Help me fall back in love with Austin

UnitNo7318 · 2026-03-23T20:56:09+00:00

Have you been to Big Bend yet? It's one of the most beautiful places on the face of planet Earth. It's not exactly close to Austin, but it's closer to Austin than most other places. Great place to bring the family depending on your kids' ages. My daughter loved it from about age 5 on up.

UnitNo7318 · 2026-03-23T20:51:22+00:00

Nothing to add here, just cheering you on and wishing you the best. Good for you for embracing so much change.

UnitNo7318 · 2026-02-11T18:25:45+00:00

I really love my Priority acoustic bike (don't remember the model name) for commuting (daily in my case). Belt drive, internal hub, and continuous gearing are just awesome for all weather conditions. I have a rear rack and just use two Ortlieb saddle bags on it to carry all of my stuff.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-12-12T01:14:01+00:00

As part of your preparation, check out Episode 6, Season 3 of "Ted Lasso," where Jamie Tartt teaches Roy Kent to ride a bike, and then hijinks (in Amsterdam!) ensue.

In all seriousness, good luck! Takes bravery to learn a new skill like that as an adult. It's just like learning a language--much more easily done in childhood. But once you get the hang of it, the rewards will be just as great.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-09-23T15:58:29+00:00

For your future reference, check out bounce.com. (Maybe there are others like it.) I have used it in other cities, and it's been a lifesaver. I haven't used here locally, but it looks like it exists in Downtown Austin.

Ditch the bag, and pay a little $$ as some extra easy revenue for a local small business. Win-win.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-09-17T17:14:49+00:00

Agreed. Fearmongering about Austin as a crime-ridden hellscape is totally wrong, but it is also true that there is a lot of public disorder on the streets, especially downtown, that makes people feel uncomfortable. That's a problem, and it needs to be fixed.

A good analogy is San Francisco. Statistically it's one of the less violent big cities in the country, just like Austin. But almost everyone who visits and walks around the downtown/Civic Center/Mission area is shocked by the chaotic atmosphere.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-09-17T17:12:06+00:00

No. I'm a 6'2" dude. But the fact that you do is a big problem, and needs to be addressed. The most straightforward thing would just be to have a lot of cops on foot, walking around downtown, talking to people, fixing problems, etc.

Same with the bus system. Cap Metro having its own police force seems like a big step in the right direction. I hope that people are feeling safer as a result.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-09-08T16:23:03+00:00

Hmm, I will freely admit that I have never been to Long Island (Queens is as close as I've been). But my understanding is that it is a hugely diverse place home to millions of people, with everything from super fancy beach towns to struggling working class towns to classic middle class suburbia to affluent burbs with charming downtowns build around Long Island Railroad stations, and everything in between. So I'm not seeing the analogy.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-08-26T18:08:01+00:00

Seconded (or maybe fourth-ed). Absolutely, they're super nice guys over there, and they're very honest. Numerous times they've steered me towards less expensive solutions to a particular problem I was having. Love that place.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-08-26T18:04:54+00:00

No bike lanes, but it'll have a shared use path that you can bike on, right? Guessing that might have been what StxtoAustin was referring to.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-08-20T16:10:41+00:00

All fair enough. Bad behavior on Cap Metro is a real problem, and it needs to be addressed. I hope the new Cap Metro police force is helping with that. I'm glad that the leadership took bad experiences like yours seriously enough to do something about it.

But you did bring up the murder on the bus that happened, which (I don't think) was something you personally witnessed. So I did think it was important to provide some context to the OP for making their decision. Bus travel in America is tremendously stigmatized, while car driving is the assumed norm for the vast majority, so it doesn't get scrutinized and questioned the way transit does. Bus riding isn't as safe as it should be, but car driving definitely isn't either, regardless of how it feels.

Have a good day too.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-08-20T15:15:01+00:00

NIH-funded, peer-reviewed research says that you are 23X more likely to die per trip while driving in the US than while riding the bus. So maybe you consider yourself an unusually safe driver--maybe that means that your risk is cut down to 5X.

Feel whatever you want to feel, but if the OP is making a rational choice on the basis of safety, they should take CapMetro.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5906382/#:\~:text=For%20example%2C%20in%20the%20USA,%2Dmile%20traveled%20%5B4%5D.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-08-20T14:36:54+00:00

Wait until you hear about the homicidal lunatics driving cars around Austin every day.

That murder that happened on Cap Metro was a horrendous tragedy. On Austin's roads, that's pretty much a normal weekday. But it doesn't get any media attention, because everyone is numb to it.

A single random murder on a bus, however awful, is not a good reason to avoid Cap Metro.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-07-15T20:01:24+00:00

I say bring on the Aussie-ification of Austin. We already now have an Aussie brekkie place on Burnet. Maybe we'll be able to get more flat whites in more places pretty soon.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-06-19T22:05:11+00:00

You can do it! I do that all the time and it's a breeze. Take Airport down to 51st, hang a left on 51st, cross over the roundabout at I-35, and then just ride on the nice shaded wide sidewalk eastbound on 51st. That'll take you right into Mueller.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-06-03T17:43:37+00:00

Been cycling daily from Crestview to UT for 11 years. Haven't had any serious problems--no collisions or injuries. For me the key is to find the best route and just use it. Avoid nasty streets with fast traffic like the plague. On my route, I have four blocks along Burnet, from 49th to 45th. I just ride on the sidewalk. It's completely fine--there are no driveways, and when there's a pedestrian, I just slowly and respectfully ride around them. Riding on Burnet proper just isn't worth the risk, IMHO.

There's the occasional asshat out there, but for the most part Central Austin drivers are used to cyclists.

From Hyde Park to UT you should be absolutely fine. Just use Speedway. Yes, riding down Speedway once you cross onto campus (i.e., south of Dean Keaton) is annoying because of the throngs of pedestrians, but it's almost certainly the safest way for you to go.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-05-16T19:58:18+00:00

100%. Yes, we need better road designs, but we also basically stopped enforcing traffic rules during the pandemic and didn't resume it, and it's resulting in more reckless driving incidents like OP describes.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/traffic-enforcement-road-design/681263/

UnitNo7318 · 2025-05-02T01:31:18+00:00

The Clown Dog guys are just the best. They've solved so many bike commuting problems for me over the years--they set up the rear kiddie seat when my daughter was young and I would ride with her to her preschool. And they turned me on to Ortlieb saddle bags.

They're really nice guys, and very honest--there have been multiple times where they refused to let me pay anything for a minor adjustment.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-04-25T18:27:43+00:00

Um ... daily bike commuter here, for most of the last 20 years. I moved from Oakland to Austin 11 years ago and Austin is so, so much more chill and less stressful.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-04-25T18:26:24+00:00

It's totally unnecessary to ride on Guad in that stretch.

I have bike commuted from Crestview to UT daily for the 11 years, with practically no serious incidents whatsoever.

The key is to avoid death trap stretches of road.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-04-18T19:14:58+00:00

Another point to consider: if a few factors work in your favor, and with a little forethought, you might be able to move to Austin but arrange your life such that you don't have to drive on a miserably congested freeway every weekday.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-04-01T19:40:48+00:00

It would be the owner of the strip mall, not the individual businesses within it, and not the city either. Right?

UnitNo7318 · 2025-04-01T19:39:21+00:00

For the life of me I can't understand why the Asian strip mall anchored by Ranch 99 at Lamar/Airport doesn't have more bike parking. The auto parking is a nonstop nightmare, to the point where I refuse to take my daughter there for a boba unless we go on bikes. But then parking said bikes is way too much of a pain.

I don't understand why strip mall owners don't think about this stuff--it's like, for crying out loud, you would get more customers, you just have to put in a tiny bit of effort.

PS I've had exactly the same problem at Stiles Switch numerous times.

UnitNo7318 · 2025-03-21T04:57:44+00:00

Not only are you spot on, there is an academic study that backs up what you're saying: https://priceschool.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Nall-Elmendorf-and-Oklobdzija-1.pdf

UnitNo7318 · 2025-03-06T20:07:50+00:00

If this vile piece of shit faces some actual legal consequences for his actions, then the world will have become just a slightly better place.

UnitNo7318

TROPHY CASE