On the Move

The only thing to look forward to is the past

Omnibus soaking its wheels in the SA river

With all the zippidy-doo-dah hoopla over the possibility of a return to streetcars, why not go the whole hog and bring back mule drawn omnibuses?  I mean, who else is doing that?  Let’s think outside the box and get out of Portland, Oregon’s shadow once and for all.  Think of the benefits.  No expensive overhead or the need to tear up streets for miles on end and tourists will love it.

Mule drawn streetcars were introduced in San Antonio in 1878 but omnibus service has that beat by seven years.  It cost 5 cents to go from Main Square to Alamo Plaza.  With all the money we’ll save by not installing staggeringly expensive streetcar systems and their unsightly overhead power lines, we could go back and charge the same fare in 2010 that it was in 1871.  I guess there is a flaw in my logic somewhere but, you know, I’ll be d****d if I know what it is.

Streetcar dreams: Now it’s time to talk money

Streetcar from VIA Metropolitan Transit report (looks like it's in Portland).

After starting the fiscal year by shaving $19 million in spending, including 330 jobs, the city is now being asked to kick in $17 million to build a two-mile streetcar line.

That’s just part of the bill to buy streetcars and lay rails along Broadway and South Alamo Street by 2014. The county, VIA Metropolitan Transit and the federal government could also pony up to help pay what would be an estimated $90 million.

City Council heard the pitch this afternoon.

“If there was any sticker shock … council members mostly kept it to themselves,” the Express-News wrote.

The city hasn’t made any commitments, at least not yet.

At $45 million a mile, the price tag is quite a bit cheaper than, say, turning U.S. 281 out by Stone Oak into a superhighway, or, I should say, tollway.

Ah, but already I’m talking apples and oranges. This quaint two-mile rail line wouldn’t be a wide commuter route helping connect San Antonio’s core to its fringes.

Nope, unlike U.S. 281’s role as an artery for sprawl, the rail line, if done well, would be a magnet for compact living, working and playing. The idea is to drive some growth to the inner city, by creating a place where people would gladly leave their cars behind more often. Tourists would love it too.

Nonetheless, critics and proponents will duke it out with such comparisons. And with so many angles on varying public and private costs, some visible and some not so visible, expect a debate that’s about as clear as mud.

Docs and links:

• City Council agenda briefing
• Downtown Circulator Study
• City 2010 budget highlights
• Express-News story

100th anniversary of San Antonio’s first traffic laws

Lewis bzirdsong in a 1910 Franklin on College Street, San Antonio

It is, of course, one of the more minor centennial occasions.  You probably won’t celebrate it but you will, without noticing, except for this little reminder, observe it.  February 7, 2010 is the 100^th anniversary of San Antonio’s first traffic ordinance.  Nine years after the first gasoline powered horseless carriage, eight years after the city gained its first automobile agency, seven after the creation of the San Antonio Automobile Club, and six years after the city mandated that all vehicles be registered and display ID plates or numbers, the city introduced written rules for all road users. more »

My first year as a born again cyclist in San Antonio

Around four o’clock in the afternoon of Thursday December 31^st, zooming alongside the old San Antonio & Aransas Pass railroad tracks on Villamain between Mission San Juan and Mission Espada, in top gear and the wind at my back, I reached my own personal milestone by completing one thousand miles in the first year of owning a bicycle since I left Scotland in 1991.  Today, Jnauary 9^th, also around 4:00 PM, on De Zavala Road at Clark High school I reached by personal goal of 1,040 miles.  That, of course, may seem like an obscure number, so let me explain. more »

Book review: Traffic, by Tom Vanderbilt

I’ve just finished reading “TRAFFIC,” by Tom Vanderbilt, published by Vintage Books in 2009.  It is subtitled, “Why we drive the way we do and what it says about us.”  I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in trying to understand the mundane yet highly complex activity we call driving.

psi – check your tires

Here’s a new year’s resolution you might adopt: Check the air pressure on your vehicle’s tires at the beginning of each month.  I was reminded of this when I checked mine at the beginning of this week.  I began to notice my vehicle, a 2005 Dodge Caravan, was not handling as well as it should.  Some of you may think it is oxymoronic to use handling characteristics in reference to a minivan but the thing just didn’t feel right.  Sure enough, each tire was 4 psi – pounds per square inch – low.  The ‘bus has new tires, maybe two months old, and I checked them in mid November, prior to a trip to Houston.  I was surprised how much the tires went down following the recent cold snap.  So, maybe you should make checking your tires a monthly chore.  Just being one or two psi down can really affect miles per gallon plus, it just feels better.

SA – Austin passenger rail still dead

Like the old Saturday Night sketch about Generalissimo Franco, passenger rail between San Antonio and Austin is still dead.  Oh a mortician applied a new coat of make-up, but the poor old stiff ain’t going nowhere.  After twelve years of failure, a new name and an application for $5 million of tax payer money was enough to create a blip of interest but even that has not lasted long.  Oh well.

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No news = good news for railroads

I’m guessing you haven’t heard much about the railroads recently.  The more they fly under the radar the better they like it because these days, when it comes to railroads, only bad news is good news.  The Union Pacific is probably happy.  Sure beats 2004 and the torrent of bad news way back then.  These days they are regarded as just one step up from the water and sewage systems.  These only make the headlines when something goes wrong.  Certainly there are still far too many accidents at grade level road crossings but few blame the railroad for this anymore.  If drivers are willing to risk absolutely everything to beat the train, just to save a minute or two and not miss the beginning of “Jeopardy” or something equally banal, well, you cannot legislate away stupidity.

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Dude, where’s my bike rebate?

I recently acquired, at surprising expense, a bicycle, a seven speed commuter bike with full mudguards and a wire basket that can hold two single gallons of milk. It is even more “green” inasmuch as it has a dynamo for its lights, with a neat little capacitor to keep them lit when stopped at traffic lights, not a good place to be unilluminated. My main goal, at the time of purchase, was to avoid yet another piece of garage art, well intentioned but ignored after the initial enthusiasm wore off.

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Sometimes “no” really does mean “no”

Click for larger map

A few years ago, then Texas transportation czar Ric Williamson shrugged off a citizen revolt against grand plans to build cross-state toll lanes and rail lines along Interstate 35. At the time, tens of thousands of people were showing up at dozens of public hearings to lash out at the planned Trans Texas Corridor’s I-35 leg.

Williamson, who was the Texas Transportation Commission chairman, said public hearings aren’t a vote but rather an effort to find out WHY people oppose or support a proposal and then to address those concerns.

He said:

The purpose of public hearings is not to take a survey. It is not a matter of not having sympathy for those who will have their land lost. Somebody has got to do something about (Interstate) 35. Not 10 years from now and not 25 years from now but right now.

Well, today the Texas Department of Transportation said the best way to address those concerns is to do nothing, at least for now.

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