Public Transportation

[jimmyev]

I used to use METRO until they did what no other transit system in the United States did - they got rid of their weekly/monthly passes.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by jimmyev

I used to use METRO until they did what no other transit system in the United States did - they got rid of their weekly/monthly passes.

Now that Frank Wilson is gone, I am hoping that the new administration will restore those passes.

[glorplaxy]

Getting rid of the month passes makes absolutely no sense to me. What is worse is that when they did this and raised their fares for $1.25 for one-way is when gas fell to something like $1.99. There's almost no incentive to take metro anymore.

[jfre81]

I care less that they're investigating Frank Wilson for whatever improprieties they think he might have committed. They should've just sacked him for all the stupid stuff METRO did on his watch in 2007-08 alone. Getting rid of those passes, hiking fares at a high point in ridership and buying expensive fuel contracts when prices were near their peak in 2008.

[Vicman]

Firstly, METRO needs to put in advertising.

Other major metropolitan transit systems do it. From a monetary standpoint it makes tons of sense. It seems like a waste of opportunity. Everyone else is doing it!

Secondly, bring back the passes.

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by jimmyev

I used to use METRO until they did what no other transit system in the United States did - they got rid of their weekly/monthly passes.

This I don't understand at all. A person that frequently uses transit does not want to bother with change and paying a fare everytime they travel. That is the purpose of a pass for the frequent rider. What kind of ignorance would do away with a pass system in a Metro the size of Houston. I would think the transit company would be looking for ways to attrack riders, not turn them off to riding the system.

I hope Houstons No Pass system doesn't spread to the rest of the country.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

This I don't understand at all. A person that frequently uses transit does not want to bother with change and paying a fare everytime they travel. That is the purpose of a pass for the frequent rider. What kind of ignorance would do away with a pass system in a Metro the size of Houston. I would think the transit company would be looking for ways to attrack riders, not turn them off to riding the system.

I hope Houstons No Pass system doesn't spread to the rest of the country.

Yeah, that's a pain. Good thing you don't have to do this here. What METRO did was go to a card system (though you can still pay per ride with cash/change) which works a lot like a prepaid debit card. You can load it on the bus, at a light rail station, at any of the stores around town from where you could previously get the passes. The card itself doesn't cost anything, but I think you have to load it with a minimum ($5-10?) amount when they give it to you.

METRO should, however, bring back the passes and integrate that old plan into the card system, which shouldn't be that hard to do. Rather than tracking how much you have on the card, it would show that you've paid for a weekly/monthly pass that would expire at a set date.

The worst move they've made in recent years is still the fare hike in 2008, when ridership was high because of gas prices.

[slickvik69]

For certain corridors it is good. The park and ride routes are ridden quite a bit but unfortunately quite expensive in comparison to all the other routes.

[cjbehmer]

I just need to ride tomorrow. Can I pay cash? How much from Katy to downtown and back?