Is San Antonio cooler than Austin?
 

San Antonio B-cycle

Our fair neighbor to the South (no, not Buda), has implemented a bike share program.  San Antonio is beating us to the punch when it comes to innovative programs that encourage residents to find ways to get around, without having to drive and park a car.  For a mere $25, San Antonioans can enjoy unlimited use of the “B Cycle” bikes at several locations in central San Antonio.  There is a video demonstration and map at this link:  http://sanantonio.bcycle.com/. Very cool San Antonio!

Lone Star Rail District

Tuesday November 10, 2009 – By CityReader

The Lone Star Rail District has changed its name from Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District to the simpler Lone Star Rail District. As the agency behind the LSTAR, a proposed passenger train between Georgetown and San Antonio, it has been authorized by the Legislature since the late ’90s but has yet to make any real headway.

The Statesman’s Ben Wear says,

“the train service is still mostly a line on a map. As agency board chairman Sid Covington says, the main obstacles to creating a commuter line between Austin and San Antonio are now and always have been Union Pacific freights and money.

It’s a matter of too much of the first and not enough of the latter.”

Read more…

[via the Austin Post]

TxDOT

Thursday, September 3, 2009, 10:59am CDT  |  Modified: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 11:02am

Report: Austin traffic pales compared with that in Dallas, Houston

Austin Business Journal

Is it possible that Austin‘s traffic isn’t quite as bad as it seems?

A new list of the top 100 most congested roadways in the state from the Texas Department of Transportation puts I-35 through downtown Austin at 26th on the list, way behind interstates and highways through Dallas and Houston and even San Antonio.

MoPac between US Highway 290 and US Highway 183 ranks 44th on the list and US183 from Mopac to I-35 ranks 49th.

The rankings were compiled using hours of delay per mile and the annual cost of delays per mile. According to the report, I-35 from Ben White to U.S. 183 costs drivers $3.1 million per mile per year.

Read more…

via Austin Business Journal