Slick Vik

Have you walked that 5-10 min? That greyhound and bus stops get super sketchy. No one wants to go through that area drunk or esp if you're a girl

Get off at McGowen and walk down McGowen to smith or brazos or bagby and make a right. It's not that bad.

Similar to what they did in 2013. In 2014 there was an hov only plan.

You would love that, Slick, since you are all about telling everyone else what to do.

Let me guess are you against the government making you buy health care? And in the 70's when you were a young adult were you against airports starting security after the db cooper hijacking? Your motto is probably is freedom and liberty I'm sure.

I live 3 miles from work, so it doesn't really affect me. I was commenting on what colleagues who commute have said. which is mostly, they prefer to drive on, regardless of traffic

Stubborn people deserve to suffer

Most of the suburban park and rides in the outlying suburbs have adequate parking, so I'm not sure why you think this would be any different. In addition, it's not like people would have to give up their cars entirely or have to utilize mass transit everyday, but it certainly would be a convenient option for some days. You're telling me you wouldn't want an additional hour or two every day on the train where you can work on stuff/stream videos/listen to music while relaxing instead of fighting traffic?

No brother they're going to take my car keys from my cold dead hands

Hardly ANYONE rides the lightrail from skyhouse/houston house and the stop is literally right in front of the entrance. The majority of the residents would much rather take an uber to market square/midtown. The inefficiency of the lightrail to go through the heart of midtown is going to cost it thousands of ridership.

Why does everyone think that downtown residents ride the light rail?

How is it inefficient? It runs more frequently than the bus and is still $1.25. The fact you have to walk a few minutes shows the laziness of people that live here more than anything. And I have coworkers that live in Houston house and sky house that ride the rail daily.

It doesnt go through the popular parts of midtown aka west gray and bagby and where the bars are on Louisana.

The stops that it does go through, there a bunch of hobos

1. It's not that far of a walk from downtown transit center or McGowen to anywhere in midtown

2. For someone from London I'm surprised you're scared of poor people and minorities.

I would reccommend you stop smoking crack and reread that post.

Re read this entire thread

More deflection by Slick.

Seriously? NYC and London? Some of the most densely populated cities in the world? How about you answer my question about HOUSTON. Stop being a lazy debator. Don't switch topics. If you want to discuss rail in NYC and London you are free to start a thread. But we're talking about Houston light rail. And yall are making some pretty big claims about our light rail and are not able to back them up. I'm just asking for some back up.

Cloud,

You're saying i'm not giving rail enough credit? Okay, lets switch the assumption. What if I make the claim that all the recent downtown development is because of all the bus routes that flow into downtown? Which is to say, our bus routes have spurred hundreds of millions of dollars in development. Our bus routes are the reason Downtown is booming? Our bus routes are what is driving developers to build luxury high rises and office towers. How does that sound to you? Would I sound like i was smoking something if i made that claim?

You're smoking crack, I recommend you stop, it's a bad habit. Proclaiming buses that have been running for three decades have spurred development is frankly stupid.

Now you're making a new claim without backing it up. interesting. And since no city/county official is proposing or will ever propose the SlickVic vision of raising a tax on driving, removing parking requirements, etc. I'll just add it to the deflection list.

Obviously you cannot answer my question. I guess you're too proud or something? I don't know.

But for everyone else that is actually having a discussion, can we all agree that the light rail perhaps does not spur as much development as yall think it does? just perhaps? Is there at least that possibility?

Without backing what up? Look at the story of this country. It's very obvious. Then look at London or New York or other cities that don't obsess around the automobile and see how society functions. You're the laziest debator in the history of this board. At least try.

Or they'd just find a job in the energy corridor, westchase, the woodlands, etc. You're trying to kill downtown. Don't kill downtown.

I'm talking about the whole city

Try again. I've been a member since 2007. hardly ever post. You're the one with posting problem. So not going to answer my question?

The reason people drive more is because the system is set up to favor cars. Take away mandatory parking requirements and make all parking downtown $500 a month and raise toll prices to $10 one way and I guarantee you the "wealthy" people would be on the bus and train like anyone else. But you're too much of a moron to realize that. Keep on trolling

Ahh, now the name calling approach. okay. I'm the troll? haha. I have less than two hundred posts on this forum. Do you have anything better to do than post on the internet? You post too much.

Anyways are you going to answer my question or not? You can say no.

You are one of the biggest trolls in the history of haif. The fact you've done it so quickly is remarkable and pathetic at the same time.

Ahh more deflecting. My source showed that even low six figure commuters do not use local/rail service very often if at all in Houston. But again nice try deflecting. so, how about my question?

You're a clown and a sensationalist troll. You have deflected every point made to you. Still waiting you to answer samagon and others.

A more perfect source I could not have provided. Survey of commuters to and in Downtown Houston within the last couple of years. Wealthy people in Houston do not like public transportation. Not sure why that's even news to yall but whatever.

And I appreciate that some of your friends are making 6 figures. But some of these properties are being built for truly upper class populations. So again try answering my question. How can you attribute the development of a high rise luxury condo/apts. with the light rail? How did the light rail spur those developments?

Try answering that question.

Oh ok. So now people in the 1% aren't good enough. Need to be in the upper quadrant of that percentage. Stop moving goal posts. Like I said 6 figures doesn't blow me away. Come talk to me when you hit 8. I don't know why I accidentally typed 7 before.

We're talking about Houston Slick. As I mentioned earlier when I was in Italy I saw lots of wealthy people on the train.

But nice try deflecting my question. I provided a source like yall wanted. So how about answering my question?

High Income earners in HOUSTON do not use public transportation very much if at all. So how can the light rail be the spur of luxury high rise apartments/condos...?

Remember it was yall that made the claim about those developments on the development map...

A good percentage of my coworkers take the rail and they're all making 6 figures. Also there are a lot of people in the medical center who ride it as well.

Also I would say most people who ride park and rides make a decent income.

Look at any kinder survey and tell me rich people don't want to be in walkable areas with rail. These developers are purposely building next to rail for a reason. If you can't see that you're blind. Also to me half a mile is a reasonable walk to a rail station.

Now we're getting somewhere. I'm glad we agree. And if we can agree with my source and/or my observations that high income earners do not use public transportation very often if at all.

Then why do YOU or ANYONE else on this board attribute new development of high rise luxury residential towers with a primarily low income mode of transportation?

High income earners don't ride rail in Paris, London, San Francisco, New York, Madrid, Barcelona, Istanbul, etc? Give me a break.

When I go out to HH at Doc's, El Real, Uchi, original Ninfa's, Downtown, or Midtown. I ride the bus or rail and I'm not a shame of it. You don't have to park or get a DWI! There are so many people that die from drunks that drive everyday. So I tell my friends for $1.25 each way is well worth it. We are taking the bus to the Pride Parade.

Not to mention uber if it's past the hours of public transit operation. $1.25 is a tremendous deal particularly for the 102.

Streetcars also didn't have the following advantages that roads have had since world war 2.

subsidized road building, eminent domain, anti-urban federal home tax breaks and lending programs, positive feedback loops, and density-limiting zoning and parking policies.

Not to mention bribed politicians that refused to raise fares and forced streetcar operators to pay for road maintenance used by cars. This is actually something METRO has to do as well which basically doubles its construction costs

That's all yall got?

weak.

Throw something harder.

I have a Mercedes s550 and ride public transport all the time. And a 7 figure bank account with properties in various nations on top of that. Not sure what you're trying to prove here tough guy. Not to mention I know people that live in rice lofts that ride the rail fairly often. So you're full of it.

lol haha

Yall are too funny. I said what I said. nobody has proved me wrong. including Samagon.

I never said failure, you can put words in my mouth but that only proves you more wrong.

In any event.

I hope it's not a failure. Unlike most of the 281'ers on here, I actually live and work in downtown. I need it to be a success. I really do. But I don't think it will be.

The fact that the line is one month old means nothing. The line should at least be carrying as many people as the busses it replaced. Metro didn't plan well. I'm Not shocked. It's Metro. You all can try to defend Metro but it seriously only makes you look more foolish.

Also that fact that it's a half mile walk from the last station to the CoH courts is not a huge deal in itself. It's that it's not that safe. I'm not even sure how you can cross capitol near the overpass without jaywalking. what if you're in a wheelchair? What if it's night time (the city has night court) makes the cross even more dangerous.

Point is Metro could have offered a useful station in front of the courts for it's citizens, but like always they drop the ball. It's not about me. I will be just fine. I own a car. But what about those who truly rely on Metro? Remember, one of the intended purposes of Metro is to provide transportation options for the mobility impaired and for those without the economic means to move around easily. A station in front of the Hobby Center does not help them.

Not safe? Give me a break. Also half a mile walk is reasonable to a reliable train station.

That's not specifically what I was comparing, read the above posts again. The fact that I'm comparing the Midtown/Downtown area to Afton Oaks is probably a sore spot, because it's not exactly a favorable comparison.

The fact that you compare them at all is laughable. Afton oaks single handedly stopped a major transportation project from occurring. What did midtown do? Yes the pierce elevated is a barrier but midtown residents aren't the reason it's coming down, downtown power brokers are. It benefits midtown but ordinary residents had zero impact on this decision. But keep trying.

Out of touch? I'm describing a rich, inner-loop neighborhood in Houston that hates elevated structures and will selfishly screw over entire transportation networks because they're NIMBYs with money and can sway politicians to do what they want.

I just described two completely different neighborhoods. Neat, huh?

There's a huge difference between a narrow rail elevated structure and a 6 lane freeway. That's my point. Also downtown interests are the reason the pierce elevated is being torn down not midtown residents.

No, it does, but if you take a look at Google Maps, the railroad that you mention runs parallel to a drainage ditch, and that ditch extends along to Bellaire and Westheimer. The ditch makes an underpass for Richmond unfeasible, and while an overpass would work, remember that Afton Oaks blocked a 610 widening back in the 1990s, specifically calling out elevated structures. There's a quote from said article mentioned in another post to back that up, and it also provides some insight on how Afton Oaks and Midtown have a thing or two in common.

Comparing the pierce elevated to a rail overpass shows how out of touch you are.

He meant we're behind the world in terms of trains, as this is a trains thread and not a food or toilet thread.

Train-wise we are behind Europe, Asia, Australia, and parts of North and of South America.That leaves us only ahead of Africa and Antartica.

Africa actually has 12 cities with train systems.