That's great news, krosfyah. If it gets off to a good start, gets some good buzz and can put the recent accidents in the rearview mirror, while showing Houstonians that this concept, foreign to H-town since the big auto companies bribed city officials to replace our excellent and extensive streetcar system with buses about 60 years ago, then people are going to see what they've been missing. Someday, it will reach to all parts of town that have the right parameters for success. No one should ever think that this will ever turn a profit, not in the traditional sense. Large scale mass transit rail, and most other types of mass transit, almost never do. It's part of our infrastructure, our quality of life, a boost to restaurants, theatres, art galleries, movie houses, night clubs... in short, high quality urban living that brings people together into a more densely populated series of connected neighborhoods. Bringing a much higher quality of life for the hundreds of thousands of Houstonians that are sick of the suburbs with their big boxes on their tiny lots, next to dozens of neighborhoods almost exactly the same, with the "same" businesses in every one. The development along the rail will tend to be far more eclectic, by risk takers and visionaries. Architecture that stimulates instead of stultifying your senses. Clusters of high quality density that enables you to do what you want and need to do while feeling good about yourself and good about your surroundings. And hours of travel in a car or bus each way to get from your box to your business or pleasure? That will be a lifestyle you can choose not to have.
Fantastic. Metro claims the figures are "impressive". They aren't biased or anything, are they? Houstonians need to face reality, here. We overpaid for a "cool-looking" train that gives us no new functionality over what buses have done along that corridor for some time now.
We paid what was necessary to get ourselves out from under the old paradigm of just pouring more and more concrete. It offers plenty of new functionality for those that would never ride a bus and is a great beginning for a state of the art mass transportation system.
Lets turn this into a more positive thread like MadMax's story. On Saturday night I bought a 24-hour day pass and went downtown. We didn't even go into any clubs. We just stopped and had drinks at places w/ outside seating and did some people watching. It was a great night to be out. On Sunday morning, I rode the train to the Ensemble stop and ate at the Breakfast Club. That was tasty. Then jumped back on to go to the game (that we lost). Afterwards, it was such a excellent day, went down to Hermann park. All for 2$ and no car. It was awsome.
I never said it should make money. I stated that the money should go to the most effective means to transport Houstonians, which I feel is not throwing money at the Wham-bam-tram.
RM - the article in the Chronicle today takes it into account. It shows both the Rodeo and "non-event" days are higher than expected.
Bigtexxx, First of all, what are your viable alternatives. Second of all, in response to your first point, businesses having to close for construction. Have you seen what's going on along the Katy Freeway. Several business will have to close, Ikea is currently building an entire new facility which it will have to move to, and the Marquee Center had to rip up its 2 year old parking lot and build a parking garage for to move out of the Katy Freeway's way. Point is, any construction will bring inconvience so that's not a valid point.
What is MY criteria for success? In order of importance: 1. Do people ride the train? If more people ride the trains than the comperable bus routes, then that is one measure of proof that it is doing its job. So far this is true. Buses are still running up and down Main St. but more people chose to ride the train. Buses are cheap...but if people don't ride it them, then they are a waste of money. 2. Does it improve qaulity of life? Walking is more pleasurable than freeway traffic...to me. Plus the rail connects many of Houston's best cultural centers. I am looking for a job along the line. If I'm successful, I see my QOL increasing 10 fold. 3. Does is promote new development? It's a little early since the construction phase was hard. Although this is a bit of a misnomer since all downtown streets were being rebuilt...not just Main St. So construction can't be blamed only on rail. But clearly things are showing a positive benefit along the line and now that construction is over, the pace of development should increase. 4. Does it help to promote the economy of the city? Building on Points #2 and #3, are major businesses interested in relocating to Houston. Do we attract major events such as conventions or...ahem...the Superbowl. We have already had two huge corporations consider relocating downtown (Citgo moving from Oklahoma and ChevronTexaco to consolidate local area offices). Every company that relocates, every event, every small business all helps the local economomy. Is there a 1-to1 correlation? No, but everything is symbiotic and feeds off each other and the rail is a positive factor in that city's 'circle of life' ...not a negative factor. 5. Does it releive congestion? Jury is still out and we won't truely know for probably 20+ years. But to appease Tex I added it here (since this is always one of the critics arguments). This is a debatable point depending on how you approach it. Virtually every city in the world w/ a successful rail system also has auto congestion but the city still functions very well because people have alternative modes of transportation. Cars will always fill freeways...they do in every major city in the world. If that is true in Houston...what choice do we have? BTW, If I'm successful finding a job downtown. , that will be at least one car off the road. Many people are making similar choices and will continue to do so as long as points 1-4 continue to hold true. Am I forgetting anything? If points 1-5 hold true, the cost of rail wll prove it's worth it 10x over because the light rail system accomplished things that no other mode of transportation is capable of doing.
My viable alternative is an express bus system similar to that of Curibita, Brazil's. I already wrote that. Please read the thread before asking me questions I have already answered. Thanks in advance.
Rail ridership figures called `impressive' By LUCAS WALL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Ridership on the Main Street light rail line is rapidly growing, according to first-quarter statistics the transit authority released Monday. Some 1.58 million passengers have taken the train in the first quarter of this year, and average weekday boardings -- the transit industry's standard for reporting ridership -- has topped 13,000. An estimated 604,300 passengers rode the train in March, the highest monthly total logged since passenger operations on Houston's first light rail line began Jan. 1. The March total topped the 558,257 boardings estimated for January, when hundreds of thousands of people rode the new train just to have the experience. Last month's tally was boosted by the three-week Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at Reliant Park, which accounted for about 169,000 boardings. To gauge true daily demand, Metro compares ridership figures excluding special events, such as the four-day rail grand opening, Super Bowl festivities and the rodeo. The March numbers show roughly 435,000 nonevent trips made aboard trains, a 22 percent increase over February's nonevent boardings of 357,088. January saw 354,180 nonevent boardings. David Wolff, addressing reporters Monday afternoon at his first news conference as chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, called the ridership figures "impressive." "Clearly, Houstonians are taking to rail, and rail is rising to the challenge as a key component of meeting Houston's needs for an integrated transit system," Wolff said. "Our city has been one of dispersed activity centers, often isolated from one another. Now we have people from the Medical Center going downtown for lunch, people who need treatment at the Medical Center are staying at downtown hotels, and families can go to Reliant Park and the Museum District easily on the same day." He said he expects that number to almost triple by year's end, helped in large part by modifications to Metro's bus system, scheduled to take effect May 30, that will force thousands of passengers to switch to trains. "We feel these changes will increase our boardings, based on our current ridership, to 35,000 passengers per day," Wolff said. Despite the increase in ridership, the "street-running" 7 1/2-mile MetroRail line has been plagued by collisions. The latest, No. 32, occurred Friday evening when Metro police say a woman ignored a red light downtown and clipped a train's side. Metro last week completed adjustments to traffic signals in Midtown and the Museum District to stop all car traffic with red lights 15 seconds before a train enters an intersection. Previously, traffic moving parallel to the trains would get a green light, which Metro police said led to 19 crashes from illegal turns. Other safety improvements are under review, including whether to extend the all-red signals to the Texas Medical Center. "We are busy working to get drivers and street-running rail to be compatible," Wolff said. "It would help if drivers would observe the traffic laws."
LMFAO, you and jorge and the rest of the anti-rail crew have been pimping the Curitiba mass transit system for years. Since when did a third world city (with far fewer cars per capita, I imagine, and many more carjackings) become the appropriate model for infrastructure? you would never ride that crappy thing anyway, and neither would most people.
People don't ride buses in Houston. Maybe in Brazil but not here. Why spend money on a system that people inherantly don't like? So what is your next 'viable' option?
Gondolas! They can come down to ground level to pick up passengers (I guess the ADA argument against monorails) and go up over traffic so they don't interfere with automobiles. Well it makes more sense than a train running down the middle of Main street. (I will never quit pointing out the utter ridiculesness of that idea) The would be cheaper since you only have supports every 1/4 mile and the rest is just cable. They would be flexible in their routing and easily extended. They are energy efficient and they are fun!
Have all of these people actually been to Curibita, Brazil or is this just some propaganda that was shown in a fancy powerpoint presentation at the anti-rail meeting? No offense if you have been there, its just such a random example of the ideal mass transpotation mecca. I gotta schedule my vacation there. Rio? Carnavale? Screw that, I gotta see the bus system in Curbita.
http://www.sustainabletimes.ca/articles/curitibaecocity.htm They created a spiderweb pattern through the city with roads that only a bus can ride on, much like the corridor that a commuter train would ride on. There are certainly some good ideas that we could get from the system in Curitiba, but it does not preclude rail. In fact, the system that they created there would be a great model to build a rail system from. The spokes of the wheel could be rail lines with local bus service from the train stops (every 3-5 km) to the surrounding area.
Thanks Andy for posting that article. That is an interesting system they built. I could see how it has some advantages. Here is one interesting comment in that article: One of the reasons for Curibita's transit success story is that Curibitanos weren't already wedded to the automobile in the 1970s, says Todd Litman, Director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, one of Canada's leading research centres for sustainable transportation. I still doubt it would be successful here because buses have such a negative image. Great idea for a developing city where it is cheaper to ride this bus system than buy a car. But we already have cars and we ain't giving them up for a bus.
