The Way Houston's METRO Light Rail Should Have Been

[RedScare]

My children are not as well informed to know that the stinking ranting people (who are of all colors and ages, though 99% adult men) who occupy the area immediately surrounding the transit station, and who occasionally confront their friends nearby, do not represent a threat to their safety according to the neighborhood crime statistics.

They do not understand that just because there are overgrown weed covered foundations of wrecked buildings in sight with sleeping people on it during mid day, or who bathe shirtless in the nearby fountains in the mornings, that the neighborhood is really very safe.

They do not understand that few neighborhood businesses, no homes, torn-up sidewalks, and urban-prairie is just "what makes Houston Houston" and that they should just learn to accept that.

That the Sears bricked up the windows of their building due to repeated break-ins, and closes early due to lack of customers out of fear to be in the area at night is not noticed by my children, but that has nothing do with the safety of the area but is only a matter of perception.

That the station sits in the middle of this area, open on all sides, witness to it all, offering no refuge from real or imagined threats, and with no where or no one to run to... could that be the issue?

And yet, there are easy and relatively inexpensive solutions, as Highway6 has stated, which can improve real and perceived safety.

Public transit agencies must do the most they can for the most people on a limited budget. They can never be expected to please everyone. I realize that as a proponent of excellence in everything, you demand that METRO provide a system that makes you and your kids FEEL safe, even when you and they are in lower middle class or poor neighborhoods, and regardless of whether they actually ARE safe. But, in the real world of tight budgets and anti-tax protests, public transit agencies, including METRO, cannot be all things to all people. Clearly, public transit is not for you...or your kids. As a taxpayer who wishes to get the most bang for my transit buck, I applaud METRO for not putting ineffective fences around train stations. I recognize that fences around train stations would impede transit use...the exact opposite of METRO's mandate. I hope that METRO continues to build track and usable stations, and does not waste money on ineffective security features. As a pragmatist, I recognize that some people will not ride the trains if these feel good measures are not installed, but I recognize that the money not spent on these items will be better spent on useful items.

I hope that you do not take this as a slap at you, but a compliment. Your standards are just too high for public transit. You are better off in your car. Public transit is not for everyone. It is for the everyman.

Problem: Red you own a house on a corner lot and kids constatly cut across that corner and have worn a path in your grass.

A psychological barrier is just as effective as a physical barrier.

A small row of hedges or a planting bed at the corner may be perfectly scalable by the kids.. but the majority wont bother. That row of hedges defines that corner as part of your property and will solve the vast majority of kids cutting across your lawn. It wont cut down on all kids.. but enough that you wont have the problem of worn grass.

6, if you cannot see the difference between private property and a public transit station, I cannot help you. Allow me to simply concede the argument to you.

[VicMan]

The way METRO has its light rail set up now, you can pretty much ride for free. Who hasn't ridden it for free?

I have personally seen METRO police escorting people off the light rail who tried to "pretty much ride for free." I pay for my tickets, so I don't get escorted off.

[new major on the block]

In many ways I agree, but thinking back to the blood feud that was the approval for making a rail line, there was no way in hell a much more expensive elevated train plan would have passed, so its kind of a moot point.

It couldn't have been that much though. I mean when you think about it, its just straight steel columns and beams. Theres very little in the process to building it as far as tearing up the streets to lay track. Its almost like putting up billboard foundations and such. Houston has enough of those i can't imagine it really costing the tax payers as much as what the current lightrail projects are. I understand that a system was and is needed but i feel it was almost thrown out there just to make people feel better, and once one line was done, theres no other choice but to add to it in the same manner. If such an elevated system of train was more expensive than this current one then its true what they say, you get what you pay for. Its just one of those things i dislike about Houston and Texas in general, everything is always done half-assed here. Don't get me wrong, i'm a native Texan but still, everything is always screwed up or complex here.

[RedScare]

It couldn't have been that much though. I mean when you think about it, its just straight steel columns and beams. Theres very little in the process to building it as far as tearing up the streets to lay track. Its almost like putting up billboard foundations and such. Houston has enough of those i can't imagine it really costing the tax payers as much as what the current lightrail projects are.

Really? You really cannot imagine a 7.5 mile long bridge costing as much as laying track on the ground?

[ricco67]

It couldn't have been that much though. I mean when you think about it, its just straight steel columns and beams. Theres very little in the process to building it as far as tearing up the streets to lay track. Its almost like putting up billboard foundations and such. Houston has enough of those i can't imagine it really costing the tax payers as much as what the current lightrail projects are. I understand that a system was and is needed but i feel it was almost thrown out there just to make people feel better, and once one line was done, theres no other choice but to add to it in the same manner. If such an elevated system of train was more expensive than this current one then its true what they say, you get what you pay for. Its just one of those things i dislike about Houston and Texas in general, everything is always done half-assed here. Don't get me wrong, i'm a native Texan but still, everything is always screwed up or complex here.

Are you sure you're a native? If you had been, you would have remembered the howls of protest brought up when the monorail was proposed in the 80s.

Then again, the people from AO were also vocal about it since they considered it a Blight on their neighborhood.

Kinda makes me wonder if ANYTHING regarding transit will ever be built through there.

[RocketSci]

Public transit agencies must do the most they can for the most people on a limited budget. They can never be expected to please everyone.

Your standards are just too high for public transit. You are better off in your car. Public transit is not for everyone. It is for the everyman.

I happen to believe that public transit IS for everyone. In every other city I have lived in or visited I have taken public transit. In Houston I have taken busses, rail, and used park and ride when I could. The bones are there, but the followup in Houston is extremely inconsistent.

[kdog08]

In many ways I agree, but thinking back to the blood feud that was the approval for making a rail line, there was no way in hell a much more expensive elevated train plan would have passed, so its kind of a moot point.

In hindsight, only the Med Center needed elevated rail in my opinion. Introducing our style of light rail will require a learning curve for drivers in any city, especially Houston. However, people have adjusted and adapted to the rail since its inception.

[LTAWACS]

Because LA has a Harry Beck, London Tube styled System map that is far superior to what Metro has offered us. We too shall be world class once Metro adopts Christof's map for official use.

Good luck with that. It's like trying to explain the fast fourier transform to a tribe of lost chimpanzees.

[AtticaFlinch]

That the station sits in the middle of this area, open on all sides, witness to it all, offering no refuge from real or imagined threats, and with no where or no one to run to... could that be the issue?

Again, considering the crime data doesn't support your "real" threat, I've bolded and italicized your actual issue. All the other things you list are so much tinsel on the Xmas tree, and tinsel's pretty pointless if you don't even have a tree.

This all goes back to the fact you shouldn't live in a transitional neighborhood if you're going to get spooked by every little thing that moves there. And once more, your decision to live in that neighborhood is your fault. Sounds to me you'd have been a lot more comfortable in nice, safe, disinfected, plastic Cinco Ranch.

[RocketSci]

Again, considering the crime data doesn't support your "real" threat, I've bolded and italicized your actual issue. All the other things you list are so much tinsel on the Xmas tree, and tinsel's pretty pointless if you don't even have a tree.

This all goes back to the fact you shouldn't live in a transitional neighborhood if you're going to get spooked by every little thing that moves there. And once more, your decision to live in that neighborhood is your fault. Sounds to me you'd have been a lot more comfortable in nice, safe, disinfected, plastic Cinco Ranch.

There is nothing so frustrating to me as the attitude that everything around here is good enough as it is, and if I don't like it then move. There is room for improvement everywhere, and I live where I live because my area is a close as you can get in Houston to a livable walkable bike-able potentially car-less community.

Government, and government funded agencies like Metro, have an obligation beyond cost to the taxpayer - to provide the highest level of service and most positive impact to the community.

If you use Wheeler Station and feel safe and comfortable waiting for the bus at Wheeler Station at 830 on a Friday, more power to you - your opinion is valued and considered. If you don't use the Station, then you don't know what you are talking about.

Edit: Regarding "real" or perceived threat, I looked at the HPD web site on crime stats for the area, and just looking at the adjacent blocks to the station (4000 thru 4700 blocks of Main, Fannin, and San Jacinto) for August and September I counted 35 thefts, 2 robberies, 4 aggravated assaults, and 2 auto thefts.

[citykid09]

There is nothing so frustrating to me as the attitude that everything around here is good enough as it is, and if I don't like it then move. There is room for improvement everywhere, and I live where I live because my area is a close as you can get in Houston to a livable walkable bike-able potentially car-less community.

Government, and government funded agencies like Metro, have an obligation beyond cost to the taxpayer - to provide the highest level of service and most positive impact to the community.

If you use Wheeler Station and feel safe and comfortable waiting for the bus at Wheeler Station at 830 on a Friday, more power to you - your opinion is valued and considered. If you don't use the Station, then you don't know what you are talking about.

Edit: Regarding "real" or perceived threat, I looked at the HPD web site on crime stats for the area, and just looking at the adjacent blocks to the station (4000 thru 4700 blocks of Main, Fannin, and San Jacinto) for August and September I counted 35 thefts, 2 robberies, 4 aggravated assaults, and 2 auto thefts.

Couldn't have said it better!

I just don't know why Aesthetics is such a bad word here. Whats wrong with wanting nicely designed covered secure stations?

And Vicman yes, believe it or not there are plenty of people who ride and don't pay. You couldn't do that on a REAL rail system (unless you jump the turnstiles or run through the gates after someone else).

Face it, METRO has built the cheapest designed system in America, oh wait, the World! even third world countries have better built systems.

BUILD IT RIGHT OR DON'T BUILD IT AT ALL. OR BUILD IT WHEN YOU CAN BUILD IT RIGHT.

[RedScare]

Edit: Regarding "real" or perceived threat, I looked at the HPD web site on crime stats for the area, and just looking at the adjacent blocks to the station (4000 thru 4700 blocks of Main, Fannin, and San Jacinto) for August and September I counted 35 thefts, 2 robberies, 4 aggravated assaults, and 2 auto thefts.

Sounds like METRO has done a commendable job keeping their rail station safe in the midst of a rough neighborhood. Hats off to them.

[AtticaFlinch]

Face it, METRO has built the cheapest designed system in America, oh wait, the World! even third world countries have better built systems.

What do you base this off of? I'd say the 30-year-old chicken busses careening through the mountains in Central America may actually be some of the worst public transport, but hey, I guess Houston's Wheeler station lacking fake trees and a barrier fence makes our system the worst. I'll defer to your expertise, as I'm certain you've been all over the world and sampled every form of public transport...

...still better than Houston...

[kylejack]

You said the station was dangerous or imaginary dangerous or whatever, so why are you using a 7 block range to check for crimes when the station is on one block?

[AtticaFlinch]

I just don't know why Aesthetics is such a bad word here. Whats wrong with wanting nicely designed covered secure stations?

Also, citykid, though I'm certain you've already realized this as you cleave to facts with the tenacity of a fat chick to a diet cola, I'd like to point out that this nicely designed though unsecured (gasp!) station is in East Los Angeles, a low-income renter part of LA where most people have brown skin, shifty eyes and butterfly knives. There's crime in this world-class station as well as homeless people. But hey, it's world-class and far superior to anything in Houston because... well... uh...er... why is it superior again?

end of the line, Atlantic (maybe in a decade or so, this line will continue to be extended east, but its just a plan for now)

Type 90022 into the search bar here. Nothing but world-class assaults and world-class rape near ol' Atlantic station in world-class East Los Angeles. I really wish we could figger out a way tuh build 'em like that here.

[RedScare]

More LA world classedness...

Note the world class stations without fences around them. Whoa! Is that a STREET running on either side of the rail? What world class rail system have I seen do that?

[VicMan]

And Vicman yes, believe it or not there are plenty of people who ride and don't pay. You couldn't do that on a REAL rail system (unless you jump the turnstiles or run through the gates after someone else).

Citykid, yes, I could tell that there are people who don't pay. There are people who didn't pay - and those people are caught without tickets and punished.

The Houston METRORail is very much a real rail system.

[AtticaFlinch]

An internet archive of all those world-classy folks riding on all those other world-class systems across the world.

[jgriff]

An internet archive of all those world-classy folks riding on all those other world-class systems across the world.

Lovely...

I've never used public transportation except in Europe so I don't know if you see anything like this in Houston but you've just given me another reason to never find out.

[AtticaFlinch]

Lovely...

I've never used public transportation except in Europe so I don't know if you see anything like this in Houston but you've just given me another reason to never find out.

Weirdos abound everywhere, even in Europe. I will say this though, not one of the wackos from that website was a rider on a Houston train.

[ricco67]

Citykid, you have no clue as to what it took just to get THIS one line open.

Perhaps if you look through some of the threads and see how the city built this with it's own funds to SPITE Tom Delay and some of the tactics he used, you'd be a bit more understanding.

But I guess when one only looks at the problems as they are, some people neglect to see how it got there to begin with.

[Coaster]

Citykid, you have no clue as to what it took just to get THIS one line open.

Perhaps if you look through some of the threads and see how the city built this with it's own funds to SPITE Tom Delay and some of the tactics he used, you'd be a bit more understanding.

But I guess when one only looks at the problems as they are, some people neglect to see how it got there to begin with.

Come now. It has been pretty widely acknowledged by the vast majority of people at this website that citykid has no idea of what he is talking about. Reading a citykid post regarding rail transit is like reading a sixth grader's essay on the toy train set and accessories he wish he got for xmas, but instead went to the citykid next door. It's all pie in the sky and not one word in a citykid post is based in reality.

No offense citykiddy, but most of your postings come off as immature, infantile and naive.

[AtticaFlinch]

Come now. It has been pretty widely acknowledged by the vast majority of people at this website that citykid has no idea of what he is talking about. Reading a citykid post regarding rail transit is like reading a sixth grader's essay on the toy train set and accessories he wish he got for xmas, but instead went to the citykid next door. It's all pie in the sky and not one word in a citykid post is based in reality.

No offense citykiddy, but most of your postings come off as immature, infantile and naive.

I've just realized he was also responsible for that Entertainment Industry nightmare of a thread too.

[Jeebus]

Why is no one talking about LA's use of carbonite!?

Just kidding. As always Houston is behind the curve of other cities, but at least we're still on track (no pun intended).

[RedScare]

Why is no one talking about LA's use of carbonite!?

Just kidding. As always Houston is behind the curve of other cities, but at least we're still on track (no pun intended).

Is that a sculpture of someone falling into the La Brea Tar Pits?

[crunchtastic]

Is that a sculpture of someone falling into the La Brea Tar Pits?

I thought the same thing. Ewww.

[citykid09]

Come now. It has been pretty widely acknowledged by the vast majority of people at this website that citykid has no idea of what he is talking about. Reading a citykid post regarding rail transit is like reading a sixth grader's essay on the toy train set and accessories he wish he got for xmas, but instead went to the citykid next door. It's all pie in the sky and not one word in a citykid post is based in reality.

No offense citykiddy, but most of your postings come off as immature, infantile and naive.

Your opinion.

I knew what it took for the rail to get built. A LOT! I just posted this thread as wishful thinking. Why not want the best for the city? Why settle for mediocre? It may cost more but in the long run it will payoff.

[Coaster]

Not one word.

Houston is building a fine rail system. Mediocre is YOUR opinion. Maybe phase three will include subway tunnels, grade separations, longer trains and crystal chandeliers in the stations but I'm sure the vast majority of light rail users will be very happy with what Houston is currently building. (except for the selfish, moronic, powerless NIMBY's of course) You're just always getting hung up about what the other guy's have. Relax.

You should take your suggestions to Metro so they can laugh in your face. Maybe they'll buy you a new electric train set for xmas if you're good. But I don't see Metro altering any plans just because of your ridiculous opinions and "personal insecurities".

[Coaster]

Ouch!

[AtticaFlinch]

Not one word.

Houston is building a fine rail system. Mediocre is YOUR opinion. Maybe phase three will include subway tunnels, grade separations, longer trains and crystal chandeliers in the stations...

Oh man oh man oh man!

I sure do hope they include some of that NYC-styled grit!