How can they write an article about a triangle, list four relevant locations in it, while also not including a &^%€*#@ map that shows the thing they are talking about? Gaaah.
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)
#72Caveat emptor. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/02/university-texas-aus... https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/09/texas-legislature-ab... Said it for years, thinking you're safe because you live in a comparatively liberal community or subculture within a state dominated by right wing zealots is foolish in the extreme. They "came" for "immigrants," trans kids, gay marriage, women's rights, etc., and they're going…
Half of the people of Texas would say "Bless your heart, stay where you're happy" and the other half would say "Come on! We need more like you"
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#73Question for the HNers in the "Texas Triangle": does it "feel" like a megaregion? I've spent very little time in Texas (only a handful of trips), but my impression was that there's a very stark drop from moderate density urban cores, to sprawling suburbs, to virtually uninhabited interstitials around highways. In other words: it wouldn't occur to me (as a non-Texan) to even think of Austin and Dallas as belonging to the same "megaregion."
This is in contrast with e.g. the "Northeast Corridor," where dense towns (sometimes denser than Texas's urban cores) line the roads and rail links between the major cities.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#74Seems like a pretty vacuous article if “megaregions” are so poorly defined. Anyone who has ever driven between Spokane and Portland or Seattle knows it could hardly be considered “mega”.
Some of these megaregions really are "kind of one thing" like Southern California, others are pretty separated. Spokane is close to Seattle and Portland so there's traffic there, but I don't know they really operate as one "region".
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#75As 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.
Will second (third?) Vonlane. After using them, I don't understand why anyone would prefer a flight between Austin and Houston compared to Vonlane. The time is about the same when you factor in the hassle of airport security, and Vonlane goes downtown-to-downtown. The bus is super comfortable with big seats (comparable to domestic first class on an airline) and the service when I've gone has been fantastic. I can also get a ton of work done on the trip if so desired. Once I went and there was an accident on the route that made the trip from Austin to Houston about 45 mins longer, but I didn't care at all as the bus was so nice to work in.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
The OP said “unless you have exceptionally fast rail” and was talking door to door. When you add in getting to the station, waiting on a train to arrive, and getting from the station to your destination, the average speed of the train does need to be a good deal faster.
For me “exceptionally fast” is maglev. 200 km/h train is normal at this point.
300km/h trains are normal without maglev as well. The record for maglev is faster than regular rail, but the record for regular rail is much faster than any in service maglev. For rail the limit is aerodynamic drag which has nothing to do with the wheels. So that maglev can go faster in ideal situations doesn't matter as in the real world you will run the trains much slower. Around 300km/h seems to be the best compromise of going really fast while still not paying too much for aerodynamic drag. You can run trains faster (and a few do), but the energy costs get out of control.
If 300 km/h isn't good enough, then get on an airplane. The altitude means much lower aerodynamic drag and the distances you are traveling often need airplanes anyway. Trains are good to around 1000km of travel distance. If your trip is longer fly.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I disagree with the slower than driving. I could take the train from the Valley to downtown SD in less time to drive. The train is a fairly consistent amount of time where driving totally depends on day/time. Leaving the Valley on a Friday afternoon has taken more than 4 hours. On the train, it is very close to 2 hours. As more fine grained details, from my place in Burbank to my friend's place in Carlsbad was 99 mil…
That is context dependent. In Texas traffic outside of the cities isn't that bad and so slow speed trains are much slower than driving. Inside the city of course traffic is a factor, but even then I'd expect in the normal case you get beyond traffic in a short time and then driving is much faster. And of course driving is door to door so you don't have to figure out time to/from the stations, waiting on trains and renting a car (this is Texas - not known for transit though these cities are getting better)
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#78Question for the HNers in the "Texas Triangle": does it "feel" like a megaregion? I've spent very little time in Texas (only a handful of trips), but my impression was that there's a very stark drop from moderate density urban cores, to sprawling suburbs, to virtually uninhabited interstitials around highways. In other words: it wouldn't occur to me (as a non-Texan) to even think of Austin and Dallas as belonging to…
Your intuition is correct.
My place is inside the 610 in Houston. More precisely Third Ward/Museum District.
I think even most Texans wouldn't put Austin and Dallas in the same region. Dallas is radically different from Houston as well.
That said, if you look at what they are calling mega-regions, I think there are many departures from what people in those areas would think. For instance, most people in North Carolina would think of the Triangle as its own thing and Atlanta as another, separate thing. Here, they are saying that Atlanta and the Triangle are the same. Maybe because of people connections? Not sure? But that would strike people in the Southeast as strangely as looping Austin-Dallas-Houston into the same thing strikes Texans.
ETA:
Actually, now that I've looked more closely at the map, I'm not sure it lines up at all with what most people would think? I notice in the Midwest region, Columbus and Dayton are on the map in spite of Chicago's rail links to St Louis, Urbana-Champaign, and perhaps the most baffling omission on the map, Minneapolis? They got some serious economic firepower up there in that metro, and more commercial links between them and Chicago than anyone else in the region. Maybe because Minneapolis is thought to be its own thing? Whereas they don't believe Dayton or Columbus are their own thing?
It'd be interesting to read how these regions were determined? On the surface, yes, many of them seem a bit, off?
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I disagree with the slower than driving. I could take the train from the Valley to downtown SD in less time to drive. The train is a fairly consistent amount of time where driving totally depends on day/time. Leaving the Valley on a Friday afternoon has taken more than 4 hours. On the train, it is very close to 2 hours. As more fine grained details, from my place in Burbank to my friend's place in Carlsbad was 99 mil…
If you're "train stop to train stop" LA to SD is great.
I used to use it all the time, it was only faster than driving on Friday afternoons, and even then half the time it would be quite a close cut.
Much, much more comfortable and fun! But not exactly faster, especially when I counted getting dropped off in time to catch the train and getting picked up on the other end.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#80Question for the HNers in the "Texas Triangle": does it "feel" like a megaregion? I've spent very little time in Texas (only a handful of trips), but my impression was that there's a very stark drop from moderate density urban cores, to sprawling suburbs, to virtually uninhabited interstitials around highways. In other words: it wouldn't occur to me (as a non-Texan) to even think of Austin and Dallas as belonging to…
I'm no longer there, but I grew up there, and I would say yes to an extent. Yes in that there's a large amount of movement within the area (e.g., grow up in Dallas, go to school at A&M, settle in San Antonio) and that you may have to go to one of the other cities now and then for something specialized (e.g., from Austin to Houston for a consulate or a highly specialized medical visit). There's also somewhat of a rivalry, I guess. But, still, there's not a "feeling" of connectedness, but is there between, say, Baltimore and Philadelphia?
I can't really compare it to the Northeast Corridor, though. I lived in NYC, but not long enough to really have a connection much beyond the city.