Bus Ridership Dips After Rail Tie-in

[ricco67]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2792066

Sept. 13, 2004, 12:23AM

Bus ridership dips after rail tie-in

Rail foes claim former passengers driving their cars

By LUCAS WALL

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Ridership on nine Metro bus routes has dropped an average of 18 percent since they were shortened to tie into the Main Street light rail line, forcing many passengers to transfer to a train to complete their trips.

Data released by the Metropolitan Transit Authority last week indicate six of the routes have seen a significant drop in average weekday riders since the service changes took effect May 30. One route has experienced a slight uptick in ridership, while the other two buses have seen their passenger counts increase by a third.

The rail line saw its first monthly drop in average daily boardings in August, down slightly to 29,400 from July's high of 29,570. But total ridership, including weekends, was a record 764,408 last month.

Rail opponents had long predicted that bus ridership would decrease when passengers were forced to transfer to a train. Riders from southwest Houston, for example, used to take Route 2 straight into downtown. Now it terminates at the Texas Medical Center Transit Center. Passengers must get off, walk over a skybridge to the train station in the median of Fannin Street, and then hop on MetroRail.

David Hutzelman, director of the Business Committee Against Rail, said he believes many former riders who own cars have decided to drive to work instead of using the rail.

"If you find your commute suddenly lengthened because you have to transfer or walk farther from your stops, you're going to go back and try some other way," Hutzelman said.Jim Archer, manager of Metro service evaluation, said the transit authority expected about 15,000 fewer average daily bus boardings systemwide because people traveling along the dense Main Street corridor are now taking the light rail.

The data indicate bus ridership has dropped by an average of 17,158 weekday boardings since the route changes took effect.

"This is consistent with what we expected," Archer said. "A large portion of these routes was replaced by the rail."

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BUS RIDERSHIP

Average daily boardings from June to August, compared with October to May, for bus routes terminated at rail stations as of May 30:

[Talbot]

Are you serious? People would rather drive than walk over a sky bridge?

[ssullivan]

One possibility that the person from METRO hinted at (and the article largely ignored) is that many of those riders were people who got on those buses as they traversed the Main St. corridor. In the past, if you wanted to get on a bus on Main St. between Downtown and the Medical Center, there were a ton of buses that came by from all different parts of Houston. If your trip was within the Main St. area you could catch any of them and get to where you wanted to go. Those people now all either must take one of the buses still running on Main St. (mainly the 8 buses) or METRORail. That would explain some of the drop off in ridership, especially on some routes like the 2 and 4 which ran a long distance on Main St.

One thing the article neglects to discuss at all is whether commute times with the transfer to light rail are really longer. While there is some time involved in getting off the bus and waiting for a train, during the business day trains come by every six minutes, which is far faster than most bus transfers. And, the trains make the trip between the TMC Transit Center and downtown much faster than the buses the light rail replaced ever did. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that overall trip time isn't up at all (it may actually be slightly shorter) for riders transferring from buses to trains at TMC Transit Center and Wheeler to get to downtown. When I take METRO downtown, I catch the 4 Beechnut (which I've found has a crappy on time record in the mornings ) to TMC Transit Center, and then light rail to downtown (where I have to transfer to the 17 Tanglewood). Once I'm on the 4 bus, it never takes me more than about 20-25 minutes from the time I board the bus at Kirby and North Braeswood to arriving at Main St. Square. With the number of stops buses make and no signal priority, I know there's no way the 4 bus could have been making that trip in less than 30 minutes before the light rail opened.

[jghall00]

I road the train for the first time last night. My wife and I resolved to go for a walk, and on a whim decided to ride the train from Dryden to Holly Hall, to visit a friend. As a native New Yorker, I think it's a tremendous improvement over what has passed for acceptable public transit here. The train arrived quickly, even though we'd just missed one both going and coming back. The ride was quick and smooth. I don't know why people have been complaining about the speed! If I lived on the corrider, I'd be happy to pass time on it reading and such, while getting some extra excercise walking to and from the stops. I think they should put one on Westheimer.

Discussion of commute times often ignores the quality of the commute. Driving in traffic is generally a draining excercise. I commute 40 miles to the Woodlands for work; when I get home, I usually don't want to do anything but sit and read. The left lane hoggers and inattentive drivers almost drive me batty.

[ricco67]

You have a very good point. It seems that that generally gets passed over quite a bit.

The quality of the commute is excellent and I do see people generally read the news or get a little work done. If they're not fortunate enough to be able to find a seat, then they'll just stand there (like I do) and just read the news on my palm.

It's gotten to the point where I'll park OUTSIDE of the Med center or Downtown and take the train. It's much easier then running around looking for a parking spot!

Ricco