$8billion has been allocated to high speed rail development in the USA, thanks to the stimulus plan and my son’s hard-if-yet-be earned money. How much high speed rail does $8billion get you? In today’s world where items are measured in hundreds of millions, it might not seem like a lot, but alas, it’s a giant chunk, just have a peeper’s feast on the imagery below. Yellow = new high speed rails, thin gray equals existing Amtrak rails (Amtrak is also getting it’s own $1.3billion).

That’s a nice chunk of rail, and makes my ears meet my lips as I grin at the thought of taking a high speed train all the way from Pittsburgh to Texas, even if it’s got it’s share of naysayers.

And that’s not the only good news, apparently cities, cyclists and streetwalkers will be benefiting big time from the package as well.

And finally, a great and related-enough video:

Yesterday we took a few buses and while I wouldn’t call myself a Capital Metro-nado, we traveled far and had what I surmised was a pretty typical experience.

First, I should mention that yesterday wasn’t the first time I’ve tried taking a bus. Last week I tried getting a bus 15 miles south of Austin’s downtown, and was unable. While looking for something to do with the family for a Halloween extravaganza, I tried getting directions to the local zoo — 12 miles west of downtown — again, to no avail. So that’s the major, and thus far only real, downside to the transit system here: you can’t get very far.

However, buses abound within the city. We can catch three different buses from the front drive of the RV park in which we’re staying, and probably another 10 buses from within two blocks. The website is very easy to use — unlike Pittsburgh’s — and the bus drivers are very knowledgeable about where they’re going. I’ve often asked Pittsburgh bus drivers questions like “Are you going out as far as 5500 Penn?” and they’ll in turn ask me about what cross street I’m looking for or where I’m trying to get to, not being sure of the addresses of their own routes.

Our first bus was exactly on time, and that’s key: Austin’s in-bus method of letting you know which stop you’re approaching greatly relies on the time. Pittsburgh’s method of displaying the name of the stop you’re approaching on an electronic sign near the front of the bus is incredibly handy and hands down the most effective way of getting people to where they’re going, but it has one major downfall so great as to prevent it from being very useful at all: it’s unreliable. Sometimes the signs haven’t even been installed on a bus (the older white and red buses, for example), aren’t working on the buses they’ve been installed on, or worst of all, are inaccurate, making you think you’re on 5th & Penn when you’re actually somewhere out in Mt. Oliver (well, that may be stretching it a little bit). I found Austin’s system of showing you the time in conjunction with displaying street names to be very reliable.

The driver did tell us, however, that due to Austin’s relentless pursuit of having parades or football games or festivals at every given opportunity, it was a regular occurrence to have to take detours on the bus, sometimes significantly altering the route. This can obviously be a problem because of the nature of bus riders: they’re trying to get to a specific place that this particular bus goes to. Change where the bus is going and potentially you change the desire for someone to ride the bus. All I can say in defense of this predicament is that due to face that the reason the bus is being detoured is because the city is busy celebrating again is basically just tribute to the general nature of Austin: if you’re not going to a party on a Saturday, shouldn’t you be? Or where is it that you have to be that’s so important you can’t take a little detour around a parade?

So all in all, the city of Austin’s buses are precisely adequate for what city buses should be: they don’t take you clear out to Timbuktu, but if you’re trying to get around in the city itself, they’re top notch. Aside from making it easy to find a bus to get where you’re going, their website is filled with pages outlining their plans for light rail expansion as well as complete street actions they’ve already undertaken and are planning for in future: trails alongside their light rails. And best of all, their fares are ridiculously cheap.

$0.75 buys you a single ride.
$1.50 buys you an entire day pass.
$18 buys you a whole month of riding the bus.

For the purposes of making this comparison more official, and to simultaneously show off my table coding skills, let’s make ourselves a little chart:

* Port Authority of Allegheny County offers an Annual Pass for $825, if you can afford to buy an annual pass vs. paying for a monthly pass 12 times / year.

To be completely fair, yes, Pittsburgh is an older city and Austin is basically completely flat. The former means our infrastructure would have been more likely to grow around horse and buggy and the latter made it hard for Pittsburgh’s streets to be all perfectly aligned. That’s the last time I’ll say that, because it’s dangerously close to becoming a cop out: sure, there are challenges Pittsburgh faces when converting its streets to bicycle-friendly ones, but every city has challenges. Now, on with the show.

The Heartbreak

As I’d mention, you can compare a city like Austin to Pittsburgh and feel sorry, angry, emotionally upheaved that Pittsburgh is so far behind when it comes to cycling culture. Austin has a river cutting through it, and the city has built trails on each side of the river for miles in either direction. Bike/pedestrian dedicated bridges cross the river, and the trails are not only well maintained, they have loads of benches, small parks, and aesthetic appeal built right into them. They’re packed with loverly couple’s strolling under the setting sun, runners sweating to the 2000s, and commuting cyclists. For the most part, everyone works together really well on the trails, like a highway at rush hour without all of the waiting, honking and screaming obscenities.

On top of these paths, which admittedly only provide access to riverfront property and a few other trails that lead through the city itself, there are dedicated bike routes, some of which have bike lanes, some of which are just recommended, and very well marked, routes that can help cyclists find their way around the city — even if they don’t know their way around the city.

And the culture is very pro-bicycle as well: though percentage-wise Austin has less bicycle commuters than Pittsburgh does, cyclists seem to be given more respect here. All of the aforementioned routes and trails aside, cars are more aware that bikes belong on the street as well, and there are bicycle shops everywhere. No seriously, everywhere. In the neighborhood we’re staying in there are three bike shops within 3 blocks of us.

Okay, so where’s the inspiration?

Pittsburgh has come a long way in the past year or two, and though we still only have three bike lanes (correct me if I’m wrong), that means we have 200% more bike lanes than we did two years ago.

We also have many of the features that make Austin’s riding so nice: trees everywhere and riverfront property, loads of it. The rivers have already been given trails, and they’re not bad trails at all, but the fact that they’re “riverfront” might be lost on people: the rivers in Pittsburgh are notoriously neglected. The city should have put — or at least should be putting — into place massive efforts to clean up the rivers and get people playing on them. Believe me, even if taking one of the riverfront trails to work downtown means I’m riding an extra mile everyday, it is completely worth it if you’ve got the beautiful scenery of a tree lined river flanking you. Compare that to trying to bullet down 5th Avenue between the smoke and clutter of traffic and tell me which one will put you at your desk with a smile on your face?

Pittsburgh is making strides, and they may seem small but in reality, with the help of Bike Pittsburgh, they’re moving strikingly fast.

Here’s to hoping that Pittsburgh continues along this course and one day we can be the city to which others compare their hometowns. In the meanwhile though, if you’re ever in Austin, I’d highly recommend bringing a bike.