niran

let people live where they want

[niran @niranATX]

@mdahmus I've never thought "the Mueller HEB is too big," nor do I think that's a common sentiment. you're right that its design makes it less walkable. maybe I'm being panglossian, but I wouldn't trade it for the stores I see in NYC. in any case, one is going in across from the tower!

[niran @niranATX]

@YIMBYLAND Vouchers are probably the right place to start, but a city-run rideshare app is a great way to ensure that the eventual monopoly or duopoly can't extract without limit. But it'll never be done well due to incompetence and ideology, so I'll take whatever the market comes up with.

[niran @niranATX]

@mdahmus this is probably peak walking for me, can't see it continuing past day care era.

[niran @niranATX]

@mdahmus my revealed preference is that I'll use parking lots before I walk before I park in a garage. we switched to the day care on Aldrich Street at the beginning of the year, so now I walk twice a day, plus occasional meals, parks, coffees, and small grocery runs.

[niran @niranATX]

@JackCraver I'd expect it to work the way existing private transportation operators do, like airlines and bus lines. During busy times, the vehicles will run more often and have ~zero empty seats. Every Austinite who can afford to drive to work will be able to afford to share a robotaxi.

[niran @niranATX]

@mdahmus The right wingers are wrong only because they imagine having the car to themselves. Robotaxis shared with strangers save tons of space: 1.1 passengers vs two. But that assumes we're willing to stripe some HOV lanes or price congestion to make it work.

[niran @niranATX]

@austinmetric Fair point on signals: cars only have two second headways with grade separation. Boarding and alighting are just harder to model. Transit doesn't come out ahead there: driving is faster even if you have to pick up someone else on your way. Full transcript: https://t.co/eH1djxNUOF

[niran @niranATX]

@austinmetric Here's a visual that makes it pretty clear. Feel free to tweak the assumptions. If we can fill lanes (surface or grade separated) with any vehicles while excluding single passenger vehicles, all transit vehicles other than subway trains are obsolete. https://t.co/WOVGIthOdY

[niran @niranATX]

@austinmetric No platooning. No enforcement, just ban offenders. Literally two-passenger Cybercabs can move more people than light rail if you fill a lane with them. Are there enough willing passengers to fill every seat? Can we fill a lane with them? If yes and yes, the job is done. Citywide.

[niran @niranATX]

@austinmetric An ambitious transit agency or Lina Khan fan who hates monopolies could blaze a pretty decent trail with this! But all those people seem to have landed on the wrong side of the partisan divide from the people who want to make awesome stuff.

[niran @niranATX]

@austinmetric We don't need higher capacity vehicles. We need fewer empty seats in small vehicles. Half of the problem is making sharing significantly cheaper and nearly as pleasant as riding alone. The other is reserving space for shared vehicles. Big vehicles don't seem very useful anymore.

[niran @niranATX]

Austin voted for a rail line in 2020 that's now supposed to open in 2033, no longer goes to the airport, and hasn't begun construction. Nashville's Music City Loop was announced in 2025, is under construction, and seems to have expanding plans rather than shrinking ones.

[The Boring Company @boringcompany]

TBC is excited to announce the first residential Music City Loop station agreement, serving those living at the beautiful Prime, Alcove, and Paramount towers in downtown Nashville.

Residents will take an elevator directly to a Loop station within the building, board a Tesla, and be at the airport in ~9 minutes or Lower Broadway in ~2 minutes.

[niran @niranATX]

@mdahmus I don't like job sprawl. I do like more jobs in the Domain area though. It's making Austin better, especially since parts of downtown are tougher than they should be. But downtown will be fine too.

[niran @niranATX]

@mdahmus Yes, any downtown employer that doesn't provide parking is going to see significant transit use. People have cars, but sometimes don't have anywhere to park them. Pickle is going to have parking garages. The vast majority of employees and patients are going to be better off.

[niran @niranATX]

@mdahmus Like 95%+ of Austinites, local buses do not matter to me, especially if there's plenty of parking. People care about being stuck in traffic and spending time in a nice built environment. Sharing a car or express bus to split the toll is more realistic than riding a local bus.

[niran @niranATX]

@juliogatx My pet theory is that Austin's density bonuses and property taxes are doing the heavy lifting. Not by providing subsidized units (which is great), but by reducing the expected returns to holding on to land, which makes more landowners sell to developers.

[niran @niranATX]

@humantransit Buses are less space efficient than shared cars. They're also slower. They also slow down traffic around them. These tradeoffs all used to be worth it to save on labor costs, but those costs are going away. No one is going to regret running fewer buses.

[niran @niranATX]

@asymmetricinfo @humantransit The vehicle doesn't need to be large: the biggest win for congestion is moving from one passenger to two, and both Uber and Lyft have already done this well. We just need HOV lanes or congestion pricing so there's a meaningful benefit for sharing.