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The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

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Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#21

Post by leetharris »

matthewfcarlson wrote: post #5

As someone who recently moved to the Texas triangle, I’m baffled by the lack of good transportation options between the three cities. It’s a 3-4 hour drive and while there is a train, freight gets priority. So the train takes anywhere from 3-7 hours. You can fly but with security any sort of delay and it would faster to drive.

Check out Vonlane. They are deluxe buses that cover the Texas triangle. We use them for work to move our guys between Houston / Austin regularly and people seem to love it. It's pretty cheap, comfortable, and has wifi.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#22

Post by saghm »

tantalor wrote: post #13
flerchin wrote: post #3

Megaregions as a concept seems to make sense. Even as a resident of the aforementioned triangle, I'm not sure that we have much evidence for Texas exceptionalism here.

The article tries & fails to convey this megaregion is "distinctive". Main pieces of evidence it offers are, 1. Distinctive set of demographic and economic realities This is not a very compelling argument. Different places have different people. We should not be surprised by this observation. 2. Integrated economic system within a single state Same article also cites other one-state megaregions like Florida, Southern…

> Same article also cites other one-state megaregions like Florida, Southern California, Nortern California

Yeah, this also seems pretty unsurprising. California, Texas, and Florida are the three largest states by population, and Texas and California are second and third by area respectively. Florida does seem like a bit of an outlier here due to being much smaller, but because of Florida's shape, the majority of the state doesn't border any other, so this seems more like a geographic property of the megaregion rather than a political one.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#24

Post by AnimalMuppet »

bombcar wrote: post #9
laweijfmvo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

other than maybe parts of the Northeast Corridor, do any of the othe "megaregions" solve that problem?

The San Diego - LA basin is moderately well covered, but the train is still slower than driving - most of the time. Unless you have exceptionally fast and direct rail, the train is almost always slower than driving, even in Europe, when counted door to door.

The train has an unpleasant tendency to be not running at all, for weeks at a time, due to earth movement/erosion just south of San Clemente.

Other than that problem, though, I can't imagine a more fun rail business trip than along the beaches of the Pacific.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#26

Post by chasd00 »

matthewfcarlson wrote: post #5

As someone who recently moved to the Texas triangle, I’m baffled by the lack of good transportation options between the three cities. It’s a 3-4 hour drive and while there is a train, freight gets priority. So the train takes anywhere from 3-7 hours. You can fly but with security any sort of delay and it would faster to drive.

That triangle is why Southwest Airlines exists. I think the original brainstorming napkin drawing of the triangle routes is on display at Dallas Lovefield airport.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#28

Post by calstad »

saghm wrote: post #14
RajT88 wrote: post #2

I never thought about it before - but seeing that chart of "Megaregions", almost none of my work travel within the US from the last 15 years has been outside of those regions.

I feel like I'm missing some nuance, because it looks like it's basically just taking the largest population cities in the US and drawing circles around the ones near each other. "Most economic activity happens where the most people live" doesn't seem like a particularly novel insight.

https://xkcd.com/1138/

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#29

Post by nickpp »

basil-rash wrote: post #12
albrewer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A plan to connect Houston to Dallas with a bullet train has been grinding its way along for years now[0]. Since Texas is loath to use eminent domain, the planning phase has been stalled for a loooong time. [0]: https://www.texascentral.com/project/ Edit: Whoops, wrong project. Still, the plans are there, we just need willing politicians.

Rephrased, Texans think the rights of private land owners matter more than the latest politician’s talking points. The people downvoting this have clearly never had government agents steal anything from them. Or believe that when they do, it’s always “for the greater good”.

It's interesting that the government can't convince owners to sell. I mean - we're talking about politicians. They manage to negotiate everything and compromise even in the middle of wars. See prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine right now. Or Israel and Hamas. Worst enemies and they can still find a compromise.

It can't be just about money - governments successfully negotiate with unions that hold the whole country over a barrel with strikes of essential services.

But eminent domain to build vital infrastructure? No - forced confiscation is the only solution. Strange.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#30

Post by ryandrake »

keiferski wrote: post #19
saghm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like I'm missing some nuance, because it looks like it's basically just taking the largest population cities in the US and drawing circles around the ones near each other. "Most economic activity happens where the most people live" doesn't seem like a particularly novel insight.

Yeah I question the usefulness of the concept if stretched too thin. It has Chicago and Pittsburgh in the same megaregion and yet I don’t think those two places interact much at all. I can buy SoCal, the Bay Area, and Boston-DC as megaregions though.

I have a minor nitpick with the shapes. There is a lot of wide-open nothingness under these "mega" region shapes. Washington DC to Boston should be more of a long rectangle, as the rest of upstate PA and NY are basically empty woods. Most of the region south of Orlando are mangroves and swamp. The NorCal one should be a line from SF to San Jose. Although Sacramento is growing, it's quite distinct from the bay area, and there is a lot of nothingness between the two. And these are just the places I've lived and are familiar with. Wouldn't surprise me if the rest of that map is similar.
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