TheNiche Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Houstonians drive themselves more than anybody. Is this because people are more willing to commute in trains rather than buses?No, it's because the City of Houston is a larger entity.The graphic is flawed and useless for assessing the state of regional mobility in these cities.It takes into account only municipalities, not metro areas. Our City is about 640 square miles, larger than any municipality outside of Alaska except Jacksonville, FL. Chicago (234 sq. mi.), LA (498 sq. mi.), DC (68 sq. mi.) and Atlanta (132 sq. mi.) are all much smaller, geographically. All of them have vast suburbs that extend beyond them but that are not included in the data, whereas many of Houston's suburbs are.I did a numerical comparison between Houston and Atlanta not but a week or so ago and was able to determine that Atlantans got a raw deal. A greater percentage of them commute by single-occupant car, their average commute takes longer, and yet their capital and operating budget for their mass transit agencies is vastly larger.EDIT: And you people need to learn never to take Lisa Gray at face value. She means well and writes OK, but seems only to have a superficial understanding of the topics she's interested in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 EDIT: And you people need to learn never to take Lisa Gray at face value. She means well and writes OK, but seems only to have a superficial understanding of the topics she's interested in.So does everyone else around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 So does everyone else around here. Heh, tell me about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Judah Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Who or what makes up the powerful East End lobby that managed to convince the mayor to secure the East End line before the U-Line ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Who rides buses when they are out of town? If I fly to a city with rail (access to airport included), I ride the rail and don't deal with a car. Its kind of hard to explain but that is the way it is. People prefer rail.We rode buses the whole time we were in Chicago last year. It was easier than doing the train, more direct and more frequent. And cheap. $27x2 <<< a rental car for 5 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Who or what makes up the powerful East End lobby that managed to convince the mayor to secure the East End line before the U-Line ?METRO held its official groundbreaking ceremony for the East End Line back in 2008; the local economy still looked rosy, capital was plentiful, METRO still hadn't contacted UP about crossing one of their freight tracks and therefore hadn't figured out that its engineering plans were crap, and it hadn't yet secured federal assistance for the Southeast Line, without which the East End Line is pretty useless. But they'd already determined that the East End Line wouldn't generate enough ridership to merit submittal to the FTA for federal funding, so they decided to slog ahead financing it themselves...because they could.It should've been upgradable BRT, extended past Gulfgate and down the dense Broadway corridor to Hobby Airport. It would've been more functional and might've had a shot at FTA funding. ...or they could've nixed it, and that'd have made sense too. But as far as I can tell, METRO just had really bad strategy, crappy financial forecasts (forgot to mention that they hedged their fuel at the peak of the market), and poor communication with stakeholders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Judah Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 People don't see that the East End Line got built thanks to a very powerful lobby within the neighborhood (perhaps too powerful), but the U-Line was forged from a see of controversy and piecemeal allowances. So who or what is in this powerful lobby? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 So who or what is in this powerful lobby?The East End line didn't have to wait for federal approval so they went ahead and got started. It also will cost far less than any other since it is short. So I don't think there is a particularly powerful lobby. METRO saw the need for better transit service in the corridor so it was included in the plan and it got a jump start since there was less bureaucracy and opposition to negotiate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Judah Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 From the article in the original post:Parker's goal is to make sure those three lines are built “very, very rapidly,”What does this mean? How fast is "very, very rapidly" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 What does this mean? How fast is "very, very rapidly" ?I thought that was weird, too. It's not like anyone - least of all the contractor - is advocating that they be built slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 What does this mean? How fast is "very, very rapidly" ?It probably has something to do with what I mentioned earlier, that METRO put on a big event over the groundbreaking of the East End line about two years ago, replete with many big shot politicians...yet has basically nothing to show for it. I know for a fact that that pissed off Bill White because it made him look the fool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Thats exactly what I was trying to say. My first sentence didn't come out the way I want it to though, I missed a few words.But I do believe that if rail in Houston was as plentiful as it is in these other cities that more people would ride public transportation. Buses routes are complicated, with rail you know where you are going. If I fly somewhere that doesn't have rail, I would rent a car. Who rides buses when they are out of town? If I fly to a city with rail (access to airport included), I ride the rail and don't deal with a car. Its kind of hard to explain but that is the way it is. People prefer rail.Who rides buses when they are out of town? Many people bro. When I went to Los Angeles last summer with some friends, we used the buses more than we used the rail. And there were a lot of visitors riding those LA MTA buses, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Heh, tell me about it! I would, but it would be a waste of time. I humbly bow to your expertise in the field of superficial understanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHB2 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 METRO still hadn't contacted UP about crossing one of their freight tracks and therefore hadn't figured out that its engineering plans were crap...after 3 years of asking, in 2008 METRO finally sent an engineer to Westpark @ Weslayan to see the spot where METRO proposes to bring Univ Line down from its SW Fwy suspension bridge to the ROW. problems include clearing Westpark at sufficient height for truck traffic, the turn onto the ROW too tight for LRT, Centerpoint highlines in Cpoint ROW both sides of LRT ROW. Solution? shim up the towers high enough to get the train under. and the other parts of the problem? uhhh no comment. hmmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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