Houston: METRO wants your help reimagining your transit system!

Yes, it is. Especially in the built in bottlenecks on 45.

 

Yes, it would. It's a faster, more energy efficient, less traffic inducing, overall better plan than "bus expansion" that doesn't work.

 

Would a rail be able to depart every 5 minutes with 50+ people like the buses currently do?

 

If you build a good system, you can get more riders per hour... And cause less congestion to the traffic that busses help create.

This can be argued back and forth forever...the bottom line is that the current system in place sucks, and nobody can show that any expansion of the current system will be capable of fixing things as the population rises.

 

Fine. Double in 10-15 years isn't provable. It isn't a particularly relevant point but fine. It's been clearly demonstrated by all accounts the growth will be substantial but nobody knows for sure. Houston also might get hit by an asteroid that wipes out Katy and throws off these numbers. Or Houston's economy goes bonkers and the population grows by triple. Who knows. Everybody agrees it is growing fast and that's what is important to keep in mind.

 

...and at what cost, Nick? The bottom line is that rail is ridiculously expensive.

there simply isn't a huge need for suburbanites to travel into the city on the weekends -- that's why there's limited traffic then. To build a rail to address a non-existent problem is the height of hilarity.

 

And unfortunately, due to Houston being an established and endlessly sprawling city... We'll likely never know if rail is the solution either. We can thank past voters for continuesly voting against zoning laws.

 

I'll add the most surprising statistic: Our tiny rail has the 2nd highest ridership per mile in the nation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_light_rail_systems_by_ridership

Considering all that you said, how was your experience riding the rail instead of driving?

Your criticism(?) about folks hopping on and off for only a few stops or the lack of fare enforcement is not totally fair. The rail has been designed to convince folks to drive less in some of the busiest stretches of local traffic. It achieves this by focusing on ease of access and integration with local transit.

If you force people to wait in a line to pay their fare, you lose a tremendous component of the ease of access. You get around the free-loading contingent by engaging the employers of your riders with pre-loaded Q cards and registration drives. Sticking a uniformed officer near the busiest stations is all it takes to dramatically increase compliance.

As for the new lines, I agree with you that the University and the Galleria lines would have been much better options. You can look up all the nonsensical reasons why we won't be seeing the University line anytime soon. I am, however, optimistic about the east end line and the extension into downtown. Besides being used to get to the theatre district, I am hoping the development boom in the East End will continue and some of the minute maid/convention center traffic gets eased.

 

So is rebuilding and expanding the freeways ever 5 years, which cause more headache, traffic issues and temporary increased gridlock than light rail construction did (and by the time it's done, the population has exceeded the capability).

And the point is that as the population continued to grow outwards, so does the traffic issues. The same bottlenecks occurring during the week are happening on the weekends now. In areas that were never designed to accommodate as many people as they do, and are still growing.

 

If the population continues to expand at its current pace, something will have to give.

 

asinine logic.

Isn't a different ballgame anymore ...but will it be in 20-30 years? That's the point. Houston is becoming immensely more dense over the past 5 years, IMO. Projects like Ashby Highrise are happening all over the city. Furthermore, single home lots are being subdivided two or more times. I don't have any figures but I don't feel like I'm going out on a limb by stating Houston density inside 610 has probably close to doubled over the past decade and there are more projects underway.

On my street alone, there were 4 lots (each with one home/building) purchased by a developer that turned it into 17 residences! There are condo's at the end of my street (built just before I moved in) that were clearly 2-3 lots and are now 6 condo's. That's just my street! Ashby Highrise is about 5 blocks from me. There was an apartment complex with about 50 units that will now have over 250 units. Rice Village is almost finished building a new complex that was just 1 story strip center that is now an 8 story complex with apartments. On Greenbriar and 59 there is a new apt complex almost done that was once a 2-3 story appts building that is now an 8 story apt building.

Your logic that Houston isn't dense is backward thinking.

 

Pretty sure if you polled the people who actually are the ones making the commute everyday, whether by car or bus, they'd support an alternate system.

Then again, Houston has voted for rail at least twice... and still can't get anything significant built, so I guess the opinion of the masses doesn't matter if its not in line with the decision makers with $$$ backing.

 

You guys are arguing as if bigtexxx said No to mass transit. He is not. He's saying No to rail and Yes to buses.
I don't know one way or the other which is better. But I want to see arguments between bus and rail. Not rail versus highway expansion.

 

weak logic. And anecdotal, the weakest form

If you can't see the difference in density b/w NYC and Houston, you're not somebody I would choose to spend my time arguing with.

And the idea of building something now for demand that may not show up for 30 years, if at all, is simply a waste of money.

 

WRONG

45 South b/w 610 and BW8 are flowing at 66 mph RIGHT NOW. Almost rush hour. I just looked at Houston transtar

you're all about hyperbole

 

Expanding bus service adds to current traffic issues, and may not get the ridership that rail does. Light rail ridership exceeds what the busses were doing.

 

He's right, Houston isn't dense.

However, he is part of the backwards thinking folk that believe this lack of density or our current pace of expansion is OK.

People keep moving further away from the city center. In response, some of the jobs move along with them. With every new locus, there is a burst of support development (restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc.)

There is most definitely a breaking point. The most volatile link in this chain is job availability; once that staggers, everything collapses. If you want to understand what happens to a community when the jobs move away, look no further than Detroit.

Do you see that blight along I-45 heading into town from Bush? It isn't all that difficult to imagine its spread.

I'm not against what is happening along the Energy Corridor, the Woodlands, Sugarland, etc. This is what makes Houston unique. All I am asking is that we strengthen the links and continue to increase the density of our communities.

Sustain growth, improve quality of life and the environment. What more can you ask for?