Now, it’s possible some of the far north or far south ‘stations’ may have a bike rack. But the ones in the center city certainly will not. And they’re no bigger / longer than a bench. Compare/contrast to the Houston example, where a ‘station’ is still minimal compared to heavy rail, but takes up a hundred or more feet, with multiple ticket machines and whatnot – in the median, not competing for space with pedestrians on the sidewalk.

“I see no evidence there will be bike racks.” I also was unable to find any direct mention of this on the web site (which I found odd, since adding them is basically “free” while they’re there doing construction, and since capmetro has been pushing multi-modal with bikes recently). So I emailed capmetro, and they told me that bike racks would be included.
“Thanks for your inquiry. Bike racks will be installed at the MetroRapid stations.
Thanks,
Juan Wah
Community Involvement Coordinator l Business & Community Development | Capital Metro
”

Take that statement for whatever it is worth.

“And the remainder of it was intended to point out that this is nothing at all like a light rail station (not even as good as the small stops that Houston has, really).”
It’s open-air, with an overhang and some benches. That’s basically the same as the red-line stops, and since I know you’re not a fan, it also seems to be the same as the Houston stops (though I haven’t ridden those, wikipedia’s pictures seems to be the same, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Hermann_Hospital/Houston_Zoo_(METRORail_station)

1. Realigning various local routes is NOT NOT NOT even close to a replacement for the #3 – which has a lot of long-distance travel on it now (I know; I used to take it sometimes as a bike boost). It’s just an effort to basically boost ridership on MetroRapid by having more transfers directly on it.

2. The ‘stations’ are ‘bench+sign+canopy+lights+real-time-updates’. I see no evidence there will be bike racks. Many of these ‘stations’ are nearly complete in the core right now on the Lamar/Guadalupe route, and there’s no room for racks. Don’t know where you got that idea. And the remainder of it was intended to point out that this is nothing at all like a light rail station (not even as good as the small stops that Houston has, really).

The stations are a _significant_ upgrade over many of the existing stops on the line (which often consist of a sign stuck in the bare ground, sidewalk coverage on burnet being inconsistent).

“There will be changes to other local routes to ensure adequate coverage and connectivity between local bus and MetroRapid”

http://www.capmetro.org/faq.aspx?id=32

The most recent dates I’ve seen them claim are “early” 2014 and “late summer” 2014. http://www.capmetro.org/metrorapid-building.aspx

To this we now add the 383. To me, this is suggestive of an attempt by CapMetro to retain local service along this route, while not yet taking on the entire expense of retaining a full extra route. We know they want to retain local service here, the 2020 service plan includes both the metrorapid and local service in this corridor.

“Pflugervillians on the southern side of their city can get utility out of the Green Line ”
The very southern-most tip of Flugerville is 9 miles from Manor. _Could_ they drive to Manor, sure. But the distance will limit the numbers, plus they’d be driving pretty far East to head West (my understanding is your claim on the Red Line is that Austinites won’t drive a mile north to head south on it).

“but it’s also straining the limits of credulity to assert that it will be small.”
Why? Every factor is working to ensure that it’s small (relative populations and growth rates, distances, directions).

“and the idea that they’ll all just be annexed seems ridiculous.”
Austin’s history has shown that when development of sufficient size occurs, so does annexation. That eastern area is Austin’s “preferred development corridor”, the city _wants_ to expand and grow there.

As for the Elgin question, Elgin fits the role of Liberty Hill and other areas upstream of Leander. Pflugervillians on the southern side of their city can get utility out of the Green Line similar to how Cedar Parkers do with the Red Line; many people from the southern end of PF come down to 290 and then into town that way. It’s way too early to say whether the free-riding problem will be as bad as it is on the Red Line, where it is very bad indeed, but it’s also straining the limits of credulity to assert that it will be small. Manor is very small compared to the outlying areas around it, and the idea that they’ll all just be annexed seems ridiculous.