musicman Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 March 22, 2005, 10:48PMDowntown trolleys to stop rolling April 1Their demise is no surprise after ridership lossesBy LUCAS WALLCopyright 2005 Houston ChronicleRESOURCES TROLLEY TIMELINEUps and downs of Metro's vintage downtown bus service: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 What a shame, I thought they were pretty cool looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 What a shame, I thought they were pretty cool looking.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Downtown workers are going to be hurting for lunch. I know lots of people who used those during lunch time. Maybe this is just another step in the Mayor's "let's get healthy houston!" weight loss plan. People will:1) Not eat2) Walk to lunch The excuses METRO uses to explain their demise are so lame. This is just an attempt to boost the METRO rail ridership numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 ^ Low ridership is a lame excuse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 ^ Low ridership is a lame excuse?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>They need all the extra money they can find to help keep the rail afloat. Now that METRO has to come up with money up front for the extensions of the light rail instead of relying on the federal govt, they are really worried that the existing line will be the end of the system. I guess like most entities, it is all about money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 One of the things that really hurt trolley ridership was elimination of trips into Midtown and the East End, which were big lunch routes. Also, many Midtown residents took the Midtown trolley to work (for free) every day.I don't think that this is some scam to boost rail ridership numbers. Even before the first adjustment of trolley routes occured last year, the trolley ridership was going down as rail ridership went up. I think a lot of people are using rail to shorten walking distances north and south in downtown. And let's be real, here. There are hardly any major office buildings that are more than six blocks from a MetroRail stop. Even if you don't ever take Metro anywhere else, a MetroRail downtown pass costs only like $25 a year for unlimited trips between UH Downtown and the Downtown Transit Center. With one of those, a short walk to a MetroRail stop to navigate north and south in downtown, and another short walk, any restaurant in downtown can easily be reached without much physical exertion. And the rail runs a lot more often and is faster than the trolleys were. Finally, if you can't stand the weather outside, there's always the tunnels to get around, which is what it seems like the majority people are doing anyway.Metro needs to cut costs -- not to keep the rail line afloat -- but because like everyone else, they are experiencing the effects of expensive fuel, only on a huge scale. If changes aren't made, there's no other choice but to increase fares, which usually results in a dip in ridership for a while. There's a fine balancing act between implementing a fare increase and not decreasing overall revenue because of the decrease in ridership. Even if the rail line did not exist, I doubt things would be much different right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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