If you live in Austin, chances are you have not taken a ride on the city's wildly ineffective light rail system. The stations along its 32-mile track are poorly spaced and serve a fairly small niche community. If you live in Leander and work in Austin (or vice-versa) and want to skip rush hour traffic, it is great for you. For anyone outside that group, it is quaint, unnecessary scenery (or an extra 30 second stop at a railroad crossing) and its abysmal ridership reflects that.
The MetroRail Red Line was originally designed with the intention of relieving congestion from IH-35 and demonstrating the importance of a light rail system to Austin residents. As it crosses IH-35 at one point, does not run parallel to it, and pays for approximately eight percent of its cost through fares, it would be unfair to blame Mark Lisheron at The Texas Watchdog for his skepticism of it.
The city of Austin is well-meaning in its light rail venture, but it may be too early (or too late) in the city's history to take this step out of its carbon footprint. Austin's rapid growth and dedication to environmental awareness calls for substantial and costly infrastructure changes that may not be suited to such a sprawling city. In the meantime, if it plans on this extensive and expensive rail expansion, it owes the local populace some thoughts for their pennies. A concrete or feasible funding plan has yet to be proffered, save wishful thinking about private investment. In any case, I wonder how Mr. Lisheron feels about those 2.1 million dollar glowsticks hanging at the intersection of Sixth Street and IH-35. Money well spent, Austin.
