Commuter rail to open March 22 [Austin, Tx]

American Statesman ^ | 3-5-2010 | Ben Wear

[deport]

Passenger rail in Austin — for 40 years the subject of speculation, argumentation, elections and, finally, construction — will leave the station early in the morning on March 22, Capital Metro officials announced just after noon.

Federal rail regulators, in town the past several days as Capital Metro did on-schedule testing of the 32-mile line from Leander to downtown Austin, gave their blessing this morning, Capital Metro interim chief executive officer Doug Allen said. The line, which was to have opened a year ago (and even earlier under original predictions), had been plagued by glitches in its signal and gate crossing systems much of last year.

But after a trouble-shooting process that involved bringing in signalization experts to diagnose the problems and revamping both hardware and software, Capital Metro in recent weeks had indicated that the equipment was working properly.

The line will have nine stations, and service will run every 35 minutes during the morning and evening commuting hours. There will be a total of 19 daily runs: six southbound and three northbound in the morning, and six northbound and four southbound in the evening. Most of those “reverse” runs — those going north in the morning and south in the evening — will not run the full 32 miles............

The full trip from Leander to downtown should take just over an hour, Capital Metro says. The agency will have a promotional period of at least one week with free fares. After that, a one-way fare for that distance will be $3, with a $2 fare for shorter trips. A day pass, which will entitle a customer to ride all Capital Metro buses as well, will cost $6, and a monthly pass with the same privileges will cost $70.........

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[K-oneTexas]

You are right on that. Northern States have had it for decades and even LA. It is a part of their lives. It will take a while to catch on here, even with our bus systems in place.

[outpostinmass2]

Actually we have had commuter rail for over a century and a half.

[K-oneTexas]

True, and it hasn’t been used much. Except as a tourist or sight-seeing kinda thing. Even Austin’s Cap Metro is not constantly ‘flush’ with riders.

I like the idea, don’t get me wrong. I’ve loved riding on trains since I was a little kid. It’s just not in a Texan’s genes to give up their freedom for such things. Pretty independent bunch.

In the North it didn’t take much time to catch on. Can remember trolley cars in abundance and many rides even 50 years ago. It is more a way of life there.

The route chosen in Austin also leaves some out of the loop. Maybe someday it will be in reality city-wide and cover the whole city. Then novelty will get people on and if it is any good ... get them to stay.

I wish them well, just not holding my breath.