Congressman John Culberson blocks federal funding for rail on richmond and post oak FOREVER

Faster pace, hippies, higher intellect

 

indian?

 

Yea man I wanna be able to grab busy boy, park n ride, and eat it on my way to UH. While sitting next to my bum of choice

 

So... still no rail on Richmond. Meanwhile the commuter rail down US90A they're talking about will run pretty close to my house. Does that mean I get to vote on approving it like Culberson's River Oaks buddies get to for the Richmond line? No? I'm so surprised. I'm happy for Metro that they've managed to placate a powerful enemy. But Culberson can shove it.

 

Gotta wonder if the people saying stuff like "We don't want to turn into San Francisco," with no context, have ever ridden nice public transit. Now that I've started taking the train in Austin to work every day, my commute is 1 million times better. I can read, check out mentally and, best of all, not be actively stuck in traffic. Who knew that not being trapped in a car on a highway for hours at a time sucked?

Granted, I'm not sure rail is the answer: Rapid Buses with dedicated lanes like they have in Bogota sure look appealing. But, to passively dismiss investing in public transit because it would make us "turn into SF" is ignorant and neglects Houston's demographic trends of young people moving back into the loop.

Turns out the people that grew up in the suburbs, sitting in traffic, as kids don't want that life for themselves when they're adults.

 

Read the "I'm sorry" thread.

People who have lived in SF share their experiences.

 

I liked the DC, Berlin and Amsterdam public transport.

But like Ganja likes to point out, those cities are denser and cooler than us.

 

I don't want to fit in

 

Houston needs a Houston transit system. This ain't San Fran. Houston is massively sprawled compared to San Fran, and even then the greater San Fran area including San Jose is larger than Houston.

Commuter rail is a great place to start, and it should have been the focus over the Third Ward and Harrisburg lines. Too bad these "me too" carpetbaggers don't understand the spawl, heat and humidity like the natives.

 

That's the problem. You can't build enough commuter rail to properly service Houston. it's that spread out. You have to make choices with public transit and it will take an impossibly large budget to serve the suburbs by train. The easier route is to create an effective bus system that services suburbs properly. Here in the Twin Cities, buses can bypass highway traffic by using the shoulders so you see suburban buses make it to downtown in reasonable amounts of time.

In fact we had an experiment here with commuter rail. It was a complete disaster. That line hasn't come close to making its money and the metro council and other transportation departments here shifted focus to only building light rail within the city and servicing suburbs by bus only. They're focusing on buses and BRT for suburbs and a mix of light rail and buses for the city. Houston needs to take the same approach.

The Twin Cities has hit record levels of ridership every single year since the first light rail line launched. Granted the cities here aren't as spread out as Houston but the formula works. Commuter Rail will just be a big pile of wasted money. First, you have to hope that there's existing tracks that you can just lease and if there isn't well good luck to you there.

And this is Texas we're talking about. Who's going to approve funding for massive commuter rail projects these days. DART was lucky enough to get formed in the 80s when people (and the legislature) weren't so averse to spending on transportation. Plus you dont have the stupid situation of the city robbing Metro continuously of its tax dollars.

 

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http://www.nationalreview.com/article/435703/high-speed-rail-california-boondoggle

 

It would be nice if they had a bridge or something for the one on fannin. The traffic it clogs up on 610 feeder and old spanish is horrible.

 

I have a problem with eminent-domain laws applied to private projects. I know the supreme court deemed it legal a few years back, but I still don't like it.

 

A few years back? I think every oil pipeline that criss-crosses this country has been built using eminent domain.