Crazy that 2,000 votes completely changed to course of Austin (for now at least)
Very informational and I loved the transitions between y’all and the graphics. One question or posible episode topic would be what regular people can do help push the project connect forward ?
More on Project Connect/Austin coming soon! Interesting interview with Transit Forward who is working on that sort of thing. It will be either the last week of October or first of November when it comes out 👍 -Louis
Great video!! If the Blue Line gets built it will help soooo much, connecting the primary airport with the university and the downtown commercial is just 101.
@@TransitTangents Alright for responding before I could finish the video! You are right about it being SO important to have your local officials behind these projects. Our Mayor in Atlanta seems to be a master of the bate and switch. He was for Beltline rail then got elected and backtracked. There will be an election next year and I hope he is defeated.
Glad to see it was posted there! Thanks for watching! A lot more Austin based content coming soon. Last week's episode was related to Austin as well in you haven't seen that one yet. -Louis
I was a huge supporter of Project Connect, but the voters got duped, we voted for 3 light rail lines, a downtown subway tunnel, and expanded service; they nixed the gold line, blue line service to the airport should've been a top priority but it's now phase 2, orange line was drastically shorted in south austin, and no underground stations, it's now a lackluster system plan that wasn't what voters supported.
I wonder if there is potential for duplicating railway lines, grade separating road crossings, and then increasing rail services on them, providing a level of mobility above and beyond that of road transport.
Rents are already going down a bit. It is a small dip, but when I renewed my lease in Austin a few months back, I was able to negotiate a small decrease in rent actually. -Louis
To me it feels like it has to be every 10 minutes or better with really good on time performance. That time frame is pushing it in a big city though. My guess is Chris might be more like better than 15 minutes? Guessing a little bit there. Cap Metro says 15 minutes or better during peak hours. Thanks for watching! -Louis
A very car dependent City. Single occupancy is the norm. Aggressive driving. If you are at a crosswalk be careful. So many German brands that have drivers who speed. It would suck waiting for a bus in 95° heat. You should have had more light rail years ago. Now, it's up to the $illions. Widening 35 is comical. The work they are doing now between Austin and San Antonio is old school thinking. You need to get people to live closer to where they work, shop and play. Zoning is either SF or podium buildings. Very few options. If you think it's hot and dry in Austin now, wait 10 years.
The city is taking a lot of the right steps. A lot of zoning related changes over the last year, incentivizing transit oriented development along the light rail corridors now before construction even starts, major investments in bike infra with really good ebike rebate programs at the same time (anecdotally a lot more folks biking/e-biking over the last few years).We'll see.... -Louis
The funding for the first phase is coming from an increase in city property tax rates, which was the Prop A vote that voters passed. The city property tax is increasing by 8.75 cents ($0.0875) per $100 of property value. The entire 8.75 cents per $100 raised by this increase will go to ‘Austin Transit Partnership’. There doesn’t appear to be anything in the resolution that would prevent the city council from allocating a larger amount to the project with each years’ tax rate change. This could be how they plan to fund phase two, or they may propose another tax rate increase to voters. The only problem with this funding method, is that property owners across the city are having their taxes increased. They may (most likely) choose to pass onto renters, which would end that rent decrease streak going on.
Yes it can. But no, it will not. 2050 before we see one more light rail line. I’ve lived here for 17 years and the only thing that happens is the widening of 35,mopac, 130, and 183. That’s it. That’s where it will continue.
Optimism? Do you know who’s in charge of transit money around this state? It’s of ZERO interests to them to see light rail or any other trains, subways, skyways, gondolas, etc gen bikes for that matter.
@@JuanJimenez-od1ho I'm well aware of the deficiencies of TxDOT and their love of highways and toll roads. But the people who control the money and projects WANT you to give up, they want you to accept the infrastructure that they decide is best. But the point of transit advocacy is to organize people's voices to make the demand for transit known. And it has worked in some capacity with project connect, DART, and Houston's rail system. Obviously these are not perfect but if everyone just took your approach of nihilism and giving up, these projects never would have gotten past the idea stage.
Used to live in Austin, don’t hold your breath. The current state of affairs is desired by the realtors and other folks who run the town. This is not the first time Austin has tried to bring rails trails etc into fruition, corruption always wins.
I don't think Austin can become great at anything any longer. She had her chance, and decided to put most of the resources to become a homeless based city. Now crime is through the roof and it is just not a place to make home.
I want this so badly but Austin will never, ever, ever become a great transit city. They are perpetually 30 years behind and I have seen nothing that makes me think otherwise.
@@kelseyhuse Not at all. Been here for 36 years. I have always voted and will keep voting for better transit and infrastructure. The government makes money by building roads, not solving problems. Look at all of this nonsense on N Mopac. It's a mess and won't solve a single traffic problem. And as soon as they are done, they'll start working on more road projects. Light rail needs to be the MAIN FOCUS and it's barely alive.
It can't. Big fan of European style urbanity, however, I've been to Austin, TX and when it's really hot and humid you are kinda thankful for making trips from garage to garage in a car. I walked 20 minutes to a coffeeshop and arrived soaked in sweat. Walking to stations and bus stops and waiting there in the heat is a big disadvantage of public transit in hot climates.
Agreed. However having grown up in boston and now 6 years living in Atlanta, I will still take sweating like a dog in the hot sun while waiting on a bus, over freezing like an ice cube in a blizzard while waiting on a bus
We have a great interview with more details on this (among other topics) with a special guest in a few weeks 👀 Want to support the show? Check out our newly launched Patreon: www.patreon.com/TransitTangents
Austin is behind Houston and Dallas when it comes to rail transit but is now making choices that residents, workers, students, and visitors will find useful and integral to the city. While the Rapid Lines aren't true BRT, the frequency, multi-door boarding, digital displays and stop designs are a step in the right direction. DART (in Dallas) is a bit behind in this respect. Additionally, building tunnels in Downtown Austin is the best choice for speed and reliability.
Good news is that DART is currently in the testing phase of 3 new bus shelters with digital displays (they're similar designs, just different sizes, so they'd all get implemented), and has allocated something like 50 million over the next 20 years to replace and add new bus shelters. Plus, the network is currently being reworked to improve frequency and connectivity while decreasing travel time. Its by no means perfect (not much multi-door boarding and rapid lines are still... not rapid, to put it politely, since there's no bus lanes) but DART is doing what they can to "catch up."
Idk man nothing beats Houston transit our transit sucks ass
wouldn't building tunnels be difficult because of the limestone?
@@hmartfoodstuff not particularly. It just requires a little extra care during the digging process
Hmmm I would say Houston is worse off than Austin because their metro population is 3x that of Austin. But then again Austin had the opportunity to build LRT when it had half the population it has now.
I am PRO transportation because I am from Europe and I know how great transportation can be.
But what I see is that they are not going to build Project Connect. They give us unrealistic distant deadlines in 20 years.
And at the same time RIGHT NOW they funnel all the money into widening of 183, Mopac, and and will do that for Parmer.
Great information. Hopefully some listeners take this information and participate in the Week Without Driving this week! Sept 30- Oct 6
Thanks for watching! And yes! We missed the opportunity to do an episode on a week without driving ahead of time, or even mentioning it ahead of time but that would have been a good one.... I'll try to put it in the calendar for next year.... -Louis
@@TransitTangents There is also a Bike to Work Austin day in Spring and Fall. ACL is an interesting case study as is Zilker park as a festival venue as it has no parking and you need to take the bus/ walk or ride a bus to it.
There is also Bike World Day coming up and Get Out and Skate Day.
@@dARKONE06ACL is an awesome day for the Lamar pedestrian bridge, seeing ppl walk to food and clubs after, etc. it showcases ppl using Austin how they want to without even realizing they're doing it
I went on the Streetcar Network in New Orleans. It was fun. A mix of Old and New Streetcars (Green cars old Red New cars). It was great.
We actually rode them on an episode a few weeks back! th-cam.com/video/SUiMCQU17N0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Kdq3dOF0bv5i5jdU
I'm glad that Austin is making some new pushes, great rundown guys! The city as it is has very obvious needs for light rail, so hopefully it happens. Crazy that 2,000 votes completely changed to course of Austin (for now at least)
Very informational and I loved the transitions between y’all and the graphics.
One question or posible episode topic would be what regular people can do help push the project connect forward ?
More on Project Connect/Austin coming soon! Interesting interview with Transit Forward who is working on that sort of thing. It will be either the last week of October or first of November when it comes out 👍 -Louis
Some center median bus lanes in select areas could do a lot
Great video!! If the Blue Line gets built it will help soooo much, connecting the primary airport with the university and the downtown commercial is just 101.
Moving from Austin to Memphis, I am missing the 15min frequency of the buses and the routes. Things are very dire here lol
We miss you in Austin!!
I'm from Vancouver, BC, and I lament over the fact that the Grizzlies moved from a transit-friendly stadium to a transit-unfriendly one.
@@vincentng2392 honestly, understandable lol
15 minutes? proper routes in cities with less then 500,000 people get about a bus every 10 minutes.
I am loving these videos! Keep it up! I can't wait to see these projects become a reality in the future.
Thanks for watching! Appreciate the support 🙌
22:05 I’d love an episode on why projects take so long.
Chris definitely wants to dive into this. We have a few ideas on it. Stay tuned! -Louis
Never heard of y’all til I saw a post on Reddit. Great video. Subscribed.
Thanks! Glad you found us!
Found you guys on the Austin subreddit. Thanks for posting!
I've been looking forward to this one
Plenty more to come on the topic! As well as an Austin in a Day Using Only Public Transit coming soon too 👀. Thanks for watching!
@@TransitTangents Alright for responding before I could finish the video! You are right about it being SO important to have your local officials behind these projects. Our Mayor in Atlanta seems to be a master of the bate and switch. He was for Beltline rail then got elected and backtracked. There will be an election next year and I hope he is defeated.
Found this on austin subreddit. Great video.
Glad to see it was posted there! Thanks for watching! A lot more Austin based content coming soon. Last week's episode was related to Austin as well in you haven't seen that one yet. -Louis
You should dig into Dallas' DART about to open the new Silver Line here in DFW.
I was a huge supporter of Project Connect, but the voters got duped, we voted for 3 light rail lines, a downtown subway tunnel, and expanded service; they nixed the gold line, blue line service to the airport should've been a top priority but it's now phase 2, orange line was drastically shorted in south austin, and no underground stations, it's now a lackluster system plan that wasn't what voters supported.
I wonder if there is potential for duplicating railway lines, grade separating road crossings, and then increasing rail services on them, providing a level of mobility above and beyond that of road transport.
Just moved out here and I’m curious to see how this all plays out
Austin, like most of America, had transit until cars came along.
With about 30.000 new builds hitting the market soon and 20.000 to 30.000 more on thr way rents will remain stable if not drop.
Rents are already going down a bit. It is a small dip, but when I renewed my lease in Austin a few months back, I was able to negotiate a small decrease in rent actually. -Louis
RIP all the american cities with great streetcar networks that were destroyed and replaced with stroads and freeways
What’s frequent bus service for you guys
To me it feels like it has to be every 10 minutes or better with really good on time performance. That time frame is pushing it in a big city though. My guess is Chris might be more like better than 15 minutes? Guessing a little bit there. Cap Metro says 15 minutes or better during peak hours. Thanks for watching! -Louis
@@TransitTangents same here. 10 min is good ass frequency.
I'm not a fan of BRT, a city this large needs an actual rail option.
A very car dependent City.
Single occupancy is the norm.
Aggressive driving. If you are at a crosswalk be careful.
So many German brands that have drivers who speed.
It would suck waiting for a bus in 95° heat.
You should have had more light rail years ago. Now, it's up to the $illions.
Widening 35 is comical. The work they are doing now between Austin and San Antonio is old school thinking.
You need to get people to live closer to where they work, shop and play.
Zoning is either SF or podium buildings. Very few options.
If you think it's hot and dry in Austin now, wait 10 years.
The city is taking a lot of the right steps. A lot of zoning related changes over the last year, incentivizing transit oriented development along the light rail corridors now before construction even starts, major investments in bike infra with really good ebike rebate programs at the same time (anecdotally a lot more folks biking/e-biking over the last few years).We'll see.... -Louis
The funding for the first phase is coming from an increase in city property tax rates, which was the Prop A vote that voters passed. The city property tax is increasing by 8.75 cents ($0.0875) per $100 of property value. The entire 8.75 cents per $100 raised by this increase will go to ‘Austin Transit Partnership’.
There doesn’t appear to be anything in the resolution that would prevent the city council from allocating a larger amount to the project with each years’ tax rate change. This could be how they plan to fund phase two, or they may propose another tax rate increase to voters.
The only problem with this funding method, is that property owners across the city are having their taxes increased. They may (most likely) choose to pass onto renters, which would end that rent decrease streak going on.
Yes it can. But no, it will not. 2050 before we see one more light rail line. I’ve lived here for 17 years and the only thing that happens is the widening of 35,mopac, 130, and 183. That’s it. That’s where it will continue.
Damn try a little optimism man
Optimism? Do you know who’s in charge of transit money around this state? It’s of ZERO interests to them to see light rail or any other trains, subways, skyways, gondolas, etc gen bikes for that matter.
@@JuanJimenez-od1ho I'm well aware of the deficiencies of TxDOT and their love of highways and toll roads. But the people who control the money and projects WANT you to give up, they want you to accept the infrastructure that they decide is best. But the point of transit advocacy is to organize people's voices to make the demand for transit known. And it has worked in some capacity with project connect, DART, and Houston's rail system. Obviously these are not perfect but if everyone just took your approach of nihilism and giving up, these projects never would have gotten past the idea stage.
Fix i35 first
Used to live in Austin, don’t hold your breath. The current state of affairs is desired by the realtors and other folks who run the town. This is not the first time Austin has tried to bring rails trails etc into fruition, corruption always wins.
Austinite here. No. Never. Will never happen. Austin has always had and will always have terrible growth planning.
I live in Austin. It won't happen.
I don't think Austin can become great at anything any longer. She had her chance, and decided to put most of the resources to become a homeless based city. Now crime is through the roof and it is just not a place to make home.
I want this so badly but Austin will never, ever, ever become a great transit city. They are perpetually 30 years behind and I have seen nothing that makes me think otherwise.
SHUT UP! NEVER GIVE UP!
Sounds like something someone would say to try to discourage other ppl from fighting for a better future 😁
@@trebucket6738 I won't shut up but I will never give up, either.
@@kelseyhuse Not at all. Been here for 36 years. I have always voted and will keep voting for better transit and infrastructure. The government makes money by building roads, not solving problems. Look at all of this nonsense on N Mopac. It's a mess and won't solve a single traffic problem. And as soon as they are done, they'll start working on more road projects. Light rail needs to be the MAIN FOCUS and it's barely alive.
@@chrissilman8495 THATS THE SPIRIT! Sorry for yelling
No! You hippies need to leave, i'll 1000% vote against this, hell... i go outta my way to vote against this! HELL NO!
Why?
It can't. Big fan of European style urbanity, however, I've been to Austin, TX and when it's really hot and humid you are kinda thankful for making trips from garage to garage in a car. I walked 20 minutes to a coffeeshop and arrived soaked in sweat. Walking to stations and bus stops and waiting there in the heat is a big disadvantage of public transit in hot climates.
I commuted via e-bike in Austin and it wasn’t terrible, except the intersections because you had to stop and wait in the sun.
There's plenty of cities with hot or tropical climates around the world with good transit, this is a non-starter
Agreed. However having grown up in boston and now 6 years living in Atlanta, I will still take sweating like a dog in the hot sun while waiting on a bus, over freezing like an ice cube in a blizzard while waiting on a bus
Tokyo is just as hot and even more humid and yet is the transit capital of the entire world.