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The Boulevard Project


zaphod

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4 hours ago, BEES?! said:

During their last board meeting, Metro released their proposed route for the Gulfton extension of the Silver Line. It sounds like this is a route they’re pretty confident with, though one of the board members did ask that they consider the possibility of somehow connecting the Hillcroft TC. (However it is going to be a stop on the University Line, which will connect up to the Silver line via the Lower Uptown TC)

Here is the meeting packet that talks about it. Info on Gulfton starts on page 70.

Wait this is huge! Gulfton probably has the highest latent transit demand in the city, if you ask me. 

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I also forgot to mention, it’s not in the packet or anything but they also briefly mentioned the BRT line to IAH. No timeline, but this is the first time I’ve heard them talk about the BRT project to IAH. I’ll have to find the exact point in the meeting, but they I think were mentioning it in the context of NHHIP. So that would mean the last BRT project to get mentioned would be the BW8 one from Missouri City up to W Little York. 
 

I agree, the BRT is gonna be absolutely awesome. I’m so glad they’re able to build out the network this fast- they mentioned we’re the only city in the US doing three projects concurrently.

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  • 5 months later...
1 hour ago, nate4l1f3 said:

Welp. Guess it’s not the same one as before. I hate it. 

IMG_6242.jpeg

Wow that looks like absolute garbage in the daytime. At the very least, they could have added a chrome background around the circle while still maintaining the lights.

Oddly enough, the night time looks beautiful though.

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1 hour ago, Triton said:

Wow that looks like absolute garbage in the daytime. At the very least, they could have added a chrome background around the circle while still maintaining the lights.

Oddly enough, the night time looks beautiful though.

Must've been designed by the same visionary who created the "trash can" sculptures on JFK Blvd at IAH.  Looks nice . . . for less than a quarter of the operating day. The rest of the day, it’s a headscratcher at best, eyesore at worst.

Edited by mattyt36
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yes...VERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY sad it no longer looks like a substantial structure and does not resemble a hovering ufo...darnit! i guess the old design was either going to be too expensive or too heavy? but at night it does look better than the day time like was commented previously...at least... 

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"The new replacement rings will be the same size, 40 feet in diameter, but they are dramatically different in other ways. Instead of a single solid tube, they consist of two tube rings — an 8-inch ring on top and 3-inch ring on the bottom, connected by stainless-steel fins, all the way around, making them look a bit more like crowns than halos. They're embedded with LED lights, technology that didn't exist when the original rings were made.

While the original rings weighed 9,000 pounds each, the new ones weigh just 6,000 pounds and are better able to withstand heavy winds."

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/home-design/article/uptown-street-signs-18171520.php?t=114d5b3e96&sid=59a6f77b24c17c0f2e5cb3d7&ss=A&st_rid=85f5b578-f1a9-4c40-b957-e75c18f469e7&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Business&utm_campaign=HC_PrimeProperty

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  • 8 months later...

Silver Line Service Change June 2024

For the June Service Changes, METRO is proposing Silver Line schedule changes cutting frequency from 12 minutes to 20 minutes. Although ridership has consistently been improving month over month. There will be a public hearing for all of the service changes, including this one, on April 3. I think most can agree 20 minute frequency might have some severe consequences. The link provides options on how to comment: Public Hearings and Notices | Public Transit | METRO | Houston, Texas (ridemetro.org). Looks like easiest way is to text them. Sharing this here in case any of y'all ride the service or care about the service. image.png.68d7e42bc7200cb19429a71738c66391.pngimage.png.597e7a40773532b7ecbb71947ed68b72.png

Edited by j.33
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/21/2024 at 4:35 PM, j.33 said:

Silver Line Service Change June 2024

For the June Service Changes, METRO is proposing Silver Line schedule changes cutting frequency from 12 minutes to 20 minutes. Although ridership has consistently been improving month over month. There will be a public hearing for all of the service changes, including this one, on April 3. I think most can agree 20 minute frequency might have some severe consequences. The link provides options on how to comment: Public Hearings and Notices | Public Transit | METRO | Houston, Texas (ridemetro.org). Looks like easiest way is to text them. Sharing this here in case any of y'all ride the service or care about the service. image.png.68d7e42bc7200cb19429a71738c66391.pngimage.png.597e7a40773532b7ecbb71947ed68b72.png

People are making this a big deal but Metro is always adjusting service to different routes based on overall demand. As the area continues to grow and change, this line will become more important. Especially when the University Line is built. 

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1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

People are making this a big deal but Metro is always adjusting service to different routes based on overall demand. As the area continues to grow and change, this line will become more important. Especially when the University Line is built. 

Yet, critics continue to say the University Line and Inner Katy should not be built based off Silver Line ridership. Ridership has been growing recently, so the concern is that the frequency change could have a negative impact on future ridership growth for the Silver Line. This could be a concerning look for the future of BRT in our region. That is why it is a big deal. 

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2 minutes ago, j.33 said:

Yet, critics continue to say the University Line and Inner Katy should not be built based off Silver Line ridership. Ridership has been growing recently, so the concern is that the frequency change could have a negative impact on future ridership growth for the Silver Line. This could be a concerning look for the future of BRT in our region. That is why it is a big deal. 

I mean I understand the concern but we need to look at things with a bit of reason

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1 hour ago, j.33 said:

Yet, critics continue to say the University Line and Inner Katy should not be built based off Silver Line ridership. Ridership has been growing recently, so the concern is that the frequency change could have a negative impact on future ridership growth for the Silver Line. This could be a concerning look for the future of BRT in our region. That is why it is a big deal. 

While I agree with you… the crux of the issue is this…

“Since its debut in August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the line has carried only a fraction of the ridership officials envisioned for the route. On a typical January work day, the line carried an average of 1,033 riders, according to Metro ridership data.”

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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.

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