hbg.50 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 59 minutes ago, 004n063 said: There's no question that the Silver Line was not a great choice of route for a flagship service (though my recollection is that the project was more of a TIRZ-led project than a METRO brainchild?), and they flubbed plenty of details when it came to things like stop location/spacing, signal priority, and frequency. Combined, they made the paltry ridership numbers unsurprising to those of us who are deeply interested in transit functionality. But that's a very small number of people, and @j.33's concern is spot-on: as the University Line gets ready to begin the years-long, expensive, highly visible, and traffic-slowing process of constructing the line, it's almost impossible to imagine Whitmire not trying to intervene, and an underperforming Silver Line is an easy tool for that objective. You have a way of making excuses for Houston's lack of walkability, bike lane usage, transit usage - usually blaming city leadership. But isn't the reality what Cuevas said (although I know he would disagree on bike lanes) "People are making this a big deal but Metro is always adjusting service to different routes based on overall demand." Dallas has a similar issue... much more extensive LRT than Houston but just not enough demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
004n063 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 18 minutes ago, steve1363 said: You have a way of making excuses for Houston's lack of walkability, bike lane usage, transit usage - usually blaming city leadership. But isn't the reality what Cuevas said (although I know he would disagree on bike lanes) "People are making this a big deal but Metro is always adjusting service to different routes based on overall demand." Dallas has a similar issue... much more extensive LRT than Houston but just not enough demand. I don't think I'm making excuses. I simply explained why nobody with any transit knowledge would have expected the Silver Line to be a high-ridership line. Anyone with high expectations was kidding themselves. The University Line would be a replacement and upgrade for the heavily used #25 Richmond line in conjunction with the 153 Harwin express bus. It's also a line that seems much more likely to experience a significant increase in ridership after its introduction than the Silver Line, due to the high-value corridor from Greenway to Wheeler. A bus that comes every six minutes, doesn't get stuck in traffic, and connects to the Red line has much more appeal to the general population along the corridor than the current bus, which already gets a lot of riders. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.33 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 17 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: we need to look at things with a bit of reason I think some reasonable responses should be looking at trying to make the Silver Line better. For example, connecting the 9-Gulfton route to Lower Uptown TC...which would then allow an easy transfer between Silver Line and HCC West Loop Campus. Get TSP (transit signal priority) up and running along the corridor. Advertise the service to Galleria employees. There are a many other things the agency could look at it to make the line more successful instead of cutting frequency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 12 minutes ago, j.33 said: I think some reasonable responses should be looking at trying to make the Silver Line better. For example, connecting the 9-Gulfton route to Lower Uptown TC...which would then allow an easy transfer between Silver Line and HCC West Loop Campus. Get TSP (transit signal priority) up and running along the corridor. Advertise the service to Galleria employees. There are a many other things the agency could look at it to make the line more successful instead of cutting frequency. Metro in general does a terrible job marketing their services. In my opinion they should market to the younger crowd but they seem to not even understand their own audience and who supports them. I'm not happy about the service cut either but let's see where this lands with public input. I'm curious to see how people respond. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChannelTwoNews Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Houston ends bus rapid transit with change to Metro's Silver Line (houstonchronicle.com) "After confirming that changing buses from arriving at stations every 20 minutes, rather than the current rate of every 12 minutes, would not affect federal funding for the project, Metropolitan Transit Authority board members approved the reduction, along with other changes to bus service in the area. Bus routes are tweaked quarterly, based on current and expected changes in ridership. The change in bus frequency will occur June 16." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEES?! Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 I hope they're able to restore frequent service whenever they get the Gulfton extension finished. I understand their rationale here, it is still disappointing to see though! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 On 4/30/2024 at 10:38 AM, BEES?! said: I hope they're able to restore frequent service whenever they get the Gulfton extension finished. I understand their rationale here, it is still disappointing to see though! IF the Gulfton extension even happens. I talked to one of the planners at Metro today and he said the future of all the BRT projects are in the hands of the board now. I asked him why even vote if the board is going to do whatever it wants? Here is a quote which makes absolutely no sense at all, "Since most of the new board members haven't had a chance to review the proposed projects, we wanted to pause items that appear to be advocacy." So Metro is advocating against itself. With Mealer on the board, we're screwed. She's another John Culberson. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Some one Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 (edited) 3 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: IF the Gulfton extension even happens. I talked to one of the planners at Metro today and he said the future of all the BRT projects are in the hands of the board now. I asked him why even vote if the board is going to do whatever it wants? Here is a quote which makes absolutely no sense at all, "Since most of the new board members haven't had a chance to review the proposed projects, we wanted to pause items that appear to be advocacy." So Metro is advocating against itself. With Mealer on the board, we're screwed. She's another John Culberson. I will never understand the logistics of appointing someone who's anti-transit to a transit board. Edited May 6 by Some one 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Some one said: I will never understand the logistics of appointing someone who's anti-transit to a transit board. To get the other side of the coin. But when the whole board is the other side of the coin, it's just an anti-transit transit agency. Brock's idea of a ride share program might be one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard in my life from a transit agency. Edited May 6 by j_cuevas713 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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