parking opinions

Austinites respond to new paid parking on South Congress

People paying for parking on South Congress Avenue in Austin

Both vendors and visitors are adjusting to the new parking situation.

Photo courtesy of KVUE

One of Austin's most popular and iconic streets is looking very different these days.

Aside from the changing store fronts, South Congress Avenue has been implementing paid parking for a few months.

New signs indicating the change can be seen up and down the street and along some side streets too.

For decades, South Congress was known for free, all back-in parking, allowing shoppers to stroll for endless hours. Now visitors have to use the Park ATX App or have a code sent to their cellphones.

The city of Austin said this new change was added in an effort to create more parking turnover and to allow more people to use the spots.

KVUE's Hannah Rucker visited South Congress and chatted with some visitors who feel the new parking conditions are a hassle and the app isn't very user-friendly.

"There's just so many decisions you have to make before you can finally walk away from your car," one shopper, Ashley Woods, said. "It's just unfortunate that now I feel like I'm paying even more out of pocket, and it feels like a money-grab to come down here"
Some of the local vendors aren't fond of the new design either.

Adam Schnitzer runs a small business called Stitches Vintage, which is part of a pop-up market across from Home Slice Pizza. He said it's hard for vendors who drive work vans that need to be parked for several hours to load merchandise to the market.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

share the road

Texas races to the bottom in new list of best states for cyclists

Photo by Justin Wallace on Unsplash

If you've ridden your bicycle in Austin, you already know how true this is.

In what will come as no surprise to cyclists around Austin, the state of Texas is not a good place for bicycle riding. According to a new report of the "Most Cycling-Friendly States in the U.S.," Texas comes in at No. 47 — meaning that only three other states are worse.

The report, from Philadelphia personal injury law firm KaplunMarx, examines all 50 states based on six metrics: Air quality index, the number of cyclist deaths per one million residents, bike routes per square mile, local government actions supporting cycling, federal funding for cycling projects, and bicycle laws.

Texas musters a mere 31 points out of 100 for its "cycling friendly score."

The most cycling-friendly state in the U.S.: Minnesota, which earned 84 points to claim the title.

According to the report's findings, there have been 15 local government actions per capita in Texas that integrate pedestrians and cyclists in transportation projects. Texas' has a 41 air quality index value, and there are approximately 1.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles in the state.

On cyclist deaths, Texas does a little better, with three cyclist deaths per one million residents in Texas — about nine percent lower than the national average.

According to KaplunMarx founding partner Ted Kaplun, there is an average of 857 cyclist fatalities in the U.S. every year. He adds that every measure or community effort to improve cyclist-friendliness is beneficial for all Americans.

"It's crucial for all states to continually assess and enhance their cycling provisions, learning from both high-ranking peers and their own experiences," he says.

Top-ranking Minnesota has only one cyclist death per one million state residents. It also has about 27.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles.

After Minnesota, the remaining top five best states for cyclists are Massachusetts (No. 2), Rhode Island (No. 3), Washington (No. 4), and Iowa (No. 5).

At the bottom of the list are Nevada (No. 48), Arizona (No. 49), and Utah (No. 50) — all of which performed far worse than Texas to be declared the three least cycling-friendly states.

The entire country still has areas for improvement when it comes to creating a safer environment for cyclists, regardless of where each state landed on the list, according to Kaplun.

"With over 53 million Americans riding bicycles regularly, the importance of cycling-friendly infrastructure and safety measures cannot be overstated," said Kaplun in the report. "This isn't just about rankings – it's about enhancing the quality of life, promoting sustainable transportation, and most crucially, saving lives."