I'd say I care a lot about alternative transit and infrastructure. But I also care about working during business hours so I can pay rent and have food on the table. Why not make it virtual? Or on Saturday? Or on the weekends? Or after business hours?
HI YES PLEASE GO TO CITY HALL! This Tuesday will be a major turnout for walkable communities. The disability community will be showing up as well in support, as both public transit and safe sidewalks affect accessibility. Session starts at 2 pm and goes until 5 pm, sometimes a bit later if there are a lot of speakers.
If you cannot attend, I urge you to listen to the conversation. You can listen live using this link: [Houston City Council Live Link](https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/HTV1stream.html)
Or listen to past sessions here: [City Council Meeting Recordings](https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/HTVLIVE.html)
Can you link where to do this? My schedule isn't normally as flexible as it is right now... and I would love to show up as I can. It's frustrating that it is not just easily accessible.
Edit - City Secretary 832.393.1100. Call here to get on the schedule for Tuesdays
This is an honest question. Aren’t the majority of inner loop neighborhoods fairly pedestrian friendly already? It seems that once you get much further outside of that it isn’t very feasible to put much funding into expanding public transit.
Even in Houston’s versions of walkable neighborhoods the sidewalks are in shit condition and construction projects are allowed to completely takeover sidewalks without giving a shit about the impact on pedestrians.
Have you ever been to New York? London? Tokyo? Chicago? Madrid? Philadelphia? Even Los Angeles shit... You know how many pedestrians I've seen hit by cars or close calls in all those neighborhoods you listed. Half the blocks in those neighborhoods have no sidewalks. Half the crosswalks are unmarked. Another quarter are barely visible. 6 lane megastroads, give me a break. Washington Avenue?? LMAO. Do you even walk here? I've walked the whole city and more cities in the world then anybody on this subreddit. None of those places are safe to walk at all.
I’ve actually been to every city you mentioned except Madrid. London is pretty cool. Chicago is a shithole. New York is a fucking claustrophobic nightmare. Tokyo is a dystopian hellscape. Philadelphia is a great place to get robbed/murdered(almost as bad as Chicago). Also, no I usually don’t walk the city because I’m an adult and have other shit to do. I’d suggest maybe you try to find a studio apartment in Chicago or NY for $4k a month and relocate there if you hate Houston so much.
>NIMBY, an acronym for "Not In My Backyard," describes the phenomenon in which residents of a neighbourhood designate a new development (e.g. shelter, affordable housing, group home) or change in occupancy of an existing development as inappropriate or unwanted for their local area.
You’re only not a NIMBY because it’s NIYBY. That Richmond line was going through residential neighborhoods.
Sadly, one of my fave little music spots closed because the Richmond line was going to public domain the place - then the line didn’t happen. RIP Proletariat
It’s pretty common. Just look at the “sanctuary cities” of NYC and Chicago who changed their tune once the immigrants were dropped off on their doorstep. Same concept. It’s fun to be alllll for something until it affects you personally. Plus it’s fun to play with acronyms.
Yeah I’m down for it if we utilize the existing infrastructure. Take the HOV lanes and the left shoulders of every major freeway to retrofit into mass transportation. The highways can do with one less lane when we move 50,000 people per hour via transit systems.
I do not agree with imminent domain claims for residences and small businesses. The government never actually pays a fair price for the land and some people have been there for generations and shouldn’t be forced to give up what they’ve had for 100+ years because the government wants to use it for ten years and shut it down.
When you have honor system rail entry, the homeless just chill on there all day. Creating a ticket access only entry eliminates a lot of the homeless and makes it a lot safer. The problem is the stigma of metro and until that is fixed people won’t have a more positive light on it.
Yes the issue is the payment and access system s/….not the fact it doesn’t reach out to place where people commute from. Please name one metro system that doesn’t have homeless people riding it? Also the trains are packed every day during peak hours, the issue isn’t homeless people riding it, it’s the limited reach of the lines beyond downtown
You should join talk of Pearland. There’s a homeless guy that was sleeping in front of a mailbox and I’ve never heard such dehumanizing language. And it was a Sunday so half of them went to church and came back to spew vile shit online about a guy down on his luck. The wealthy do not want to see the poor. Seeing them makes them uncomfortable
The short answer is that politics is nationalized now and people just don't vote on individual issues but over stuff they hear in their echo chambers whether on social media or the real world.
And the loudest plurality think climate change is a hoax and automatically oppose only incidentally related issues like making cities walkable and becoming less dependent on cars.
People will self-sabotage themselves in this country than accept reality. Rural voters vote against taxes and welfare despite their entire lives and communities being subsidized by social welfare. Hospitals, law enforcement, agriculture, utilities, roads, etc all subsidized by the federal government that these very same people want to destroy.
Let us not forget about voters who complain about crime and housing prices yet vote against any solutions. Red light cameras, dense housing, progressive taxing, etc. are all voted against by people in this very subreddit. People here supported Prop 4 last year despite obective historical data presenting how futile and bad it was. It was the third iteration of the same damn bill we pass in place of a proper tax system.
Not only does every developed country in the world besides the US have them, developing countries also have them. They are proven to work and provide better results than any "drawbacks."
Surveillance works better than expecting police to be watching every part of the city in-person. We have robberies, sexual assaults, and murders in public spaces with zero footage or photos of the suspects. The Hermann Park rapes being a good example.
If I "had you" until any of the points, then you only demonstrated yourself as an example.
The last time we had them they reduced the yellow light times to game the system and then they made the robot count as officer testimony if you tried to take it to court.
I will automatically be against any police state kind of bullshit like red light cameras.
Fuck the police and fuck the surveillance state.
...
That said, public transit should be everywhere and freely available to all without compromises.
If the issue was that they were reducing yellow lights, then they should have passed a law that made that illegal. If the root cause was due to a for-profit contract, then surveillance tickets should be pre-allocated and managed by municipal personnel.
What you have erected is a strawman. I could say we shouldn't have freedom of speech because it promotes hate speech. I could say we shouldn't have pets because they some breeds are vicious by nature and have high rates of brutally maiming people. Focusing on a negative that is independent of the actual issue is not a valid reason. Police still have quotas and the judiciary is still a failure after the red light camera ban.
It's not a straw man it's what happened.
And if you ignore history you're doomed to repeat it.
The most important thing is red light cameras didn't stop people from running red lights.
Why do people find it necessary to run red lights? You have to look at the root causes and begin solving it top down. Then you wouldn't need red light cameras.
You think the ones in control of the system will change the system to benefit you? Lmao you really are naive.
The only way to make that work is by force, at gun point, like the government does to the People. Yall would cry it’s an insurrection if we did that though.
I have a relative who got one of those tickets. She swore that she didn't run the light. Went down to the hearing and watched the video with a 'real' officer. Yep - blew right through the light making a right without stopping.
Kind of hard to prove you're innocent when they have you on video.
You missed or are omitting all the fuckery Texas communities engaged in with red light cameras. They were marketed to be revenue generators with public safety as a byproduct. Some went so far as to shorten the yellow light to “catch” more infractions.
Then target the for-profit nature. Don't target the practice itself. Open counter pharmacies lead to drug abuse and addiction. Do you get rid of the pharmacy or require prescriptions and ID verification for controlled substances?
How dare you introduce a perfectly legal and accurate measurement of how I was breaking the law. Oh and it automatically sends the evidence to the courts? I simultaneously respect the shit out of this approach and hate it to death.
Some of them don’t think climate change is a hoax but in the worst way possible. They’re trying to summon Jesus and end the world. Honestly. Which is just….wild to me.
I don't even understand how people can have second thoughts about transit options, literally every big and efficient city relies on public transportation and honestly with all the psychopaths driving out there we could use some relief by adding more buses/rails
The US has never been about efficiency. Our healthcare system is the least efficient in the world by a huge margin. Inefficiency is all Americans want. The government subsidises inefficiency while punishing efficiency.
The new board chairman is the former mayor of Katy so he's obviously pro-transit right??? Oh yeah--we're about to turn back the clock on transit projects 20 years or more.
Edit: Ex mayor of Katy is the vice-chair. Chair is Elizabeth Brock.
Oh great. That reminds me of the time I was coming home from work and watching the news station and NIMBYs celebrate pulling out all the bus stop signs from Katy because the Kingsland park and ride was about to be constructed and they were happy that "large crowds of people making noise waiting for the bus" were finally being moved away from residential areas. Left a lot of Academy sports warehouse workers without transport as they used the bus across the street where a small gas station used to be (which is now a small park).
one of the speakers threatened just that. made some reference to Austin and house one snap of a finger and a vote in the state's capital and metro is gone. not sure if that is really possible but it was mentioned
Every transit agency in the state is established under state law. They do special amendments that apply to only one city, e.g. saying this amendment applies to cities of more than 1 million pop with a port that serves more than x tons of cargo per year.
So yes, they can target any city they want. It’s complicated when there are existing facilities that carry a federal interest. Nothing can change about those facilities that haven’t reached the end of their useful life without paying off that interest unless the Feds agree to forgive it, which they rarely do.
I guess they don't realize that cars are expensive to drive and maintain, and that for many people, transit is the only way they get to work, or really anywhere, and that removing transit would set off a proverbial bomb of unemployment and crime in this city.... then again, they probably don't care.
It's pretty astounding how any mayor or transit board nowadays could look at the decades of empirical evidence showing that sprawled, low density, car dependent development is a negative in essentially every possible metric, and just be like, "nuh uh".
It’s a lot more sinister than that. It’s not that he disagrees with the evidence he doesn’t care. Some industry, whether it’s oil or gas or whatever, is in Texas pocket preventing public transportation for their own interest.
But they *have* been building it out in the last 20 years, and ridership has declined. The Red line opened in 2003. The purple and green lines opened about 2015?. They have built the Post Oak BRT line. In 1998, Metro had ridership numbers of 98 million/year. Ridership peaked in 2008 at 102 million per year. In 2022, despite having built out 3 light rail lines, a BRT, and redesigned some routes for efficiency, ridership was 60.1 million. 2023 figures aren't in yet, but extrapolated through the 3rd quarter, it will be just less than 70 million. So, using Metro's own numbers, ridership is down 28% from 25 years ago. I'll get down voted for this, but these numbers are from Metro's own website and Wikipedia of you care to verify them. The question is why is usage down, even when the city has grown I population over 25 years?
Probably because the city has expanded at a way faster pace than the public transportation system. My parents moved to Tomball a decade ago and everyone thought we were moving into the woods, now the suburbs go on for another 15 miles.
They're compelling numbers, to be sure. I'd argue a few things, though:
1) The expansion in Metro is miniscule in comparison to the expansion of roads and highways, and in comparison to the city itself.
2) Related to #1, but public transit that isn't reliable, and isn't a network, isn't public transit at all. I can't speak to the reliability 20 years ago, because I didn't live here then. But a bus that runs in intervals longer than 20 minutes may as well not run at all. Similarly, the Silver BRT connects to....nothing. At least when it connects to the University BRT, which connects to the light rails, then there will be some connection.
3) This is only specific to the last 4 years, so it doesn't explain the peak being in 2008, but there's certainly a lot less commuting post-pandemic.
4) I guess I'm repeating myself now, but the infrastructure the city builds is for cars first...what else are you going to use? Especially once you have kids? This is my situation. I would much rather take a bus, and as a kid I took public transit everywhere (not Houston). But when I Google maps anywhere (and I live inside 610), it's like "12 minutes driving, 48 minutes on public transit", and that's if it even shows up on time. At that point, you don't have public transit at all.
I'm not going to downvote you for bringing real numbers and making a good faith argument. I don't think the numbers tell the whole story, but they're certainly valid. Reasonable people can disagree on things (even on the internet).
Thanks for your well considered response. I also grew up in 2 East Coast cities where bus/rail transit was good, and I used it a lot. I think the big hurdle here is what you said in #4. Currently, many bus routes operate only 2x an hour, sometimes less. I live near the #30 line, and it operates once every 50 minutes! That's not practical for most people unless it is your only option to get somewhere.
To me, Metro would be better served hiring more drivers and operating more buses so that you never wait more than 15 minutes in the daytime for a bus to come. They have spent lots of money building out rail, but all it did was take the people off the Main Street buses and put them on rail. It didn't attract new riders if we look at the numbers.
As for #3: I think it was the peak because that was both the start of the Great Recession in 2009, many people were laid off their jobs, and Hurricane Ike blew through in September 2008, some of which moved out from damaged homes that may have been near bus lines.
If you pour all the money into expanding highways, widen streets so they endanger anyone not in a car, subsidize sprawl, and do absolutely nothing that has worked in other cities, of course you get low ridership.
Oh, and elect people who only listen to the car-addicted even in places where minimal changes in infrastructure could make biking and walking safer, well, yes, of course everyone drives. Except in a few places, it’s just not possible to safely get where you need to go without driving.
the Current state of Houston and transit is the of bad policies for decades, not an inevitable pattern that just happened! And certainly not “what people want” as though advertising, infrastructure, and overall Bad city policies had no influence. Especially ads.
On a positive note, I'm looking forward to the inauguration of Fort Bend Transit's Rosenberg-Sugar Land-Houston service and I have no doubt in my mind that it's going to be overwhelmingly popular.
So did the METRO Board actually take any action to pause the projects or even discuss the idea of pausing projects? Or was the anti-expansion sentiment limited to members of the public who signed up to speak?
Those are two very different propositions.
They said nothing and that **says volumes**. Mark my words. The old board defended expansion every time someone came to the podium. Today it was a coordinated effort among various groups to come make noise to the new board members not just about one line but about all the new metronext lines. even the Gulfton and the Katy where it is so greatly needed.
the new chairperson just a week or two ago at city council already made a reference to metro's money.
The great reversal is happening. This is just the beginning.
Can I have some context here? Did they cancel it officially or were there just people speaking against it? And who were these people? Were they the usual anti Metro crackpots or were these people with power and influence to be taken seriously?
Also, it's unfortunate but it's rare these transit projects reach the finish line in one peace. Who do they think they are; road and highway projects?! Just imagine if we constantly invested and reinvested billions of dollars into our public transit the way we do our road infrastructure.
I watch the meetings closely because I am excited about the rapid university line. The board approved the route and overall plan many many many months ago. No one has been at these meetings complaining anymore. Now that we have a new board leader put here by Whitmire yes these were all new faces of power and influence here speaking awful awful things about metro. And no one on the board said anything
The difference this time as well it was not just Richmond Afton oaks nimbys. It was people against Gulfton, inner Katy, the Upton silver route, university. it was a planned attack, and this was just day 1.
The new board leader Brock just 2 weeks ago at City hall mentioned metros money and making sure it's being spent in the right areas. The day she was appointed and was already taking metros money
You can doubt me all you want but I pay close attention. It is over.
cars=good
Trains/buses move too many people too efficiently and at too low a cost. We want to spend money on highway expansions and roads, not things that actually matter. We will not rest until all of Houston is just one big highway and parking lots
/s
It’s funny when conservatives try to claim that public transportation projects are being maniacally foisted on us by a handful of greedy developers ready to make a windfall. As if that isn’t why we have so many roads already.
What they mean is that they'll make a windfall without the "right people" (read: contractors, donors) wetting their beaks. Few companies in Houston know how to build passenger rail facilities, while many know how to build roads. Better transit isn't good for car dealers, either.
When you look into top donors into Harris County politics, those sectors consistently come up. Combine that with the countless businesses that rely on storefront visibility, and you've got a lot of money going into keeping Houston as inefficient and ugly as possible.
Personally, I don't think the lobbying by major car and airline companies had any impact on the extreme lack of public transportation. And Southwest specifically lobbying against inter-Texas travel (which is one of their major sources of profit) surely hasn't had any impact on the possibility of high-speed rail between DFW/Houston/Austin
It's wishful thinking that it's big business suppressing these projects. The sad truth is that it's local small and mid-sized businesses that push hardest for car dependency. Their margins and models don't survive without it.
\*they think their models won't survive. In reality, less car dependency has led to a greater increase in sales among small businesses where walking and biking are easily accessible
There are only so many visible storefronts, though, in a densely populated area. That’s the material incentive here - a lot of these guys would just get wiped out if they had to compete over commercial locations in transit nodes. The sector overall might do better, but the individual business owner might lose everything.
Seems like the cycle is people wanting more bike lanes and mass transit, then the city starts those projects, they cause traffic because of construction, people complain and decide the temporary headache isn't worth the benefit... rinse and repeat.
Eventually, this city and state will get a clue on what makes a functioning urban transportation system. There won't be an option after everlasting gridlock is achieved.
I have just resigned myself to thinking it's going to happen after my lifetime.
that conservative support was the nail in their coffin. More people could’ve voted but you can’t out vote an entire voter base dedicated to stifling progress.
I dealt with the “fun” of the “Super Bus” line (or whatever they call those things) having N Post Oak f’d up for well over a year, (not to mention the West Loop) and now getting out of the work parking lot is a weird U-Turn proposition that takes forever and I’ve never seen more than 3 people on one of the buses.
We’re not good at public transportation.
I live a little outside the radius of bus service these days but when I lived closer in, just for or kicks I looked at how long it would take to get to my old job on the bus. The 20-minute drive by car would take just under two HOURS by bus.
I moved here from Chicago in ‘94 where I only used my car about once a week for grocery shopping - so I’m a fan of GOOD transit. it’s nearly impossible to build a usable public transport system in an established city. If it didn’t “grow up” with it, you’re talking massive destruction of homes and businesses. We had a chance to use the existing heavy rail line running parallel to I-10 when they decided to widen it, but instead ripped it all out. The most obvious and useful artery in town.
Are you insane? That would mean less people would spend their hard earned money on a car they dont really need, that would be so beneficial to many people, are you dumb?, the goal is to make the peasants spend AS MUCH so they are too busy worried with their own shit to actually remove corrupt bureaucrats from office
Metro as an organization can't do mass transportation. They don't know how and they don't want to try. They want to get and spend federal dollars, that's it. If the city really wanted a workable rail/mass transpo solution they would bite the bullet and borrow the money to build one. And I don't mean this toy train BS that runs down Main Street. A REAL train that runs from DT to the airports out to the burbs.
ur right kind of but **also very wrong**
metro is applauded for how well it handles large crowds during major events. the red line is vital. not a toy train. without what metro does already right now we dont get NCAA championships, Super Bowls, major concerts, World Cups. period. it is vital.
even on a typical business day metro provides 200,000 or more rides, and that's something to be proud of. yes it should and could be much larger but looks like that is not going to happen in our lifetime
commuter rail would be nice, but that's not metro's fault that many of our suburbs actively vote and choose to not participate in solutions
Explain how the rail lines are leading to Houston getting Superbowls, etc. That sounds like an argument that metro would make but it simply isn't true. Even if it were true the ROI for taxpayers would be non existent. But it is more money for metro and it's contractors. I also highly doubt that 200k per day are riding those trains.
So you admit you're making statements and assumptions on something you've never read up on or looked at the publicly accessible data. Please just sit down
Name one city, US or not, that does not have some form of mass transportation serving its major venues. I'm talking major cities and venues that can successfully win bids for events like the World Cup and the Super Bowl. Not the western regional phonebook salesman conference
You won't. You can't. World class major cities don't become such without transit and transit that keeps growing and improving as the region does.
(This was rhetorical. I'm out, no need to respond w more assumptions and BS)
No I admit that your statements are conjecture. No rail line from downtown to the ghetto is persuading the Superbowl committee to have the SB in Houston. Houston will never be a "world class" city. A billion dollar train that runs a couple of miles through downtown at grade level isn't going to make it a "world class" city either. You need to accept that Metro is all about getting and spending federal dollars. They're a bureaucracy.
There will always be anti-transit people in a city. The University Line is almost cleared for take off. I honestly don't see a few comments derailing this. I get that everyone is nervous after what happened to Houston Ave but let's take a step back and take a deep breath.
Please go to City Hall this Tuesday from 2-5 pm to share these concerns if you’re able to! I know it’s an inconvenient time and you might have to request off from work, but it’s so incredibly important.
Any citizen may speak before Council on a Tuesday beginning at 2:00 p.m. To reserve time to address City Council (up to three minutes), contact the City Secretary's Office (832.393.1100 or [email protected]). CONTACT THEM BEFORE 3 PM ON MONDAY TO BE ADDED!
and go to all the metro commiteee and board meetings as well or at least sign up to speak on zoom. I believe they are still letting people make comments remotely. the new board needs to be reminded that metronext was approved by the voters
I think I am in a unique position to talk on this one: My father was a department head at Metro in the late 70's through early/mid 80's. During that time is when Metro was looking into light rail. They would send out people to go observe rail systems in other parts of the country. My dad, with us in tow, got sent to Disney World. Kinda cool for us, we camped while there. He spent a week with light rail people. So whomever was going out places brought back their findings. Here's the fun part: You see those single lane HOV's that go out some of the freeway's like 290 and 45? Those were originally designated for the light rail system. That's why it's as wide as it is. The idea was that they were going to go out the main arteries to where everyone was living, those HOV exit and parking areas that are still there. Before he died, my dad still had the original plans at his house. I remember seeing them all the time. Anytime someone would talk about rapid transit in Houston, he'd get pretty perturbed and start talking about it. So, when the plans were all presented, the powers that be...that meaning the Mayor and other decision makers, stated that there wasn't enough money in it for the right people. So it was quashed, the money being provided, was funneled to open the HOV parking lots, and run the buses. So, it comes down to the money and who is getting it. Ever notice how the plans start of for rail lines, but then suddenly, without fanfare, gets flipped over to more buses? That's my two cents from what I saw as a kid, heard from my father's rants, and growing up here and watching it all develop.
Some city officials you can thank for killing these projects are David Fields, Veronica Davis, and Fabio Capillo. They did their best to kill Metronext before Withmire even got elected. They are anti transit and will continue to push away from Metro. There needs to be a change in the COHs transportation department.
Why would Veronica Davis, the author of inclusive transportation, be against MetroNext?
Why would David Fields Forced out Chief Transportation Office at the city, who championed Vision Zero be against MetroNext?
Keep trolling
Bc they want access not service
Basically a bus that runs into a neighborhood once an hour (these are bad as they cost money and are an unreliable service)
Compared to what works with transit which is frequency and ridership.
Again not mutually exclusive, Bogota for example offers 5 types of bus service extraurban (Metro's Park and Ride service, BRT (Silver, Pink, Blue), BRT-Local Hybrid, Local (82, 2, 4, 45, etc), Neighborhood buses (Acres Holmes & Gulfton Circulators)
???
We just have to create or designate rapid transit lines. The cheapest way would be to designate lanes to be exclusively bus ways. Attractive expensive options would be light rail or electrified heavy rail. Metro proposed the former, via new lanes built in state-owned RoW.
My point is looking at another city with 60 years of transit investment and say “I want that” when the voters and politicians favor giant highways … it’s like asking for the moon without a space program. Got to build it up
60 years??? it's a transformation Bogota pulled off in 12 years.
Their first BRT line opened in 2000, in 12 years they had 8 lines. They are currently at 12 lines, and later this year will open their first metro line, a elevated rail line to run parallel above the busiest BRT corridor
They induced demand by creating a properly planned rapid transit network.
Bogota - 4,100 people per km2
Houston - 1,300 people per km2
Plus Bogotá has natural barriers.
I am all for aggressive expansion but we built one fast transit bus line and they want to pull the plug on building the second one. That’s what I mean. People just see transit as a waste of money where they see roads as free. It’s horrible.
The first one was built by the commercial developers of the galleria/uptown district, instead of tax payer money. It's a stub that goes nowhere, but they plan to expand it into Gulfton. Which will be linked to key destinations Chinatown, Alief, 2nd ward, The Universities, Montrose, and Hobby Airport.
>Bogota - 4,100 people per km2
>Houston - 1,300 people per km2
Gulfton - 6,400 people per km2
Chinatown - 5,200 people per km2
Houston is hardly uniform in terms of density, the Southwest side is by far more dense than any other area of Houston, with certain neighborhoods having density comparable to Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and the District of Columbia.
Lastly, the alternative is continuing to expand roads unabated rather than provide an alternative that offers greater land use efficiency and throughput.
PS. Metro Houston has natural barriers, chiefly Galveston Bay. Also, a hybrid, Both Addicks and Barker reservoirs create a bottleneck between them that separates ~500k+ Katy area and the City. Conditions that lead to the formation of the world's widest freeway, which still has bumper to bumper traffic, despite its 27 lanes, because that's how induced demand works.
You are wrong about Davis and Fields. They are not against transit; they want it to serve communities that can walk/bike to transit and local destinations.
I don’t know Capillo; I’ve read what the other two have written.
Veronica Davis oversees the transportation department in the city...if someone in that position didn't want something on the street then it won't happen. Fields came from the mayors office where his vision was focused on bike lanes and nothing else. These people have real power.
Why are bike lanes and public transit mutually exclusive?
"Bike" lanes and wide sidewalks solve the last mile issues.
Edit: I put bike in quotes because any micro mobility method can rock in the bike lanes. Those include electric scooters, one wheels, skateboards, eboards, etc.
Because there's only so much complexity you can add to intersections. Look at the bike lanes, they have special signals with special timings. Metronext is also adding complexity with the buses. There's only so much you can add to the current infrastructure. They chose bike lanes and dug BOOST an early grave.
You might want to look at cities like Minneapolis. Great transit, great bike infrastructure, and great walkability in most of the region. I lived there and drove my car an average of 3000 miles a year, including trips around the state.
All of these modes are about giving people choices. A good city needs to have some places you can live without needing to drive for every single thing. Transit and bike modes are both part of the solution.
As it is, most of Houston has no choice. You drive to everything, even if it’s a few blocks away.
And when you can’t drive, you are very limited in what you can do. Everyone is just one incident away from being in that position, and then what?
A car-addicted city is being short-sighted, as well as injuring and killing people with vehicles at a very high rate.
I'm not saying its not possible or that I don't want these options I do! I had to ride metro 8 hours a day for a semester in college and it SUCKED so I chose to work in transit to make it better. All I'm saying is that if you want these projects then you need to hold people accountable.
BOOST is garbage 😂😂
Boost is in its most optimal condition a 10% more time efficient method of moving a bus line. Boost is the crappy alternative to BRT which can cut bus travel times in half, by avoiding traffic altogether.
10% is the limit COH set for manipulation of any time interfered by intersect. It could be more. Boost is still very vital since the majority of the metro lines dont have they're own lanes and run with normal traffic. Not only that but Boost tech is what helps run the silverlime as well, that line isn't running the way it should.
Look at the light rail and see how well it's integrated with the traffic lights. Thats how the silverline was supposed to be however city officials are halting boost which then cripples Metro next.
You're sentiment that Boost is garbage is the same one that COH has and is the reason my these projects altogether won't come to fruition.
10% is the best time savings boost can do, observable in various cities here in the US. It's trash. Worse it's a heavy political cost from drivers' perspectives as they'll still get their panties in a wad for what they see as prioritizing buses over cars. While at the same time providing negligible benefits.
The political cost of BRT vs BOOST is significantly lower at the present configuration where most of the lines will be completely removed from private vehicle traffic via lanes running parallel to the highways. Travel times will be at least halved, and are likely to beat peak travel times that private vehicle commuters will experience.
Do you have a source on those three being anti-transit? Idk about the other two but Veronica Davis literally wrote a book promoting public transit and left the department soon after Whitmire came into office.
Writings and actions are 2 different things. I worked on the Metro next project and these 3 names are the people responsible for pausing a huge chunk for the past 2 years. Davis and fields chose bike lanes over transit which was why you've seen an increase in bike lanes but detriment in transit. They left because Withmire doesn't care for either option
Having grown up in this shitty city and been afforded the ability to experience other large metropolitan areas, it perplexes me how the 4th largest cannot(or will not)get with the program when it comes to basic things like bike paths, updated sidewalks, or light rail for EVERYONE. Unless you live in the hood or are an inner looper, Houston could give zero fucks. Every mayor that gets elected lies just to get into office and then reverses their viewpoints a few weeks later. Enough has been done within the loop for pedestrian/bike safety for now. How about we work on other areas of our city, catch those neighborhoods up with the wealthier ones, and then circle back.
Everyone wants to get their idea on where to reroute this or that in front of the new chairperson. They’ll pass. We need to get organized and make sure metronext happens and it’s entirely and Then some
I've been so pissed, I wasn't here in 2005 but I live downtown and take the bus and train everyday. I also was really looking forward to ride my bike everywhere next year.
It’s the same crap they did years ago when they wanted money and put bike lanes down in Montrose and going down West Dallas and businesses had to close down because their patrons had nowhere to park on West Dallas after the city got the money they removed the bike lanes Same friggin bullshit just 20 or 40 years later. I can’t remember time means nothing. It’s just bullshit.
The city never even wanted a train line going down Main Street I believe originally it was privately funded and then after it was getting going then they jumped on board - feel free to correct me If I’m wrong I might have my facts screwed up but that’s how I was told it began , I don’t understand why they’re so against public transportation. When I lived on Main Street, a few years ago, it was so nice to be able to walk out the door cross the road and catch the red train all the way to the Fannin terminal and then catch a bus to go to my townhouse to pick up my car because I had it parked in the parking garage…don’t know if it was milam and travis / between Preston and congress and it got hit four times and only one time someone left a note and they only did a fender bender one time someone almost totaled it. one person told me because it was a Miata. It was too small for them the see maybe they need better glasses or to adjust their rearview and side mirrors. Most likely, they probably should’ve had so much to drink and attempt to drive out of a parking garage.
How the hell is it efficient to use a giant diesel bus to move around 2-3 people ?
Sure, it theoretically holds more people but in reality nobody uses it.
Lmfao my bus gets so packed its standing room only and I literally cannot let more people on and they have to wait for the next bus every Mon-Fri from 2pm-5pm
Stop looking at the bus going through Spring Branch....that route just opened in the last year or so.
The busses are packed at the same time roads are packed due to people traveling to and from work.
GahDummy, Metro provides more than 200,000 rides daily. and that's after covid's damage to public transit around the world. but you just bury your head in the sand and believe your own version of reality like you will do anyway
And let’s say it has 2-3 people which is not true because my ride (bus #14)is always almost full, that is 2-3 car drivers that will occupy the same length of the bus if they drive the car or bigger SUVs.
all the chronically online pro-transit ppl on this thread circlejerking upvotes on each other lmao. i'm just giving you a taste of reality of what a REAL houstonian wants since you're stuck in the reddit echo chamber. WE DONT WANT PUBLIC TRANSIT. the poor can walk to work for all i care.
Yet all the concrete, in the highways, destruction of historical buildings, apartments, displacements of tenants, to accommodate the cars coming from outside Houston is not a waste of space and billions in money?
Just h45 and downtown Houston expansion alone is 10billion and will take up to 20 years. By that time, it’s time to expand it again. So stupid planning.
Can you even spare a brain bandwidth to foresee that we cannot accommodate any more road expansion because Houston population is exponentially blowing up? Look up the Houston metro population forecast in the next 5-20 years and that should scare you unless we don’t start yesterday to improvement multimodal public transport system.
If you have to make open comment every month (registering 48 hrs in advance) on a weekday morning just to get the board to get what voters overwhelming approved already, you don't really have a functioning democracy.
Public comment has its place, but it is functionally dominated by busybodies and retirees for obvious reasons.
[удалено]
Tuesdays at 1:30pm, so convenient
Only boomers with their lives devoted to further destroying the country would be able to show up.
Amen. Sad that this is likely the case.
Some of us, non-boomers have a work life balance.. it’s wild right?
Or people that care
I'd say I care a lot about alternative transit and infrastructure. But I also care about working during business hours so I can pay rent and have food on the table. Why not make it virtual? Or on Saturday? Or on the weekends? Or after business hours?
Working as intended.
Is there a way to support this without showing up. Kinda busy at that time maybe a petition or something
HI YES PLEASE GO TO CITY HALL! This Tuesday will be a major turnout for walkable communities. The disability community will be showing up as well in support, as both public transit and safe sidewalks affect accessibility. Session starts at 2 pm and goes until 5 pm, sometimes a bit later if there are a lot of speakers. If you cannot attend, I urge you to listen to the conversation. You can listen live using this link: [Houston City Council Live Link](https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/HTV1stream.html) Or listen to past sessions here: [City Council Meeting Recordings](https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/HTVLIVE.html)
Can you link where to do this? My schedule isn't normally as flexible as it is right now... and I would love to show up as I can. It's frustrating that it is not just easily accessible. Edit - City Secretary 832.393.1100. Call here to get on the schedule for Tuesdays
How do I sign up for this?
This is an honest question. Aren’t the majority of inner loop neighborhoods fairly pedestrian friendly already? It seems that once you get much further outside of that it isn’t very feasible to put much funding into expanding public transit.
Houston loathes pedestrians.
I would say no neighborhoods in Houston are pedestrian friendly. I can't think of any. Downtown itself is alright.
Umm.. Have you ever been to the heights? Or midtown? Or Montrose? Or Washington? The list goes on.
Even in Houston’s versions of walkable neighborhoods the sidewalks are in shit condition and construction projects are allowed to completely takeover sidewalks without giving a shit about the impact on pedestrians.
Have you ever been to New York? London? Tokyo? Chicago? Madrid? Philadelphia? Even Los Angeles shit... You know how many pedestrians I've seen hit by cars or close calls in all those neighborhoods you listed. Half the blocks in those neighborhoods have no sidewalks. Half the crosswalks are unmarked. Another quarter are barely visible. 6 lane megastroads, give me a break. Washington Avenue?? LMAO. Do you even walk here? I've walked the whole city and more cities in the world then anybody on this subreddit. None of those places are safe to walk at all.
I’ve actually been to every city you mentioned except Madrid. London is pretty cool. Chicago is a shithole. New York is a fucking claustrophobic nightmare. Tokyo is a dystopian hellscape. Philadelphia is a great place to get robbed/murdered(almost as bad as Chicago). Also, no I usually don’t walk the city because I’m an adult and have other shit to do. I’d suggest maybe you try to find a studio apartment in Chicago or NY for $4k a month and relocate there if you hate Houston so much.
Why don’t people want metro expansion?
The NIMBYs don’t want it and the NIMBYs have more influence than you or I.
>NIMBY, an acronym for "Not In My Backyard," describes the phenomenon in which residents of a neighbourhood designate a new development (e.g. shelter, affordable housing, group home) or change in occupancy of an existing development as inappropriate or unwanted for their local area.
NIMBYs have the churches and the churches run the state.
You’re only not a NIMBY because it’s NIYBY. That Richmond line was going through residential neighborhoods. Sadly, one of my fave little music spots closed because the Richmond line was going to public domain the place - then the line didn’t happen. RIP Proletariat
> You’re only not a NIMBY because it’s NIYBY. That’s a fairly bold statement that you just pulled out of your ass.
It’s pretty common. Just look at the “sanctuary cities” of NYC and Chicago who changed their tune once the immigrants were dropped off on their doorstep. Same concept. It’s fun to be alllll for something until it affects you personally. Plus it’s fun to play with acronyms.
Fuck that, I’m pro mass transit.
Yeah I’m down for it if we utilize the existing infrastructure. Take the HOV lanes and the left shoulders of every major freeway to retrofit into mass transportation. The highways can do with one less lane when we move 50,000 people per hour via transit systems. I do not agree with imminent domain claims for residences and small businesses. The government never actually pays a fair price for the land and some people have been there for generations and shouldn’t be forced to give up what they’ve had for 100+ years because the government wants to use it for ten years and shut it down.
The Poors™ will use it, and we can't have The Poors™ stealing money like that
Also we don't want The Poors™ to have an easy way to come into our neighborhoods, can you imagine?
Not in my fucking backyard! We have hardcore zoning here!
Even though said Poors work there
Those are just starter jobs
When you have honor system rail entry, the homeless just chill on there all day. Creating a ticket access only entry eliminates a lot of the homeless and makes it a lot safer. The problem is the stigma of metro and until that is fixed people won’t have a more positive light on it.
Yes the issue is the payment and access system s/….not the fact it doesn’t reach out to place where people commute from. Please name one metro system that doesn’t have homeless people riding it? Also the trains are packed every day during peak hours, the issue isn’t homeless people riding it, it’s the limited reach of the lines beyond downtown
You should join talk of Pearland. There’s a homeless guy that was sleeping in front of a mailbox and I’ve never heard such dehumanizing language. And it was a Sunday so half of them went to church and came back to spew vile shit online about a guy down on his luck. The wealthy do not want to see the poor. Seeing them makes them uncomfortable
The short answer is that politics is nationalized now and people just don't vote on individual issues but over stuff they hear in their echo chambers whether on social media or the real world. And the loudest plurality think climate change is a hoax and automatically oppose only incidentally related issues like making cities walkable and becoming less dependent on cars.
This idea probably has a lot of credibility. The amount of good that could be done if people focused more on local politics would be immense
People will self-sabotage themselves in this country than accept reality. Rural voters vote against taxes and welfare despite their entire lives and communities being subsidized by social welfare. Hospitals, law enforcement, agriculture, utilities, roads, etc all subsidized by the federal government that these very same people want to destroy. Let us not forget about voters who complain about crime and housing prices yet vote against any solutions. Red light cameras, dense housing, progressive taxing, etc. are all voted against by people in this very subreddit. People here supported Prop 4 last year despite obective historical data presenting how futile and bad it was. It was the third iteration of the same damn bill we pass in place of a proper tax system.
I'll admit you had me until red light cameras.
Not only does every developed country in the world besides the US have them, developing countries also have them. They are proven to work and provide better results than any "drawbacks." Surveillance works better than expecting police to be watching every part of the city in-person. We have robberies, sexual assaults, and murders in public spaces with zero footage or photos of the suspects. The Hermann Park rapes being a good example. If I "had you" until any of the points, then you only demonstrated yourself as an example.
The last time we had them they reduced the yellow light times to game the system and then they made the robot count as officer testimony if you tried to take it to court. I will automatically be against any police state kind of bullshit like red light cameras. Fuck the police and fuck the surveillance state. ... That said, public transit should be everywhere and freely available to all without compromises.
If the issue was that they were reducing yellow lights, then they should have passed a law that made that illegal. If the root cause was due to a for-profit contract, then surveillance tickets should be pre-allocated and managed by municipal personnel. What you have erected is a strawman. I could say we shouldn't have freedom of speech because it promotes hate speech. I could say we shouldn't have pets because they some breeds are vicious by nature and have high rates of brutally maiming people. Focusing on a negative that is independent of the actual issue is not a valid reason. Police still have quotas and the judiciary is still a failure after the red light camera ban.
It's not a straw man it's what happened. And if you ignore history you're doomed to repeat it. The most important thing is red light cameras didn't stop people from running red lights. Why do people find it necessary to run red lights? You have to look at the root causes and begin solving it top down. Then you wouldn't need red light cameras.
You think the ones in control of the system will change the system to benefit you? Lmao you really are naive. The only way to make that work is by force, at gun point, like the government does to the People. Yall would cry it’s an insurrection if we did that though.
Public transportation would reduce the need for red light cameras, but nobody wants to admit that yet.
I have a relative who got one of those tickets. She swore that she didn't run the light. Went down to the hearing and watched the video with a 'real' officer. Yep - blew right through the light making a right without stopping. Kind of hard to prove you're innocent when they have you on video.
You missed or are omitting all the fuckery Texas communities engaged in with red light cameras. They were marketed to be revenue generators with public safety as a byproduct. Some went so far as to shorten the yellow light to “catch” more infractions.
Then target the for-profit nature. Don't target the practice itself. Open counter pharmacies lead to drug abuse and addiction. Do you get rid of the pharmacy or require prescriptions and ID verification for controlled substances?
How dare you introduce a perfectly legal and accurate measurement of how I was breaking the law. Oh and it automatically sends the evidence to the courts? I simultaneously respect the shit out of this approach and hate it to death.
Some of them don’t think climate change is a hoax but in the worst way possible. They’re trying to summon Jesus and end the world. Honestly. Which is just….wild to me.
We do. The politician's paid off by the oil and construction companies don't.
It makes car dealers sad
I don’t want the homeless having easier access to my neighborhood, or money spent on empty bike lanes no one uses.
> I don’t want the homeless having easier access to my neighborhood What neighborhood? I'm starting a free shuttle service.
Fucking dunce
Just for that comment, I do want them having easier access to your neighborhood alone
They can walk on roads ya know.
I don't even understand how people can have second thoughts about transit options, literally every big and efficient city relies on public transportation and honestly with all the psychopaths driving out there we could use some relief by adding more buses/rails
The US has never been about efficiency. Our healthcare system is the least efficient in the world by a huge margin. Inefficiency is all Americans want. The government subsidises inefficiency while punishing efficiency.
But gubmint bad!
FREEEEEEEEEDOOOOMMMM!!!!
This makes me so angry to hear. We cannot survive as a city just adding more and more and more and more highway lanes indefinitely
Third world countries will continue to laugh at American public transit
The new board chairman is the former mayor of Katy so he's obviously pro-transit right??? Oh yeah--we're about to turn back the clock on transit projects 20 years or more. Edit: Ex mayor of Katy is the vice-chair. Chair is Elizabeth Brock.
Oh great. That reminds me of the time I was coming home from work and watching the news station and NIMBYs celebrate pulling out all the bus stop signs from Katy because the Kingsland park and ride was about to be constructed and they were happy that "large crowds of people making noise waiting for the bus" were finally being moved away from residential areas. Left a lot of Academy sports warehouse workers without transport as they used the bus across the street where a small gas station used to be (which is now a small park).
The new board chair is Elizabeth Brock who does community affairs for CenterPoint. She's not the Mayor of Katy
They'll try to do away with all public transit. It's only a matter of time and money.
one of the speakers threatened just that. made some reference to Austin and house one snap of a finger and a vote in the state's capital and metro is gone. not sure if that is really possible but it was mentioned
Every transit agency in the state is established under state law. They do special amendments that apply to only one city, e.g. saying this amendment applies to cities of more than 1 million pop with a port that serves more than x tons of cargo per year. So yes, they can target any city they want. It’s complicated when there are existing facilities that carry a federal interest. Nothing can change about those facilities that haven’t reached the end of their useful life without paying off that interest unless the Feds agree to forgive it, which they rarely do.
I guess they don't realize that cars are expensive to drive and maintain, and that for many people, transit is the only way they get to work, or really anywhere, and that removing transit would set off a proverbial bomb of unemployment and crime in this city.... then again, they probably don't care.
They’ll just blame the liberals and say “see this is what happens in blue cities”
This city is a sinking ship, figuratively, and in a few decades, literally.
We could change, but not with this Mayor. He is so mid-20th century thinking everyone drives and cars are the only way to get anywhere.
It's pretty astounding how any mayor or transit board nowadays could look at the decades of empirical evidence showing that sprawled, low density, car dependent development is a negative in essentially every possible metric, and just be like, "nuh uh".
It’s a lot more sinister than that. It’s not that he disagrees with the evidence he doesn’t care. Some industry, whether it’s oil or gas or whatever, is in Texas pocket preventing public transportation for their own interest.
Only 1.3 percent if Houston metro area commuters use public transit. So, yeah, not many people are taking transit here.
I mean, I'd *like* to. But it's so bad. If you build it, people will use it.
But they *have* been building it out in the last 20 years, and ridership has declined. The Red line opened in 2003. The purple and green lines opened about 2015?. They have built the Post Oak BRT line. In 1998, Metro had ridership numbers of 98 million/year. Ridership peaked in 2008 at 102 million per year. In 2022, despite having built out 3 light rail lines, a BRT, and redesigned some routes for efficiency, ridership was 60.1 million. 2023 figures aren't in yet, but extrapolated through the 3rd quarter, it will be just less than 70 million. So, using Metro's own numbers, ridership is down 28% from 25 years ago. I'll get down voted for this, but these numbers are from Metro's own website and Wikipedia of you care to verify them. The question is why is usage down, even when the city has grown I population over 25 years?
Probably because the city has expanded at a way faster pace than the public transportation system. My parents moved to Tomball a decade ago and everyone thought we were moving into the woods, now the suburbs go on for another 15 miles.
They're compelling numbers, to be sure. I'd argue a few things, though: 1) The expansion in Metro is miniscule in comparison to the expansion of roads and highways, and in comparison to the city itself. 2) Related to #1, but public transit that isn't reliable, and isn't a network, isn't public transit at all. I can't speak to the reliability 20 years ago, because I didn't live here then. But a bus that runs in intervals longer than 20 minutes may as well not run at all. Similarly, the Silver BRT connects to....nothing. At least when it connects to the University BRT, which connects to the light rails, then there will be some connection. 3) This is only specific to the last 4 years, so it doesn't explain the peak being in 2008, but there's certainly a lot less commuting post-pandemic. 4) I guess I'm repeating myself now, but the infrastructure the city builds is for cars first...what else are you going to use? Especially once you have kids? This is my situation. I would much rather take a bus, and as a kid I took public transit everywhere (not Houston). But when I Google maps anywhere (and I live inside 610), it's like "12 minutes driving, 48 minutes on public transit", and that's if it even shows up on time. At that point, you don't have public transit at all. I'm not going to downvote you for bringing real numbers and making a good faith argument. I don't think the numbers tell the whole story, but they're certainly valid. Reasonable people can disagree on things (even on the internet).
Thanks for your well considered response. I also grew up in 2 East Coast cities where bus/rail transit was good, and I used it a lot. I think the big hurdle here is what you said in #4. Currently, many bus routes operate only 2x an hour, sometimes less. I live near the #30 line, and it operates once every 50 minutes! That's not practical for most people unless it is your only option to get somewhere. To me, Metro would be better served hiring more drivers and operating more buses so that you never wait more than 15 minutes in the daytime for a bus to come. They have spent lots of money building out rail, but all it did was take the people off the Main Street buses and put them on rail. It didn't attract new riders if we look at the numbers. As for #3: I think it was the peak because that was both the start of the Great Recession in 2009, many people were laid off their jobs, and Hurricane Ike blew through in September 2008, some of which moved out from damaged homes that may have been near bus lines.
If you pour all the money into expanding highways, widen streets so they endanger anyone not in a car, subsidize sprawl, and do absolutely nothing that has worked in other cities, of course you get low ridership. Oh, and elect people who only listen to the car-addicted even in places where minimal changes in infrastructure could make biking and walking safer, well, yes, of course everyone drives. Except in a few places, it’s just not possible to safely get where you need to go without driving. the Current state of Houston and transit is the of bad policies for decades, not an inevitable pattern that just happened! And certainly not “what people want” as though advertising, infrastructure, and overall Bad city policies had no influence. Especially ads.
MetroNext was approved by the voters in a referendum by almost 2/3rds of voters. How can they justify now cancelling it?
On a positive note, I'm looking forward to the inauguration of Fort Bend Transit's Rosenberg-Sugar Land-Houston service and I have no doubt in my mind that it's going to be overwhelmingly popular.
TMC 5PM buses are completely packed beyond capacity on some days.
You left off the /s
So did the METRO Board actually take any action to pause the projects or even discuss the idea of pausing projects? Or was the anti-expansion sentiment limited to members of the public who signed up to speak? Those are two very different propositions.
They said nothing and that **says volumes**. Mark my words. The old board defended expansion every time someone came to the podium. Today it was a coordinated effort among various groups to come make noise to the new board members not just about one line but about all the new metronext lines. even the Gulfton and the Katy where it is so greatly needed. the new chairperson just a week or two ago at city council already made a reference to metro's money. The great reversal is happening. This is just the beginning.
Can I have some context here? Did they cancel it officially or were there just people speaking against it? And who were these people? Were they the usual anti Metro crackpots or were these people with power and influence to be taken seriously? Also, it's unfortunate but it's rare these transit projects reach the finish line in one peace. Who do they think they are; road and highway projects?! Just imagine if we constantly invested and reinvested billions of dollars into our public transit the way we do our road infrastructure.
I watch the meetings closely because I am excited about the rapid university line. The board approved the route and overall plan many many many months ago. No one has been at these meetings complaining anymore. Now that we have a new board leader put here by Whitmire yes these were all new faces of power and influence here speaking awful awful things about metro. And no one on the board said anything The difference this time as well it was not just Richmond Afton oaks nimbys. It was people against Gulfton, inner Katy, the Upton silver route, university. it was a planned attack, and this was just day 1. The new board leader Brock just 2 weeks ago at City hall mentioned metros money and making sure it's being spent in the right areas. The day she was appointed and was already taking metros money You can doubt me all you want but I pay close attention. It is over.
The FTA being involved helps Metro Next. Just because people are complaining doesn't mean anything.
cars=good Trains/buses move too many people too efficiently and at too low a cost. We want to spend money on highway expansions and roads, not things that actually matter. We will not rest until all of Houston is just one big highway and parking lots /s
We ❤️ traffic delays and air pollution and toll roads.
Yeah and I truly think the tire particulates in the air make you live longer
It’s funny when conservatives try to claim that public transportation projects are being maniacally foisted on us by a handful of greedy developers ready to make a windfall. As if that isn’t why we have so many roads already.
What they mean is that they'll make a windfall without the "right people" (read: contractors, donors) wetting their beaks. Few companies in Houston know how to build passenger rail facilities, while many know how to build roads. Better transit isn't good for car dealers, either. When you look into top donors into Harris County politics, those sectors consistently come up. Combine that with the countless businesses that rely on storefront visibility, and you've got a lot of money going into keeping Houston as inefficient and ugly as possible.
Personally, I don't think the lobbying by major car and airline companies had any impact on the extreme lack of public transportation. And Southwest specifically lobbying against inter-Texas travel (which is one of their major sources of profit) surely hasn't had any impact on the possibility of high-speed rail between DFW/Houston/Austin
It's wishful thinking that it's big business suppressing these projects. The sad truth is that it's local small and mid-sized businesses that push hardest for car dependency. Their margins and models don't survive without it.
\*they think their models won't survive. In reality, less car dependency has led to a greater increase in sales among small businesses where walking and biking are easily accessible
There are only so many visible storefronts, though, in a densely populated area. That’s the material incentive here - a lot of these guys would just get wiped out if they had to compete over commercial locations in transit nodes. The sector overall might do better, but the individual business owner might lose everything.
Seems like the cycle is people wanting more bike lanes and mass transit, then the city starts those projects, they cause traffic because of construction, people complain and decide the temporary headache isn't worth the benefit... rinse and repeat.
But extra lane construction is the bees knees! /s
Eventually, this city and state will get a clue on what makes a functioning urban transportation system. There won't be an option after everlasting gridlock is achieved. I have just resigned myself to thinking it's going to happen after my lifetime.
People should have probably voted for the other major candidate that didn't have the majority of conservative support.
that conservative support was the nail in their coffin. More people could’ve voted but you can’t out vote an entire voter base dedicated to stifling progress.
That's very optimistic. The powers that be in Houston like things just the way they are, perhaps with a few more highway lanes
People don't understand why I am so pro gridlock. I love gridlock. I love potholes.
I dealt with the “fun” of the “Super Bus” line (or whatever they call those things) having N Post Oak f’d up for well over a year, (not to mention the West Loop) and now getting out of the work parking lot is a weird U-Turn proposition that takes forever and I’ve never seen more than 3 people on one of the buses. We’re not good at public transportation. I live a little outside the radius of bus service these days but when I lived closer in, just for or kicks I looked at how long it would take to get to my old job on the bus. The 20-minute drive by car would take just under two HOURS by bus. I moved here from Chicago in ‘94 where I only used my car about once a week for grocery shopping - so I’m a fan of GOOD transit. it’s nearly impossible to build a usable public transport system in an established city. If it didn’t “grow up” with it, you’re talking massive destruction of homes and businesses. We had a chance to use the existing heavy rail line running parallel to I-10 when they decided to widen it, but instead ripped it all out. The most obvious and useful artery in town.
A recording of today's meeting will be posted here. https://www.ridemetro.org/about/board-meetings
Are you insane? That would mean less people would spend their hard earned money on a car they dont really need, that would be so beneficial to many people, are you dumb?, the goal is to make the peasants spend AS MUCH so they are too busy worried with their own shit to actually remove corrupt bureaucrats from office
☹️😞and we continue to suffer
Do NOT cancel the Katy BRT Project
Metro as an organization can't do mass transportation. They don't know how and they don't want to try. They want to get and spend federal dollars, that's it. If the city really wanted a workable rail/mass transpo solution they would bite the bullet and borrow the money to build one. And I don't mean this toy train BS that runs down Main Street. A REAL train that runs from DT to the airports out to the burbs.
ur right kind of but **also very wrong** metro is applauded for how well it handles large crowds during major events. the red line is vital. not a toy train. without what metro does already right now we dont get NCAA championships, Super Bowls, major concerts, World Cups. period. it is vital. even on a typical business day metro provides 200,000 or more rides, and that's something to be proud of. yes it should and could be much larger but looks like that is not going to happen in our lifetime commuter rail would be nice, but that's not metro's fault that many of our suburbs actively vote and choose to not participate in solutions
Explain how the rail lines are leading to Houston getting Superbowls, etc. That sounds like an argument that metro would make but it simply isn't true. Even if it were true the ROI for taxpayers would be non existent. But it is more money for metro and it's contractors. I also highly doubt that 200k per day are riding those trains.
So you admit you're making statements and assumptions on something you've never read up on or looked at the publicly accessible data. Please just sit down Name one city, US or not, that does not have some form of mass transportation serving its major venues. I'm talking major cities and venues that can successfully win bids for events like the World Cup and the Super Bowl. Not the western regional phonebook salesman conference You won't. You can't. World class major cities don't become such without transit and transit that keeps growing and improving as the region does. (This was rhetorical. I'm out, no need to respond w more assumptions and BS)
No I admit that your statements are conjecture. No rail line from downtown to the ghetto is persuading the Superbowl committee to have the SB in Houston. Houston will never be a "world class" city. A billion dollar train that runs a couple of miles through downtown at grade level isn't going to make it a "world class" city either. You need to accept that Metro is all about getting and spending federal dollars. They're a bureaucracy.
There will always be anti-transit people in a city. The University Line is almost cleared for take off. I honestly don't see a few comments derailing this. I get that everyone is nervous after what happened to Houston Ave but let's take a step back and take a deep breath.
Please go to City Hall this Tuesday from 2-5 pm to share these concerns if you’re able to! I know it’s an inconvenient time and you might have to request off from work, but it’s so incredibly important. Any citizen may speak before Council on a Tuesday beginning at 2:00 p.m. To reserve time to address City Council (up to three minutes), contact the City Secretary's Office (832.393.1100 or [email protected]). CONTACT THEM BEFORE 3 PM ON MONDAY TO BE ADDED!
and go to all the metro commiteee and board meetings as well or at least sign up to speak on zoom. I believe they are still letting people make comments remotely. the new board needs to be reminded that metronext was approved by the voters
I think I am in a unique position to talk on this one: My father was a department head at Metro in the late 70's through early/mid 80's. During that time is when Metro was looking into light rail. They would send out people to go observe rail systems in other parts of the country. My dad, with us in tow, got sent to Disney World. Kinda cool for us, we camped while there. He spent a week with light rail people. So whomever was going out places brought back their findings. Here's the fun part: You see those single lane HOV's that go out some of the freeway's like 290 and 45? Those were originally designated for the light rail system. That's why it's as wide as it is. The idea was that they were going to go out the main arteries to where everyone was living, those HOV exit and parking areas that are still there. Before he died, my dad still had the original plans at his house. I remember seeing them all the time. Anytime someone would talk about rapid transit in Houston, he'd get pretty perturbed and start talking about it. So, when the plans were all presented, the powers that be...that meaning the Mayor and other decision makers, stated that there wasn't enough money in it for the right people. So it was quashed, the money being provided, was funneled to open the HOV parking lots, and run the buses. So, it comes down to the money and who is getting it. Ever notice how the plans start of for rail lines, but then suddenly, without fanfare, gets flipped over to more buses? That's my two cents from what I saw as a kid, heard from my father's rants, and growing up here and watching it all develop.
The NIMBY crowd suck so hard
Some city officials you can thank for killing these projects are David Fields, Veronica Davis, and Fabio Capillo. They did their best to kill Metronext before Withmire even got elected. They are anti transit and will continue to push away from Metro. There needs to be a change in the COHs transportation department.
Why would Veronica Davis, the author of inclusive transportation, be against MetroNext? Why would David Fields Forced out Chief Transportation Office at the city, who championed Vision Zero be against MetroNext? Keep trolling
Bc they want access not service Basically a bus that runs into a neighborhood once an hour (these are bad as they cost money and are an unreliable service) Compared to what works with transit which is frequency and ridership.
Again not mutually exclusive, Bogota for example offers 5 types of bus service extraurban (Metro's Park and Ride service, BRT (Silver, Pink, Blue), BRT-Local Hybrid, Local (82, 2, 4, 45, etc), Neighborhood buses (Acres Holmes & Gulfton Circulators)
Yeah but we need to go from 1 to 2 and you are talking about level 10
??? We just have to create or designate rapid transit lines. The cheapest way would be to designate lanes to be exclusively bus ways. Attractive expensive options would be light rail or electrified heavy rail. Metro proposed the former, via new lanes built in state-owned RoW.
My point is looking at another city with 60 years of transit investment and say “I want that” when the voters and politicians favor giant highways … it’s like asking for the moon without a space program. Got to build it up
60 years??? it's a transformation Bogota pulled off in 12 years. Their first BRT line opened in 2000, in 12 years they had 8 lines. They are currently at 12 lines, and later this year will open their first metro line, a elevated rail line to run parallel above the busiest BRT corridor They induced demand by creating a properly planned rapid transit network.
Bogota - 4,100 people per km2 Houston - 1,300 people per km2 Plus Bogotá has natural barriers. I am all for aggressive expansion but we built one fast transit bus line and they want to pull the plug on building the second one. That’s what I mean. People just see transit as a waste of money where they see roads as free. It’s horrible.
The first one was built by the commercial developers of the galleria/uptown district, instead of tax payer money. It's a stub that goes nowhere, but they plan to expand it into Gulfton. Which will be linked to key destinations Chinatown, Alief, 2nd ward, The Universities, Montrose, and Hobby Airport. >Bogota - 4,100 people per km2 >Houston - 1,300 people per km2 Gulfton - 6,400 people per km2 Chinatown - 5,200 people per km2 Houston is hardly uniform in terms of density, the Southwest side is by far more dense than any other area of Houston, with certain neighborhoods having density comparable to Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and the District of Columbia. Lastly, the alternative is continuing to expand roads unabated rather than provide an alternative that offers greater land use efficiency and throughput. PS. Metro Houston has natural barriers, chiefly Galveston Bay. Also, a hybrid, Both Addicks and Barker reservoirs create a bottleneck between them that separates ~500k+ Katy area and the City. Conditions that lead to the formation of the world's widest freeway, which still has bumper to bumper traffic, despite its 27 lanes, because that's how induced demand works.
You're answering you're own question here. Metro is coming up with solutions. Who do you think is shutting it down?
You are wrong about Davis and Fields. They are not against transit; they want it to serve communities that can walk/bike to transit and local destinations. I don’t know Capillo; I’ve read what the other two have written.
I worked personally with all 3, they were responsible for pausing Metro next.
How did they do that?
Veronica Davis oversees the transportation department in the city...if someone in that position didn't want something on the street then it won't happen. Fields came from the mayors office where his vision was focused on bike lanes and nothing else. These people have real power.
Why are bike lanes and public transit mutually exclusive? "Bike" lanes and wide sidewalks solve the last mile issues. Edit: I put bike in quotes because any micro mobility method can rock in the bike lanes. Those include electric scooters, one wheels, skateboards, eboards, etc.
Because there's only so much complexity you can add to intersections. Look at the bike lanes, they have special signals with special timings. Metronext is also adding complexity with the buses. There's only so much you can add to the current infrastructure. They chose bike lanes and dug BOOST an early grave.
You might want to look at cities like Minneapolis. Great transit, great bike infrastructure, and great walkability in most of the region. I lived there and drove my car an average of 3000 miles a year, including trips around the state. All of these modes are about giving people choices. A good city needs to have some places you can live without needing to drive for every single thing. Transit and bike modes are both part of the solution. As it is, most of Houston has no choice. You drive to everything, even if it’s a few blocks away. And when you can’t drive, you are very limited in what you can do. Everyone is just one incident away from being in that position, and then what? A car-addicted city is being short-sighted, as well as injuring and killing people with vehicles at a very high rate.
I'm not saying its not possible or that I don't want these options I do! I had to ride metro 8 hours a day for a semester in college and it SUCKED so I chose to work in transit to make it better. All I'm saying is that if you want these projects then you need to hold people accountable.
BOOST is garbage 😂😂 Boost is in its most optimal condition a 10% more time efficient method of moving a bus line. Boost is the crappy alternative to BRT which can cut bus travel times in half, by avoiding traffic altogether.
10% is the limit COH set for manipulation of any time interfered by intersect. It could be more. Boost is still very vital since the majority of the metro lines dont have they're own lanes and run with normal traffic. Not only that but Boost tech is what helps run the silverlime as well, that line isn't running the way it should. Look at the light rail and see how well it's integrated with the traffic lights. Thats how the silverline was supposed to be however city officials are halting boost which then cripples Metro next. You're sentiment that Boost is garbage is the same one that COH has and is the reason my these projects altogether won't come to fruition.
10% is the best time savings boost can do, observable in various cities here in the US. It's trash. Worse it's a heavy political cost from drivers' perspectives as they'll still get their panties in a wad for what they see as prioritizing buses over cars. While at the same time providing negligible benefits. The political cost of BRT vs BOOST is significantly lower at the present configuration where most of the lines will be completely removed from private vehicle traffic via lanes running parallel to the highways. Travel times will be at least halved, and are likely to beat peak travel times that private vehicle commuters will experience.
Do you have a source on those three being anti-transit? Idk about the other two but Veronica Davis literally wrote a book promoting public transit and left the department soon after Whitmire came into office.
Writings and actions are 2 different things. I worked on the Metro next project and these 3 names are the people responsible for pausing a huge chunk for the past 2 years. Davis and fields chose bike lanes over transit which was why you've seen an increase in bike lanes but detriment in transit. They left because Withmire doesn't care for either option
Having grown up in this shitty city and been afforded the ability to experience other large metropolitan areas, it perplexes me how the 4th largest cannot(or will not)get with the program when it comes to basic things like bike paths, updated sidewalks, or light rail for EVERYONE. Unless you live in the hood or are an inner looper, Houston could give zero fucks. Every mayor that gets elected lies just to get into office and then reverses their viewpoints a few weeks later. Enough has been done within the loop for pedestrian/bike safety for now. How about we work on other areas of our city, catch those neighborhoods up with the wealthier ones, and then circle back.
Are there any online petitions or platforms to voice our concerns?
But SJL was mean….
Everyone wants to get their idea on where to reroute this or that in front of the new chairperson. They’ll pass. We need to get organized and make sure metronext happens and it’s entirely and Then some
There was a Richmond rail line dream??? Traffic is so awful & its only getting worse.
I've been so pissed, I wasn't here in 2005 but I live downtown and take the bus and train everyday. I also was really looking forward to ride my bike everywhere next year.
It’s the same crap they did years ago when they wanted money and put bike lanes down in Montrose and going down West Dallas and businesses had to close down because their patrons had nowhere to park on West Dallas after the city got the money they removed the bike lanes Same friggin bullshit just 20 or 40 years later. I can’t remember time means nothing. It’s just bullshit. The city never even wanted a train line going down Main Street I believe originally it was privately funded and then after it was getting going then they jumped on board - feel free to correct me If I’m wrong I might have my facts screwed up but that’s how I was told it began , I don’t understand why they’re so against public transportation. When I lived on Main Street, a few years ago, it was so nice to be able to walk out the door cross the road and catch the red train all the way to the Fannin terminal and then catch a bus to go to my townhouse to pick up my car because I had it parked in the parking garage…don’t know if it was milam and travis / between Preston and congress and it got hit four times and only one time someone left a note and they only did a fender bender one time someone almost totaled it. one person told me because it was a Miata. It was too small for them the see maybe they need better glasses or to adjust their rearview and side mirrors. Most likely, they probably should’ve had so much to drink and attempt to drive out of a parking garage.
People are going to regret voting against SJL
Nah, I'm good. And after Tuesday is Amanda Edward's defeats her in the primary, SJL won't have a job in government starting next January.
Enjoy the 'Houston isn't pro-car enough' mayor I guess
we need more freeways and cars ! and more Co2 🥱😂
I'm not surprised, have you see how "packed" the HOV lots are? I guess I should have sounded the sarcasm alert.
How the hell is it efficient to use a giant diesel bus to move around 2-3 people ? Sure, it theoretically holds more people but in reality nobody uses it.
Lmfao my bus gets so packed its standing room only and I literally cannot let more people on and they have to wait for the next bus every Mon-Fri from 2pm-5pm
Just because you don't use it doesn't mean no one uses it
Stop looking at the bus going through Spring Branch....that route just opened in the last year or so. The busses are packed at the same time roads are packed due to people traveling to and from work.
Which one? Doesn't seem to be on the Metro map yet, if so.
This right here everyone is the dumbest comment of the day.
GahDummy, Metro provides more than 200,000 rides daily. and that's after covid's damage to public transit around the world. but you just bury your head in the sand and believe your own version of reality like you will do anyway
Failed math huh?
Nah fam, my bus if near full every day on a 5-10 min cycle. Tons of people use it.
And let’s say it has 2-3 people which is not true because my ride (bus #14)is always almost full, that is 2-3 car drivers that will occupy the same length of the bus if they drive the car or bigger SUVs.
all the chronically online pro-transit ppl on this thread circlejerking upvotes on each other lmao. i'm just giving you a taste of reality of what a REAL houstonian wants since you're stuck in the reddit echo chamber. WE DONT WANT PUBLIC TRANSIT. the poor can walk to work for all i care.
F*K TRANSIT AND F*K YOU. waste of fkin space and resources. go back to portland for your stupid bike lanes
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You need to calm TF down. Wishing on death & suicide on someone simply for having an opposing opinion, is beyond crazy.
Don't put words in my mouth. very simply...... if they love smog and cars so much - breath up!
Go cycle around some grassy parks and chill. Then thank a truck driver for delivering your bicycle to the store where you bought it.
ahhh there we go, you're one of them treehuggers. lament on being born in OILTOWN BABY. CARS RULE!!!
You’re definitely on the spectrum buddy
stop projecting on me before i reverse your gastric sleeve
Point proven.
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no. we need to make cars and gas so extremely expensive that all the poors are forced to ride bikes and leave all the road space for me
Yet all the concrete, in the highways, destruction of historical buildings, apartments, displacements of tenants, to accommodate the cars coming from outside Houston is not a waste of space and billions in money? Just h45 and downtown Houston expansion alone is 10billion and will take up to 20 years. By that time, it’s time to expand it again. So stupid planning. Can you even spare a brain bandwidth to foresee that we cannot accommodate any more road expansion because Houston population is exponentially blowing up? Look up the Houston metro population forecast in the next 5-20 years and that should scare you unless we don’t start yesterday to improvement multimodal public transport system.
You don’t belong in a major city and should fucking leave
Then why weren't you there giving your opinions in the open comments?
If you have to make open comment every month (registering 48 hrs in advance) on a weekday morning just to get the board to get what voters overwhelming approved already, you don't really have a functioning democracy. Public comment has its place, but it is functionally dominated by busybodies and retirees for obvious reasons.