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The companies and facebook groups that sprang up were an interesting experiment. Also your comment leaves out that they came back. Why the city can't figure ou

The companies and facebook groups that sprang up were an interesting experiment. Also your comment leaves out that they came back. Why the city can't figure out public transport is still pretty baffling though.

abawany 8y ago
Lyft/Uber came back after the state legislature passed a law that nullified Austin's background check requirement. The same thing happened with Austin's plastic bag ban, btw - some say the state legislature exists just to punch Austin government. I use the bus service (Capital Metro) occasionally and I have to defend them a bit: they try and they keep getting better. They have 1 rail service that runs from the NW parts of town to downtown, and it runs full during commute times, taking a few hundred drivers off the road in the process. They created dedicated commuter buses for remote neighborhoods (e.g. the 980 and 985 service) to enable office workers and students avoid the traffic; these also are quite full every day and help keep traffic saner - the park-and-ride that I use is full of hundreds of cars daily. In addition, the Metro Rapid service and the Every 15 initiatives have looked like improvements to me for the few occasions that I used them. I haven't tried the public transportation in Dallas or Houston so I can't say they are better but Austin Capital Metro I think has tried to do a reasonable job.
- stuntkite 8y ago
  I haven’t tried Houston, but it looks ok for such a sprawled Texas city. DFW’s is a joke. That area lives and dies by the very Texan belief that you should get where you are going in your own truck by yourself while sipping a beer and also the poor are poor because they are lazy.
- stevespang 8y ago
  Yes, that State legislature keeps all the liberal deviants in check, Austin has a high percentage of liberals from Western states that can sway the vote, our State legislature solves that problem.
save_ferris 8y ago
They came back after the state nullified the regulation that the city passed. The city is trying to improve transit, but it's a very chicken-and-egg problem. Critics of public transit spending point to the relatively low usage of certain aspects of the bus system as wasteful and would rather see continuous infrastructure improvements that help them because they drive. It's strange logic IMO because better public transit should theoretically reduce congestion on the roads. The other major problem with public transit adoption is ridesharing. Wealthier people who seek out better public transit often choose to rideshare instead because its easier, leaving the poor to remain the biggest users of public transit. Transportation professionals have started sounding the alarm on ridesharing undermining mass transit development.[0] [0] https://prospect.org/article/ridesharing-versus-public-transit https://prospect.org/article/ridesharing-versus-public-trans...

abawany 8y ago

Lyft/Uber came back after the state legislature passed a law that nullified Austin's background check requirement. The same thing happened with Austin's plastic bag ban, btw - some say the state legislature exists just to punch Austin government. I use the bus service (Capital Metro) occasionally and I have to defend them a bit: they try and they keep getting better. They have 1 rail service that runs from the NW parts of town to downtown, and it runs full during commute times, taking a few hundred drivers off the road in the process. They created dedicated commuter buses for remote neighborhoods (e.g. the 980 and 985 service) to enable office workers and students avoid the traffic; these also are quite full every day and help keep traffic saner - the park-and-ride that I use is full of hundreds of cars daily. In addition, the Metro Rapid service and the Every 15 initiatives have looked like improvements to me for the few occasions that I used them. I haven't tried the public transportation in Dallas or Houston so I can't say they are better but Austin Capital Metro I think has tried to do a reasonable job.

stuntkite 8y ago
I haven’t tried Houston, but it looks ok for such a sprawled Texas city. DFW’s is a joke. That area lives and dies by the very Texan belief that you should get where you are going in your own truck by yourself while sipping a beer and also the poor are poor because they are lazy.
stevespang 8y ago
Yes, that State legislature keeps all the liberal deviants in check, Austin has a high percentage of liberals from Western states that can sway the vote, our State legislature solves that problem.

save_ferris 8y ago

They came back after the state nullified the regulation that the city passed. The city is trying to improve transit, but it's a very chicken-and-egg problem. Critics of public transit spending point to the relatively low usage of certain aspects of the bus system as wasteful and would rather see continuous infrastructure improvements that help them because they drive. It's strange logic IMO because better public transit should theoretically reduce congestion on the roads. The other major problem with public transit adoption is ridesharing. Wealthier people who seek out better public transit often choose to rideshare instead because its easier, leaving the poor to remain the biggest users of public transit. Transportation professionals have started sounding the alarm on ridesharing undermining mass transit development.[0] [0] https://prospect.org/article/ridesharing-versus-public-transit https://prospect.org/article/ridesharing-versus-public-trans...