http://www.onthemoveblog.com Tales and thoughts about getting around and other stuff worth mentioning Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:04:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_2165" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Promo image from Capital Metro"][/caption] After a 70-year hiatus, much debate and then a yearlong delay, Austin will soon join American cities that have added passenger rail back into the commuting mix. On March 22, Capital Metro will start running diesel trains on a 32-mile route with nine stops from Leander to ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/03/austin-back-in-the-passenger-rail-game/ [caption id="attachment_2156" align="alignright" width="299" caption="T Fords of Texas at the Bigfoot museum"][/caption] Last Saturday, March 6, I had the great pleasure of taking part in a "T Fords of Texas" club cruise around Medina County.  Led by Castroville residents Tom Campbell and Wayne McBryde, a group of nine Ts traversed the area’s handsome ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/03/on-the-road-to-bigfoot-texas/ [caption id="attachment_2147" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Omnibus soaking its wheels in the SA river"][/caption] 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 ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/03/the-only-thing-to-look-forward-to-is-the-past/ [caption id="attachment_2118" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Streetcar from VIA Metropolitan Transit report (looks like it's in Portland)."][/caption] 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 ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/03/streetcar-dreams-now-its-time-to-talk-money/ [caption id="attachment_2101" align="alignright" width="174" caption="Pay-and-display station in San Francisco"][/caption] The San Antonio City Council this Thursday will consider whether to approve a plan to replace most downtown parking meters with so-called "pay-and-display" systems.  (UPDATE: Council approved the plan during its 3/4/10 meeting.)  These systems, which originated in Europe and have become popular ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/03/pay-and-display-could-be-coming-downtown/ Well over a month ago now, I critiqued Kay Bailey Hutchison's transportation policy plank of her gubernatorial platform.  I had intended to review the other candidate's proposals soon thereafter, but alas, got sidetracked.  With the primary elections tomorrow, I thought it might be time to finally get to it.  :-) The ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/03/governors-transpo-planks/ A couple of days ago, I mentioned an "exciting" new addition that I was working on for my website.  Well, "exciting" might have been a bit of an overstatement, but it's an addition I've wanted to make for a while now.  That addition is videos of all the area freeways.  ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/02/video-added-to-texashighwayman-com/ [caption id="attachment_408" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Diagram of a typical super street intersection (KY DOT)"][/caption] Just yesterday, I mentioned that plans for a Loop 1604 super-street would be announced soon, and indeed the project was announced today at a Bexar County Commissioners Court meeting where the court approved kicking-in $900,000 of Advanced Transportation District funds to help ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/02/loop-1604-super-street-approved/ [caption id="attachment_2024" align="alignright" width="287" caption="The oft-maligned 1604/Braun intersection"][/caption] Well, once again, it's been a while since I've posted anything here.  I've been working on what I think will be an exciting new addition to my website (stay tuned for more on that soon.)  However, as I was watching the Sunday morning political talk ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/02/whoever-put-traffic-lights-on-loop-1604-needs-to-be-punched/ Beginning Saturday February 20 at 9:30 AM, I will be be giving a series of four talks on local transportation history at the main public library downtown.   Technology willing, they will be accompanied with PowerPoint slide shows.  Admission is free.  I will have copies of my two local transportation history ... http://www.onthemoveblog.com/2010/02/san-antonio-transportation-history-talks/