skwatra

This country doesn't need the "kick ball" championship anyway. I for one couldn't give a rats petute. Let's stick to advanced/superior games like football.

that "kick ball" championship made the US $623 Million in 1994, and 2022 would surpass that by a long shot.

its a popular sport for a reason, either check it out or just ignore it.

i love american football, my favorite sport. but going to soccer matches is a lot of fun. its as tense as baseball (every shot like every swing) but a lot more action and athleticism. and watching your country play is beyond passion. the only thing like it here going to a big college football game.

being in south africa was the most amazing experience. and i hope to be in Brasil possibly for the Confederations cup if we make it or maybe the World Cup. i have no desire to go to Qatar though.

Actually, Waste management has cut down their travel/training significantly over the past couple of years.

ALL traveling employees are encouraged to cabs and are strongly against hiring town cars to the airports, but are allowed to "share" a rental if able.

It is my understanding that they are particularly tight fisted with their expense reports.

I'll have to ask my neighbor. He works for Waste Management, travels about 1/2 time and always parks his car at the airport.

Back to the point, most business travelers take cabs if they can't drive. I would think Airport Direct should be focused on casual travelers leaving houston, and visitors coming in. And IMO as a frequent traveler, $15 is too much for Houston.

For La Mexicna, the Barbacoa breakfast tacos are amazing (Saturday and Sunday only). Good call.

under YOUR scenarios.

Sorry, like I said before, not everyone has can expense it like that, and I'm sure there are those companies that try to pinch a penny if their people are working in downtown.

I never said taking a cab from DT to Galleria was 10 bucks, but that's about the fare to the Montrose/River oaks area. A cab ride to Galleria to downtown is about $15, though.

Yes, under my scenarios. That's why i said "I don't think its worth it"

I still don't know any company that will not expense a taxi, parking, or mileage. I won't argue that there aren't companies out there that won't allow rentals.

And now you've narrowed it to companies downtown. So it sounds like this service is for Business travelers who work downtown whose companies will not expense parking or a cab (you can subtract Exxon, Chevron, and Waste Mgmt as three companies i know that provide a private car service or expense mileage/parking), or for visitors who are coming in town alone, and sticking close to downtown.

Regarding the taxi fare to the galleria, sorry that's how i read your post "there are people that are much willing to spend $10 from downtown and take the cabs or public transit from there and just spend an extra $15 or so to get to the galleria or take the train to the Med center."

i was assuming the $15 was the airport direct, and the $10 was a cab from downtown to the galleria. In my experience it would be closer to $18-20 each way.

Under the scenarios in which I travel. If my trip is for work, I drive get paid for mileage and parking. If I travel personally, I pay $5.20/day for parking and earn free days. So even if I'm gone for 5 days (usually its shorter), I'm better off driving. For the rare longer trips, if I can't get a ride I will spend the extra 32 minutes on the 102.

Its a good service and I hope it continues and thrives. I just think in a city where the cost of living is so low, renting a car is cheap (and necessary for a lot of activities) and almost everyone has a car, $15 is pricey.

And please tell me what taxi service you use that you can get from downtown to the Galleria for $10, I've been missing out!

Chuy's on Westheimer near Kirby

Rudy's BBQ (out near the beltway on 290) or Spring. Wouldn't make a special trip but if you're out there

Fadi's on Westheimer and Dunvale

Hubcap Burger downtown - lunch only Monday through Saturday

Pappa Geno's on Ella and TC Jester, amazing cheesesteaks

Calliope's - cajun

Just because you think its impractical to you, doesn't mean that others are going to look at it the same way.

I never said it was impractical. I just think its too expensive to be worth it.

But when you're talking about the CASUAL traveler or tourist, they are generally trying to look where they can cut expenses, so a trip from the airport would be a substantial savings. If they DO need a car, they would rather for as little as time as possible.

Not every person that travels is on an trip where they can expense it, nor do they know every person in every city to have a friend pick them up.

As i have discussed on another thread, some major companies won't allow their traveling employees to rent cars as a safety measure, and I think that particular trend is growing.

My point was you wouldn't be saving much money, if any by taking airport direct. Obviously there are some cases of people coming to only visit downtown or the med center but those are few and far between.

I would like to know of what Major companies won't let their employees rent cars. There may be some, but I doubt there are any that will not allow them to expense a taxi. Who (from a major company) travels for work and gets a full fare ticket, $50/day for meals, then does research online to find the Airport Direct that will save their company $45? I have vendors from at least 30 different companies, some international, come to my site ranging from 50 person companies to large corporations and government entities, and they always rent cars.

i took this trail from the Heights to downtown for the first time in a while. it looks like they've made some progress on the unfinished portion close to UHD, saw some wooden framework and rebar down for a small section but no concrete. i can't remember the last time i was there... has there been recent progress?

just read through this whole thread. I fly out of IAH 10-15 times a year, and I've never used this service. Half my trips are for work, so I'll take my $.50/mile mileage reimbursement, then park at the airport and earn points that I use to park for personal trips where I drive to the airport (usually 3 day trips).

I will be going on a two week trip over the holidays, and I'm debating what do to. If it were less than $15 I may take the Airport Direct. I really wish they would take transfers (why don't they take the Q card if its Metro?). Yes, $1.25 is not a big deal, but what if I'm coming from a Park and Ride and already paying $4.50?

Since I'm already taking a day off work, I may take the 102, though last time I did that it was painful...

For comparing to other cities, a lot of people brought up Chicago and NYC. We've been through this, you can't compare those cities to Houston. Though even there I wouldn't spend $15. From LGA I take the M60 to the subway for $2.25, and its full of people with luggage. The only time I pay more is the Airtrain from EWR ($9) because that's the only option. Coming from ORD to MDW, the train is full of people with multiple checked bags. I would never take the Super Shuttle, its overpriced, and often you end up making a bunch of stops before you get to your destination and it takes forever.

For me the closest comparison is Denver. I fly there for work mostly, so I rent a car. But when I go for fun, sometimes I've rented a car, other times my friends have come to pick me up. I know there are some other services, but my friends wouldn't even let me consider it, just as I would not put my friends on a $15 bus in Houston when I can just go pick them up.

edit: you can rent a car most weekends in houston for under $25/day including tax. if you're a tourist, you're going to need a car anyways. other than those rare cases of friends coming in for a wedding where everything takes place downtown and parking would get expensive, most people visiting would be better off with a car then paying $30/person for the airport direct (assuming most people coming to visit/tourists are coming in groups).

I've heard more likely explanations regarding hands in cookie jars.

I'm just stating what I've seen, probably flown 20 times on Continental since they introduced fees. I sit near the front and get on the plane early, and watch all the passengers taking their luggage to the back. Its not until the overhead is close to full do I start to see people scrambling back towards the front to put up bags, then you see the people that use the first bin they see.

thanks so much, great info!

looking forward to riding my bike there whenever i go.

agree, its going to fit right in and keep the natural feel. I love being able to bike/walk around there and escape the city.

I've had the experience of being seated one of the forward rows, and finding that not only 'my' overhead bin was filled, but that the closest empty one was towards the back of the plane. Apparently, it's inconvenient for some people to haul their bags to their own seats. I find that random theft from their bags helps them to overcome this bad habit.

I believe people do this because they are afraid overhead is going to be full in the back, so they take what they can at the front. I don't think its because people don't want to carry their luggage to the back.

From today, looking north from the Allen Parkway side

just completed round trip to east coast--continental airlines going and us airways returning

i had purched the smallest wheeled bag possible to be a carry on and avoid the bagage fee--plus you can get ahead start in taxi line if you don't have to wait for bags to be unloaded--

all 4 legs of my journey the airplanes baggage compartments filled up before I took my seat and my bag was taken to cargo from jetway--there was no baggage fee of course --but it drives me crazy! I saw plenty of people take oversized bags or more than 2 bags etc-- does this happen to anyone else?

i just had a similar trip, except US Air out and Continental back. US Air lady stopped people early on and made them check their bags at the jetway. Just depends on the Agent, but yes, 9 times out of 10 they don't stop people and plenty have above the limit. Same with SW though, and they don't charge for checking in.

If you sit in the back of the plane you'll board earlier (for Continental), but of course have to wait to get off.

Us Air is random...

Boarding Processes

Ernies was sold as kylejack mentioned and is now under a new name. it was briefly a Dynamo Support group bar but the new owners didn't want to keep the old deal. haven't been back there since.

isn't Union Bar on Bagby in Midtown? is there one downtown too?

The reason I go to Downtown is because of chill bars. How about Union Bar, Deans, La Carafe, Warren's, The Brewery Tap, Flying Saucer, Molly's, Shay McElroy's... etc?

I'll have to check some of those out. I've been to La Carafe and Saucer plenty, but when i used to go it was mostly for the clubs (though we did go to Warren's to predrink - we should add that cheap bars downtown) so i just have that perception as the reason to go there. I'll have to explore again, but I live within walking distance of plenty of bars...

And everyday they have a $3 fire sale where one beer is that price on tap.

If you go to clubs, prices are steep - but same with Washington. My only problem with downtown was there weren't enough chill bars, but that may have changed.

i don't drive to go out, but downtown is easier to find parking then a lot of other spots. assuming you don't mind walking a few blocks.

December for me... definitely don't go out as much in Houston any more. I have been to the Saucer for happy hour type stuff, and HOB for shows and each time there seemed to be plenty of people at bars/restaurants around those areas. but not sure about the late night Main street crowd. I'm not a big fan of Washington, I'll stick to chill bars in midtown.

So it sounds like the feds will give METRO the $ for the Red Line purchase if METRO rebids the order. It is unknown if CAF will be the vendor to win the revised procurement process. IMO if "new" METRO wants to build public confidence in what is now acknowledged to be an outlaw agency, they will contract with anybody but CAF.

In any case I can't imagine the new Red Line cars will be available in April 2012 as METRO said in March 2009, since we've lost 18 months since the original order.

And if they have to start completely over (RFI/RFP) this is going to cost a lot as well as be a big schedule hit. The procurement process is very expensive just to get to the point where you pick a vendor, especially when the Feds are involved. Hopefully the changes they make are minor and they can reuse a large portion of the original requests and the vendors can reuse their bids, but Metro will probably be very cautious this time around which will kill the schedule even more.

From Chris Canetti (new President who replaced Luck):

"While on the subject of the new stadium, and coming off of a match that was ridden with football lines, I want to let you know that we do not intend to play soccer games with football lines in the new facility. Texas Southern University will play its home football games there, but we are addressing this situation now so that we can have the proper knowledge, plans, and technology to make sure that our intentions are met."

Well here's the reason of the uncertainty of the Federal Grant money:

Feds say Metro violated procurement laws in rail project

Isn't that a pretty obvious stipulation they should have known about? Things like this take a long time to work out...