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Park and Ride Lots Never enough parking....

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[quote user="gardendance"][quote user="Samantha"] [/quote]Please explain what is it about the set up that makes it so difficult to run less than the lenght? Don't they have adequate cross overs and signals? [quote user="Samantha"][/quote]And why is singing a different tune a bad thing? [/quote]The DART track and signal system could accommodate less than end point to end point trains.  Unfortunately, DART does not have the equipment to do it.  All of the equipment, except the cars that out of service for maintenance, are needed to support current operations.  If they ran short trip trains, the end point to end point trains would be jammed even more for the same reason that they are jammed now.  People from outside the service area are driving to one of the end points and hopping on the trains.  I am told that the rush hour trains are chockers before they leave the end point stations.    DART is expanding its light rail carrying capacity, primarily by increasing the length of the train configuration.  Each train will have three sections, one of which will be low floor, as compared to the two section configuration today.  But the reconfiguration of the fleet will not be complete to 2010. Like many transit planners, DART is faced with a dilemma.  If it orders additional equipment to handle the increase in passengers, it may find itself with under used cars if the price of gasoline drops and the newbie's go back to driving.  Today the price of gasoline in Texas dropped below $3.50 a gallon.  People who crash the party are usually resented by those who went through the birthing pains of putting it together.  They did not pay their dues.  The same thing applies in Georgetown and Round Rock, which are just north of Austin.  Because of changing conditions, they want to joint Capital Metro, although they said no when they had the chance.DART and Capitol Metro are considering ways to let the newbie's join the party.  But they are going to have to pay.  One idea being floated in the DART area is to require the late comers to pay to DART what they would have paid if they had joined on day one.  It would be a lot of money, and I suspect the local tax payers would squawk loudly.  Capital Metro's view is a bit different.  It laid out a plan whereby Georgetown and Round Rock, as well as several other cities, could opt into the system, but they would have to pay the out-of-pocket cost of extending the express bus system to their communities.  This would require a sizeable payment to Capitol Metro, a hefty fare for Georgetown and Round Rock passengers, or a combination thereof.  Ironically, DART or Capitol Metro will not make the decision.  These decisions are made by the Texas Legislature.People in the DART service cities have been paying an extra one per cent in sales tax for more than 15 years, and only now are some of them getting light rail service.  Understandably they resent the late comers who have paid nothing for the system and want what amounts to a reduced fare ride to town.
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