Light Rail Progress (Houston, Howe: employment, to live in, centers)

[Univ_Texas_Alum_30]

The light rail itself is pretty idiotic. It only serves the inside loop and it costs more to ride it and park at one of the light rail parking lots than it does to pay for parking downtown. The only people it really benefits are people living on the rail line and working or going to school downtown, the med center or Rice U. This is such a small portion of people as to be pretty worthless. Most people have to drive to get to it and its pretty pointless to take rail such a short distance once you're already in your car.

Additionally, it drives on the street for the most part so it gets stuck in traffic a lot. It stops WAY too long at each stop so that it takes a ridiculously long amount of time to get anywhere. Also, it KILLED a ton of people who didn't understand the complex way that it jutted in and out of actual traffic.

Light rail = two thumbs down

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by Univ_Texas_Alum_30

The light rail itself is pretty idiotic. It only serves the inside loop and it costs more to ride it and park at one of the light rail parking lots than it does to pay for parking downtown. The only people it really benefits are people living on the rail line and working or going to school downtown, the med center or Rice U. This is such a small portion of people as to be pretty worthless. Most people have to drive to get to it and its pretty pointless to take rail such a short distance once you're already in your car.

Additionally, it drives on the street for the most part so it gets stuck in traffic a lot. It stops WAY too long at each stop so that it takes a ridiculously long amount of time to get anywhere. Also, it KILLED a ton of people who didn't understand the complex way that it jutted in and out of actual traffic.

Light rail = two thumbs down

What about the Park&Ride riders from Houston's suburbs that make up more greater than %25 of riders? What about serving Houston's largest and densest employment centers?

"KILLED a ton of people..." really define a ton.

[predatorprey]

Light rail was a complete waste of money.

[AjaxMalone]

While I not exactly agree with the usage of light rail, this city needs a public transportation system other than buses. Since light rail passed, I am for it since it would be more work to go back in time and install heavy rail. However, the longer and longer this delays the more it hurts the city of Houston. A city this large and with this much potential does not have an effective way of transporting people in the city. I think it's mainly the mindset of Houstonians who would rather sit in traffic than get on a train where someone is sitting right next to you.

This is holding back the greatness of Houston, and it's a damn shame that it's happening.

[DANNYY]

Construction for new METRO rail line causes power outage for neighbors | abc13.com

Well the positive news out of that is that they are at least constructing the rail line!

[H'ton]

I have a question for those who have criticized our light rail system- have you ridden the rail at least 20 times and do you fully understand the concept behind Houston's system compared to the one in Dallas?

The main street line was always intended to be the start of a bigger urban system. I have ridden the rail many many times, at many different times of the day and week just to witness how it is being utilized. I almost always see the cars packed, sometimes I can't even find a seat; here is what I've seen

-I have seen downtowners use the rail to get from one end of downtown to another during their lunch break
-I have seen med students (in scrubs) take the rail from the med center to a park and ride or their apartments
-I have seen patients use the system to get from their hotel to the med center
-I have seen people with bicycles board and then get off and ride their bikes elsewhere
-I have taken the rail for numerous events, and have always seen it PACKED for Texan's games, the rodeo, conventions, car shows, etc.
- I have seen those who couldn't afford a car utilize the system to get to work
- I have seen families and tourists utilize the train to visit the museum district, zoo, and Hermann Park

The Main Street line was the most logical choice because of 'its bang for the buck' factor. This thing has been an overwhelming success.

All I ask is that you do research and ride it at least 20 times, at different parts of the day/week and report what you see. This is one of the things that Houston should be proud of. they actually got it right!
In return, the main street line has already led to the creation of millions of dollars of development within a 1/2 mile radius of the line.

Houston is responding to the fact that the inner loop will be denser in the future. Imagine 2 or 3 times the density, so it is more economical to move people via train, without individual cars. UH/TSU will soon be connected to this system as will uptown, east end, up Richmond, and north side and all of these areas can be accessed without a car, without getting on and clogging up the roads or freeways.

The concept behind the system in Dallas is to get people into the city and out..... but doesn't address the already (or growing) urban pockets in the city. Judging by the Main Street line we are doing things the right way bc we currently have park and ride which gets people from the suburbs to downtown. The rail system would then get you around the city after that.

There is a plan in the future to connect our urban system to a intermodal station which then links up to commuter rail to the suburbs and possibly to other cities but all of this is way off in the future.

Whether we like it or not we have to plan for the fact that the inner loop is going to get denser and this is a way to connect those dense pockets efficiently.

[Oildog]

I hope they connect the airports to downtown or the med center in my lifetime...

[AjaxMalone]

Originally Posted by H'ton

I have a question for those who have criticized our light rail system- have you ridden the rail at least 20 times and do you fully understand the concept behind Houston's system compared to the one in Dallas?

The main street line was always intended to be the start of a bigger urban system. I have ridden the rail many many times, at many different times of the day and week just to witness how it is being utilized. I almost always see the cars packed, sometimes I can't even find a seat; here is what I've seen

-I have seen downtowners use the rail to get from one end of downtown to another during their lunch break
-I have seen med students (in scrubs) take the rail from the med center to a park and ride or their apartments
-I have seen patients use the system to get from their hotel to the med center
-I have seen people with bicycles board and then get off and ride their bikes elsewhere
-I have taken the rail for numerous events, and have always seen it PACKED for Texan's games, the rodeo, conventions, car shows, etc.
- I have seen those who couldn't afford a car utilize the system to get to work
- I have seen families and tourists utilize the train to visit the museum district, zoo, and Hermann Park

The Main Street line was the most logical choice because of 'its bang for the buck' factor. This thing has been an overwhelming success.

All I ask is that you do research and ride it at least 20 times, at different parts of the day/week and report what you see. This is one of the things that Houston should be proud of. they actually got it right!
In return, the main street line has already led to the creation of millions of dollars of development within a 1/2 mile radius of the line.

Houston is responding to the fact that the inner loop will be denser in the future. Imagine 2 or 3 times the density, so it is more economical to move people via train, without individual cars. UH/TSU will soon be connected to this system as will uptown, east end, up Richmond, and north side and all of these areas can be accessed without a car, without getting on and clogging up the roads or freeways.

The concept behind the system in Dallas is to get people into the city and out..... but doesn't address the already (or growing) urban pockets in the city. Judging by the Main Street line we are doing things the right way bc we currently have park and ride which gets people from the suburbs to downtown. The rail system would then get you around the city after that.

There is a plan in the future to connect our urban system to a intermodal station which then links up to commuter rail to the suburbs and possibly to other cities but all of this is way off in the future.

Whether we like it or not we have to plan for the fact that the inner loop is going to get denser and this is a way to connect those dense pockets efficiently.

Great post. However the street level of the light rail is what really ticked me off. This just clogs up the street more. And to tell you the truth, I have not rode the light rail, mainly because it has been little use to me. But with the new extensions I would definitely have more of a reason to use the system.

I also don't know how far off the intermodal station is. My guess is anywhere between 5-8 years?

[AjaxMalone]

Originally Posted by DANNYY

Construction for new METRO rail line causes power outage for neighbors | abc13.com

Well the positive news out of that is that they are at least constructing the rail line!

Hello, Dannyy. Long time reader, first time poster. I'm a huge fan of yours.

Thank you for that link, I was quite confused on if they were continuing the rail construction. Sucks to be them though!

[just4ivaylo]

Great...more delays. It's simply not acceptable to have this type of progress in a metro area of 6 million.