Blog Stage VII: Original Editorial or Commentary #2

Austin has easily become one of the fastest growing cities in the country.  Austin locals and surrounding rural areas get to experience the repercussions of this fact every day--with heavily congested roads at almost all hours and stagnant traffic on highways.  In most cities across the country, commuters would have the option to ditch their car for a reliable form of public transportation.  Unfortunately, Austin is a city of incompetent public transportation planning.  It is evident that there needs to be a more efficient way to get around the city of Austin.  To alleviate the ridiculous amount of road congestion there needs to be an extensive expansion of the Metro Rail system.  It seems almost obvious that the MetroRail should be a main-focus for city planners--when looking at any city with a dense population such as Austin, there is a highly utilized and efficient public transportation to accompany it.  MetroRail was first proposed in the 90's and officially launched in 2010, but has since seemed to have lost it's momentum and has stagnated as a small "commuter" line.  Originally, MetroRail had plans to convert to a light rail transit system, a form of transportation used by all major Western and Southwestern cities and many cities with similar size and demographics to Austin.  Imagine, a light rail system in the Guadalupe-Lamar corridor--to be on that route at 5 PM on a Tuesday and not be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  There was planning of a light rail system on Guadalupe-Lamar, but has since remained quiet with no signs of actual pursuit. Action needs to be taken to make these plans reality.  Not only for the citizens of Austin that don't dare go to the grocery store or to the bank nearing rush-hour, but also for citizens that don't want to be reliant on a motor vehicle.  No Austin citizen should have such limited opportunities because they don't have a motor vehicle and their city's public transportation is unreliable.  There needs to be a strong demand for the installation of an urban light rail system, for the sanity of the citizens and to make our lives a lot easier in our highly populated conditions.