 "Photo: John Gilchrist")
When Austin's Alliance for Public Transportation wanted ideas for improving public transit in Central Texas, they went straight to the University.
"There are little things, small differences in point of view we would never consider, that are so important to students," said Glenn Gadbois, a member of Austin's Alliance for Public Transportation, a group formed in 2006 by Austin Mayor Will Wynn and Leander Mayor Will Cowman to address public transportation in Central Texas.
The alliance is composed of state and city government officials, local non-profit organization members and business community leaders.
The Alliance contacted UT earlier in the summer to organize a focus group of UT students to get input on student public transportation needs. On Tuesday, the 15-member student group met with Gadbois in the Texas Union to debate cultural, financial and practical obstacles to proposed initiatives such as light rail, streetcar services and more frequent bus routes.
Gadbois listened to ideas and complaints from the group, which included members of Student Government, University Democrats and the UT Urban Development Society, about Central Texas' public transportation.
Gadbois said the impact of the focus group would be huge.
"We wouldn't have really considered the differences between summer and school-time transportation needs," Gadbois said. "We need to know the importance of issues like bringing streetcar service to West Campus instead of just the San Jacinto-East Campus area."
Gadbois says public transportation's popularity is growing in the face of rising fuel costs.
"Four-dollar [a] gallon gasoline doesn't hurt," Gadbois said. "People say in the high 70 percent range that they want a network including buses and rail. People get it."
The first light rail lines in Central Texas should be constructed by the end of the year, servicing Austin areas including downtown, Lakeline Mall and The Domain. Further rail connecting the Mueller development, UT, downtown and the capitol area will be open to public discussion Thursday at 9 p.m. at city hall.
"[UT] is a big part of the city in terms of culture, economy, and residents," said Keshav Rajagopalan, Student Government president and Plan II senior. "Student government wants to get students more involved in the city of Austin."
Architecture Junior Dhruv Singh, who attended the meeting, said American culture is not public-transportation-friendly.
"No matter the amount of public transport, I think people will always want to drive cars in the U.S.," Singh said.
Other students stressed the need for more dense, vertical development and other changes in urban planning to make public transportation more efficient.
"Austin needs to create hubs, central areas of population and activity, so that building bus and rail routes is quick and easy," said Blake Manson, an urban studies senior.
The alliance will hold similar focus groups in several areas of the Austin community to help plan transport initiatives for the May 2009 elections.
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