I love to walk. And bike. I dislike cars, but I still drive. I live in Austin, which is in Texas, one of the most car-centric places on Earth. But I’ve made some choices that will enable me to use a car less frequently, including living in a smaller home so that I can live close to downtown, with access to public transportation, neighborhood shops, restaurants, and parks.
Obviously Austin has a ways to go before becoming more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. It’s interesting to hear what new residents of our town have to say about their choices - especially someone like Alexandre, the Compulsive Pedestrian. But I’m here to say that some things have gotten better since the ’80s and early ’90s.
There’s a history behind how downtown Austin’s streetcars came to their demise, part of which is covered in Robert Bryce’s piece and also related to the GM/Firestone effort to buy up and shut down streetcars across the country (documented partially in the film Taken for a Ride). This, combined with suburban development, made a once-vibrant Congress Avenue shrivel up and nearly die. In the late 70s, I remember going to a department store (Scarbrough’s) and a drug store (Woolworth’s) with my grandmother, who owned a shop on Congress. But by the mid- to late-80s those things were gone.
So here is my list of some pedestrian and cycling improvements in recent years:
1. A stronger community of cyclists and pedestrians: I recently attended a City Council candidate forum hosted by the Austin Cycling Association (which has a great list of Bike Month activities coming up in May), the League of Bicycling Voters, and the Yellow Bike Project; the conference room at the LCRA was filled to capacity. And, compared to Washington, DC, cycling advocates, Austin seems to have a much more diverse group, at least in age and income.
2. The Lance Armstrong effect: because of Lance’s success in racing and championing cancer survivorship, people in Austin as well as around Texas and across the country have more awareness of cyclists. I’m happy to hear that Lance Armstrong is now throwing at least some of his weight behind making commuting by bike more accessible in Austin.
3. More mixed-use development in downtown and other neighborhoods: of course, in many cases these mixed use projects such as the Domain are merely isolated islands not much better than outdoor malls that most people will reach with a car. But at least people have an option, which there was not much of in the recent past. There is the possibility of connecting these islands, although it may take a tectonic shift. Gas prices may help with that!
4. Capital Metro improvements: under the leadership of the recently retired Lee Walker, Cap Metro is about to expand into light rail. Overall bus service has improved, although it’s had a hard time keeping up with suburban sprawl and doesn’t reach some of the employment centers very well, such as Dell in Round Rock and some of the tech companies on Loop 360 and Research Blvd.
Of course there is a long list of things that need to be improved, first of which is education. What do you think, people of Austin? What can we do to improve the situation for pedestrians and cyclists? How often do you walk or bike instead of getting in your car? What would make you more willing to do so?
