Justin Welling

No surprise here, but I believe Neiman's Last Call has permanently closed in this shopping center (according to Last Call's website)...I'll try to drive by soon and see to make sure. We all saw this coming due to their financial issues, but good to recognize in terms of the potential redevelopment of the center.

@SBurbanist Great point! Given that the 151 is only a peak route right now, I wouldn't see an issue currently with the HOV set up. You are right though, the way METRO designed the TC for the park and ride buses can make it difficult during non-peak hours for those routes to stop at with the current HOV config. I cannot wait till we get two-way HOV lanes even tho it'll prob be 2035 or 2040 when that happens haha.

@Houston19514 Yeah, it looks pretty much finished. There definitely is enough space for two more routes. The 9 would be on the ground level and the 151 would be on the elevated one w/ access to the HOV. I guess we'll just have to wait till the next round of service changes to happen.

I used to ride the 33 Post Oak daily back in 2018. The morning trips were packed, sometimes standing room only. There was a wide range of riders, from business professionals who worked in Uptown using the park and rides and transferring at Northwest TC, to retail workers from Galleria to hotel workers. I am sure the pandemic has impacted this route greatly. Before the 433, the 33 during Covid was the only frequent route (usually 10-15 min) to go to 30 min so the route did struggle. It will rebound. I have faith in it. I did send a comment to METRO (off their public comment section) to bring two additional routes to the Lower Uptown TC to increase connectivity and transfer options. The 9 Gulfton/Holman and 151 Westpark Express should stop at the TC as well. I have no idea why METRO didn't think of that. Building a brand new transit center and only have three bus routes utilize it is underwhelming.

With regards to parking, probably an unpopular opinion, but I think the city should add on street parking to N Main and they could even meter it (if they wanted to get some $). Currently, two lanes in both direction allow people to fly down this road, so reducing it to 1 travel lane each way would force drivers to slow down, especially when there is such a large pedestrian presence during venues. Just a thought.

Update: Ninfa's reopened this past Saturday.

Completely agree with the need for better transit! I would love it if most of our suburbs did have better access. Unfortunately, the way the streets are designed around the car and the negative opinions associated with buses make it really difficult to see it becoming a reality. If the sales tax thing wasn't an issue, ideally it would be nice to have METRO takeover the park and rides from Ft Bend Transit. They have really perfected the Park and Ride model. There is a want for better park and ride service in that area. METRO's route 265 that runs from W Belfort P&R (the closest P&R to Fort Bend) to DT is the second highest ridership route for their park and ride network averaging 2,800+ rides a day back in Feb 2020 (before ridership plummeted).

Not sure if this is important to post here, but it looks like Ninfa's in BLVD Place is having some issues right now. Their business did look kind of slow at the start of the Pandemic, but it did seem to pick it up quite a bit recently. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Edit for those who might not have access to Chron. Restaurant has failed to pay rent due to the downturn, but they seem to be in negotiations, which seemed promising this past week. Sounds like management was a bit shocked to find the doors locked, but it does say they're trying to reach a resolution. Not sure really what will happen though. https://www.chron.com/entertainment/restaurants-bars/article/Ninfa-s-Uptown-locked-out-of-BLVD-Place-amid-15514022.php

For those who would like to see the full route, someone posted their full ride on Youtube. Here's the link:

I completely get that. The only issue I have now is that signal they took away served as a safe crossing for bus riders who shopped at the Kroger. They would cross at that pedestrian signal with their groceries to reach the stop. Wish the city thought about that before completely removing the signal. Also, I am shocked they would put in a traffic light and then remove it so soon. Those things are not cheap.

Kind of off topic, but the project about Memorial Heights reminded me. Does anyone know why they took down the traffic signal in front of the Kroger. I feel like they just put it up and then it was taken down? It was the light closest to the store front, not the one near the McDonalds.

I wonder where/if Dicks Sporting Goods and The Container Store will relocate. I know Gallery Furniture was wanting to leave/close anyways and Nieman's Last Call is likely on the way out since Niemans is closing almost all of their Last Call locations. I am excited to hear more in the future.

So it will likely just replace Sacred Heart ER's closed space.

I caught this on video last week of the BRT crossing San Felipe during a road test (had to upload it to Google Drive because file is too big to share on here). I hope they're only going this slow for the road tests and will get better at approaching the platform as the tests go on. Can't imagine this being successful if they have to cross San Felipe at this pace every time. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X5TNJ-HT7Vtak5_pmN0WXyyPyVf_yayc/view?usp=sharing

I have seen riders on Memorial Dr. where the signs are posted. Have I ever seen Memorial Villages PD enforce it? No, not really. I am sure the signs are there to make sure drivers and cyclists don't come into contact due to the roadway being narrow with no shoulders in some areas. If you do choose to ride in the roadway, you'll probably just get some angry looks from drivers, but thats the case throughout most of the city sadly haha. I do agree with your statement on how the Villages think the sidewalk is more of a hike/bike trail, so they think bike riders should use that instead. Unfortunately, the reality is that it is just a sidewalk and not really a proper hike/bike trial.