Nirenberg and Wolff: Rail Won’t Be Part of New Mass Transit Proposal

“Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said Tuesday that no rail transportation options would be considered in efforts to formulate a new mass transit plan for San Antonio.

“It’s absolutely not a light rail plan,” Nirenberg said following an appearance with Wolff at a Tricentennial Commemorative Week event. “We’re beyond light rail. The world is beyond light rail.”

Nirenberg recently announced the formation of ConnectSA, a nonprofit intended to become the driving force behind a modern multimodal transportation system plan that could be presented to voters. Neither Nirenberg nor Wolff had previously provided details of what the plan would include, including cost estimates.

Nirenberg and Wolff indicated Tuesday that the mass transit system likely to be pursued in the coming months would resemble something closer to trackless trains that are equipped with rubber tires and use dedicated traffic lanes. Trackless technologies could be developed on the city’s existing roads, be scalable to ridership demands, be more cost effective and adjustable than installing rail, and also present an opportunity for the city to be an early user of advanced technology, Nirenberg said.”

ANY dedicated lanes whether they’re tolled, bus only, bike only, autonomous vehicles only, any restricted lane is anti-liberty, period. This is a slippery slope that allows the government to pick the winners and losers of who gets mobility and who doesn’t based on their arbitrary whims. The fact we still have no concrete information about the Mayor’s supposed multi-modal plan tells me he knows there’s going to be BIG opposition to it so they’re farming it out to a committee of his choosing in a public private partnerships non-profit to HIDE data and facts from the public in order to wrap up his plan in a propaganda campaign to snow over voters when it’s nearly too late.

Remember what happened in Houston.

1. Metro asked voters to raise taxes for rail. They voted it down.

2. Metro asked voters to raise taxes for buses. They approved it.

3. Metro said, “Whaddya know, we have enough money for rail after all. Would you approve of us building rail without raising taxes?” Voters approved it.

To read more from the Rivard Report, click here.

VIA New Trustees... 42818 (1) E-N, Mayor 'This is not a rail plan,' 5218 (1)