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Traffic in Austin is insane. Legit insane. Definitely comparable to the Bay Area if not worse. And there is absolutely no transit alternative comparable to BAR
by scoofy 5y ago
Traffic in Austin is insane. Legit insane. Definitely comparable to the Bay Area if not worse.
And there is absolutely no transit alternative comparable to BART. There is a morning and evening train, but it's really only effective if you live and work exactly on the stops.
- Bellamy 5y agoDoes anyone even consider taking a bike? If you visit Amsterdam or Copenhagen, you know what I mean. The happiness of the people, clear streets and less noice is something you can't explain, but it's better what you can imagine.
- frumper 5y agoIt's quite hot in Texas. Just a quick look up, the daily average summer low in Austin is higher than Copenhagen's daily high.
- muglug 5y agoWhat a great candidate for the Boring Company! He'll build a new tunnel for Teslas to drive through!
- reaperducer 5y agoHe's already in talks to build a new Tesla tunnel in San Antonio.
- bgentry 5y agoI lived in CA my whole life, including the last 10 years in the Bay Area, before moving to Austin a year ago. I can’t for the life of me understand what you’re talking about. I-35 is bad, that’s about it. The freeways around the rest of Austin are still moving even around rush hour. None of those hold a candle to the Bay Bridge on a Friday afternoon, not even remotely close to as bad.
- scoofy 5y agoThe reason is that there is no alternative. You'd be a fool to take the Bay Bridge on a Friday afternoon. BART is there, and any sensible person would take it. In Austin, when traffic is fucked, you're just fucked, especially if you have to cross the river.
- 2143 5y ago> You'd be a fool to take the Bay Bridge on a Friday afternoon. Yet, so many do, don't they? :)
- pcurve 5y agoAs someone who lives in northeast, there's just something very unsettling about highway road design in Austin. (and probably TX too). Where I live, roads, ramps, exits are more integrated into surroundings.
- earth2mars 5y agoyou moved during COVID times where most people still not on roads. I guess when things become normal, you would see actual issue. Just wait for few more years before you can start complaining the heat, traffic & cost of living. Especially if you want to live in an area with good schools!
- t-writescode 5y agohttps://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/worst-traffic-cities-america/43/ https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/worst-traffic-cities-americ... According to this, Austin Texas is #10 on this chart. #1, LA #2, NYC #3, San Fran #4, San Jose (near San Fran) #5, Seattle #6, Miami #7, DC #8, Chicago #9, Honolulu #10, Austin *two* of the top 5 worst traffic areas in the US are in the Greater San Francisco area.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- WalterBright 5y agoSeattle traffic isn't so bad if you WFH.
- t-writescode 5y agoThe Wine Country to SF Company commute is a matter of minutes when it's in your pajamas and across the hall.
- scoofy 5y agoAgain... LA has a surprisingly extensive subway system. NYC, SF, Miami, DC, and Chicago all have robust public transit. Even San Jose and Seattle have non-negligible transit alternatives. Austin has essentially nothing, the train they built is legitimately the dumbest, cheapest option that was offered at the time, though they are building dense housing along it now. People often choose which side of the river to live on because of traffic. You're simply not going to convince me that Austin isn't one of the worst cities to commute in, because unless you want to bike in 100ºF heat, you literally have no choice but to engage in it, especially if you have to cross the river.
- js2 5y agoHave you lived in these places? I mean, come on. Miami does not have robust public transit. You can't possibly call Metrorail robust. Next you'll tell me Atlanta has robust public transit too.
- olegious 5y agoAs someone that lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years and is now living near Austin, traffic in Austin is nowhere near close to that of the Bay Area. I live 25 miles outside Austin and be downtown in < 40 minutes during rush hour.
- nkoren 5y agoNo, it's really not. Source: while working as a transport planning consultant, I had a private client in Austin. He flew our team around the city in a helicopter, saying "see all this traffic? It's insane!". I'd just flown in from New Delhi. By the standards I was accustomed to, I didn't see any traffic at all. Certainly Austin does have a need for much better public transit -- and if being upset about traffic is a catalyst for making that investment, then that's great! -- but in that respect it's no different to most other major metropolitan centers in the US.
- jkestner 5y agoUnfortunately, that anger is going to fuel a 20-lane I-35. Fuck everything, we're doing five blades.
- JPKab 5y agoBased on my experience dealing with offices of software engineers versus actual corporate HQs for companies that aren't purely software, it really won't matter. Employees at corporate HQ's tend to want to have houses in the burbs. They tend to be in there 30s and up as well. There is no shortage of suburban real estate in the vicinity of the gigafactory. A minority of employees will live in downtown Austin and hate their life due to the horrific commute out of there.
- foxyv 5y agoAs a transplant from Southern CA to TX 4 years ago I can honestly say that traffic in Austin is barely worth mentioning when compared to traffic in Orange County and Los Angeles. In Orange County, I would daily spend hours in a car traveling at average speeds that I could beat on my bicycle. Traffic jams that are 15-20 miles long on 7 lane highways. Even the express lanes would back up to the entrances. People drive over islands and fill up back streets. Anyone who does a daily on the 91 and the 55 from Corona to Irvine can back me up. 8 years ago it was TERRIBLE. I don't know about the Bay Area, maybe they are better because of reliable transit, but Austin is nowhere near the So. Cal area when it comes to traffic.