San Antonio Green Line

[elnina]

Well, there are plans...
Construction on the Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) plan‘s North-South line, which will run from San Antonio International Airport to the Brooks Transit Center, is expected to begin in January 2025 and be complete by March 2027.
The 12-mile line will run from the area around the San Antonio International Airport, along San Pedro Avenue, through downtown and south to Steves Avenue near Mission Concepcion.
A proposed second corridor would connect the East and West sides.

https://sanantonioreport.org/san-ant...sit-greenline/

https://keepsamoving.com/via-rapid-pressroom/

https://www.viainfo.net/2023/05/09/nepa_may2023

Anyone knows any updates to that plan??

[RadiantBaby]

This city needs to stop giving VIA money.

A bus system is OLD, no matter what color you name it.

[WVNomad]

Originally Posted by RadiantBaby

This city needs to stop giving VIA money.

A bus system is OLD, no matter what color you name it.

On the surface, this seems like a generally sensible way to go about building/implementing a mass transit system. Utilizing dedicated lanes on surface streets has to be a more cost effective way to move people from point A to B than building a subway for example. And while it might still be a “bus”, if implemented as planned, it should be faster than sitting in a traditional bus stuck in traffic with thousands of other vehicles. With the advent of working from home and the general demise of people commuting to a central “downtown” for work daily, finding a cost-effective means of public transportation is important.

[Azure110]

Mayor Ron Nirenberg, former Mayor Henry Cisneros and other proponents of the project celebrated the string of local and federal commitments that have aligned, starting with one-eighth-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2020 and ending with an agreement last week between the city and county for how the money will be spent.

Why is Cisneros still getting to have input on what this city needs or doesn't need and how to fund it? I don't remember this being up for vote in 2020 either.

The North-South line is expected to cost $388 million, up from the $320 million estimated in 2021, due to rising construction costs, according to VIA.

What a great use of funds. (Not). If there is to be any improvement or progress on transportation, it needs to move away from the long buses and those little short buses as well.

[WVNomad]

Originally Posted by Azure110

Why is Cisneros still getting to have input on what this city needs or doesn't need and how to fund it? I don't remember this being up for vote in 2020 either.



What a great use of funds. (Not). If there is to be any improvement or progress on transportation, it needs to move away from the long buses and those little short buses as well.

I can’t speak to the first issue, other than thinking he is a person who has influence and is able to advance policy ideas related to the city.

Regarding the second, what do you have in mind as being a better alternative?

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by WVNomad

I can’t speak to the first issue, other than thinking he is a person who has influence and is able to advance policy ideas related to the city.

Oh I am sure. Alamo Dome, Linda Jones, slew of indictments after his term as Mayor....later to be pardoned by Clinton. The list goes on..... Not exactly someone I would care to go to for advice on how to run this city.

Originally Posted by WVNomad

Regarding the second, what do you have in mind as being a better alternative?

I don't have a better short term alternative but just adding more busses doesn't seem like a good solution.

[malcorub16]

If I am in town for say a weekend convention and I don't plan to leave the downtown area, what do I want to rent a car for or pay a $20 taxi / uber fare each way.

According to Google, the current way to get from downtown to San Antonio International Airport via the Via is the #7 Express bus which runs up 281 and gets you there in 20 minutes. This will cost you $2.60.

The alternative is the San Pedro route bus #5 bus which runs up McCullough and gets you there in 46 minutes. This will cost $1.30.

If the bus is marketed as "The Green Line" similar to light rail in other cities and it has it's own dedicated lane, it might be less intimidating for travelers to board as it differentiates itself from any ole city bus. Ridership should increase.

It's actually a good idea, but this is something that should have been done 15-25 years ago with SA looking to move to light rail by now.

[WVNomad]

Originally Posted by Azure110

Oh I am sure. Alamo Dome, Linda Jones, slew of indictments after his term as Mayor....later to be pardoned by Clinton. The list goes on..... Not exactly someone I would care to go to for advice on how to run this city.



I don't have a better short term alternative but just adding more busses doesn't seem like a good solution.

I have no opinion or comment on the quality of his advice in general....I was merely trying to address your question about why he, as an unelected official, might be able to influence this effort. Some of us (certainly not me) seem to run in circles that allow one a bigger voice.

I don't think that it is fair or accurate to characterize this as "just adding more buses". The bigger, and more important part of the plan, is the addition of dedicated bus lanes that will presumably allow the bus traffic to proceed without being impacted by the congestion of all of the other traffic on the road. Will it work? Is VIA the right organization to run/manage the effort? Both are certainly fair questions, but I don't think that those specific (but very important issues) detract from the basic concept, especially in light of having nothing but the stays quo to compare it to.

[WVNomad]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

If I am in town for say a weekend convention and I don't plan to leave the downtown area, what do I want to rent a car for or pay a $20 taxi / uber fare each way.

According to Google, the current way to get from downtown to San Antonio International Airport via the Via is the #7 Express bus which runs up 281 and gets you there in 20 minutes. This will cost you $2.60.

The alternative is the San Pedro route bus #5 bus which runs up McCullough and gets you there in 46 minutes. This will cost $1.30.

If the bus is marketed as "The Green Line" similar to light rail in other cities and it has it's own dedicated lane, it might be less intimidating for travelers to board as it differentiates itself from any ole city bus. Ridership should increase.

It's actually a good idea, but this is something that should have been done 15-25 years ago with SA looking to move to light rail by now.

I love your idea of light rail, but I think the idea of light rail (and by that I assume you mean something similar to Washington D.C.'s metro) is not realistic. It is expensive, it is expensive, and it is expensive. (Sort of like Real Estate---Location, Location, Location. Ha!) Beyond that, local governments have to secure easements....and these things always end up in Court and take forever to resolve. And this is San Antonio....a very fine city, but it is not Washington D.C., Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc. It doesn't strike me as having the population (or more particularly the population density) or a major, centralized (downtown) business hub to justify light rail.

[hschulz3]

Originally Posted by WVNomad

I love your idea of light rail, but I think the idea of light rail (and by that I assume you mean something similar to Washington D.C.'s metro) is not realistic. It is expensive, it is expensive, and it is expensive. (Sort of like Real Estate---Location, Location, Location. Ha!) Beyond that, local governments have to secure easements....and these things always end up in Court and take forever to resolve. And this is San Antonio....a very fine city, but it is not Washington D.C., Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc. It doesn't strike me as having the population (or more particularly the population density) or a major, centralized (downtown) business hub to justify light rail.

This. It is difficult to justify the expenditure, especially post-Covid where more people work remotely (and more often do so). It is better to look for the demand that needs to be supplied, than providing a supply and trying to post-hoc generate demand...