Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 04-26-2009, 12:04 AM
 
Location: ✶✶✶✶
15,216 posts, read 30,606,364 times
Reputation: 10852

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948 View Post
no stranger to the big city, subway seat safer than a locked ford escort going thru the poor side of town at night, i dont think so.
Well, not that we have subways here, but I didn't say a car provided zero safety. It doesn't provide infinite safety though. It's a car, not a tank. Doesn't take much to break a car window, or to shoot one out.

Anyway, you and I have discussed this before and I don't know if this was really intended to be a comparison of the safety of public transportation vs. driving a private vehicle, but maybe I'm wrong.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-26-2009, 09:30 PM
 
81 posts, read 294,499 times
Reputation: 20
I'll check out that link-thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-27-2009, 11:38 AM
 
98 posts, read 310,495 times
Reputation: 88
No, Houston does not have a good public transportation system. Most cities in the United States do not. Houston is worse than most. Is it safe? Yes for the most part. In five years of taking the bus/train and being at stops downtown I haven’t had any problems. It’s big city; mind your business.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-27-2009, 11:53 AM
 
Location: Houston, TX
254 posts, read 465,480 times
Reputation: 354
Yeah, METRO is the worst. Having been in Philly for 8 years now, I am always in shock when I go back to Houston (though I know what to expect). Public transportation isn't the greatest in Houston. My I suggest getting a Ford (because Ford is the Best in Texas!) and a good bicycle. You will need the Ford to get around HOUSTON and the bicycle+METRO to get around Houston.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-29-2009, 08:24 AM
 
81 posts, read 294,499 times
Reputation: 20
Good to know!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-29-2009, 11:23 AM
 
2,639 posts, read 8,300,949 times
Reputation: 1366
low crime and poor public trans. There was an article in the paper showing how long it takes some people to get to work. Some of them changed busses 4 times to go from Gulfgate to the East end and it took them almost two hours. On weekends it took another lady an hour and half to get to church about 12 miles away.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-29-2009, 05:47 PM
 
Location: Washington D.C. By way of Texas
20,525 posts, read 33,617,609 times
Reputation: 12177
Quote:
Originally Posted by westres1 View Post
low crime and poor public trans. There was an article in the paper showing how long it takes some people to get to work. Some of them changed busses 4 times to go from Gulfgate to the East end and it took them almost two hours. On weekends it took another lady an hour and half to get to church about 12 miles away.
Which is why Houston needs a train system. You can't even just upgrade a bus system. It still fights the same traffic as the cars and it is not as fast as the train. The only advantage that it has over the train is that it can go in different directions.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-03-2009, 09:21 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
28 posts, read 67,902 times
Reputation: 21
To the OP - you can probably tell that Houston's public transit options are not great. There is a single line of light rail but otherwise everything public depends on the bus network.

That being said, METRO can be fairly useful depending on where you live and work. It is easy to get from most major suburbs into downtown during the weekdays (via commuter bus), and easy to get between downtown and the medical center (via the light rail). Other METRO buses can take you where you want to go inside the loop but frequency varies and the schedule can be sporadic.

Houston is not a good place to walk - there are sidewalks but the condition varies and often there are large chunks of sidewalk-less road, so pedestrian beware. Also, the motorists here are not used to pedestrians. Heck, if I'm driving I don't even look to see if anyone's crossing the street anymore (bad, I know, but you tend to lose what you don't use).

Houstonians are all holding their collective breath and hoping that the light rail expansion (+4 lines, 35+ miles of track) will be completed by 2011. Especially the university line - if that one doesn't go through, the whole system might as well not exist.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-03-2009, 10:14 PM
 
Location: ✶✶✶✶
15,216 posts, read 30,606,364 times
Reputation: 10852
Quote:
Originally Posted by neb85 View Post
Heck, if I'm driving I don't even look to see if anyone's crossing the street anymore (bad, I know, but you tend to lose what you don't use).
Why don't you start again? *cough*

For most of what's beyond 610 it's a jungle out there, but close in, I don't see what's so hard for people getting around on foot. Any intersection busy enough to have crosswalks have them. Drivers' behavior regarding pedestrians varies but the reality is better than the perception. I have people wave me to go across when I was figuring they'd make the turn in front of me so I was planning to wait. Doesn't happen all the time but it does. Otherwise, you just look all ways (including behind, especially downtown) and cross when it's safe. It's not rocket science.

When I do this stuff I'm using METRO and/or walking.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2009, 08:05 AM
 
Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
4,084 posts, read 12,698,576 times
Reputation: 1974
Quote:
Originally Posted by jer2911 View Post
Does houston have a public transportation system?
There, I corrected it for you. Yes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2022 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top