Austin’s now-packed MetroRail is mixed blessing

Need the loyal following

Marci Gilbert, Mar 22, 11.

Austin’s MetroRail is finishing its first year open for business with occasionally packed train cars, according to a story in the Austin American Statesman.

Lower fares, more convenient run times and higher gas prices have combined to coax more people to rail. Average daily ridership has more than doubled since December, and some morning and evening commuting runs are standing room only.

“People say, ‘Well, it’s a good problem to have,’ ...” Capital Metro board member John Langmore said of MetroRail’s newfound popularity. “No, it really isn’t.”

Agency leaders worry that the packed trains will turn off would-be rail commuters for good just when the agency is trying to establish a loyal following. And loyalty is key as rail advocates look to build legitimacy for what is still an unfamiliar and awkward transportation mode for most Texans.

Even with ridership’s rapid increase, no more than 800 people use the line to get to and from work. Central Texas has about 760,000 workers.

The line, which opened a year ago this Tuesday (about two years after its initial target date), ends its first year with a sturdy record for reliability and safety. This is no mean feat, given the project’s troubled gestation and the resultant community suspicion that similar troubles would ensue once paying customers walked on board.

Instead, the trains have run on time 98 percent of the time, the agency says, a claim born out anecdotally by passengers and firsthand reporting. MetroRail had to cancel train runs four times during the year because of an overnight freight train derailment, a suspicious package by the tracks in East Austin (the sack contained a hunk of nail-studded meat, not explosives), the Feb. 2 snow day and bridge damage caused by a flash flood.

And the 32-mile Leander to downtown Austin line ends the first year close to or above its own projections of what ridership would be within a year: 1,700 to 2,000 boardings a day. Even the agency’s sturdiest defenders would have hesitated to predict such a thing as recently as Christmas.

Source: Austin American Statesman