METRO Works To Make Bus System Easier To Use

[JamesL]

Yes, they have a real-time bus arrival app. It's in beta and hasn't had the bugs worked out but you can find it for iphone or android. Search Houston TRIP. Some prototype real-time display monitors are up at 1900 Main.

[mfastx]

I have an idea: why not discuss ways of improving Metro's bus service? I think that's the topic.

 

For example, does Metro have an app so that smartphone users can easily access bus schedules (I don't have one, so I really don't know.)

 

A more exciting app would tell the user the way to the closest bus line, and/or the bus arriving soonest. Also, with GPS tracking, buses could be monitored in real time, so one would know if he had time for that refill, or to make tracks to the nearest stop. (And I hope I didn't offend opponents of rail by using the term 'make tracks'.)

 

That'd be great if they could somehow integrate it into map/transit direction providers, such as Google Maps app.  They could give real time routes based on how late buses are etc.  Probably a ways off but great idea. 

 

Yes, they have a real-time bus arrival app. It's in beta and hasn't had the bugs worked out but you can find it for iphone or android. Search Houston TRIP. Some prototype real-time display monitors are up at 1900 Main.

 

Interesting, I'll check it out next time I'm in town.

[Slick Vik]

I tried to suggest such, but was ignored. It seems that some of our posters would rather complain about trains that are 10-20 years away than buses that are here today. I shudder to think that Vik will be complaining about our trains for the next 20 years.

A great transit system isn't bus only. Any talk about making the bus system improved is a waste of time in the big picture until there is serious effort on transforming the entire system.

[JamesL]

On the contrary, the local bus system will probably always account for the majority of ridership and when it's losing ridership something needs to be done.

[august948]

A great transit system isn't bus only. Any talk about making the bus system improved is a waste of time in the big picture until there is serious effort on transforming the entire system.

A great transit system is one that gets people where they want to go in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. It's a waste of time to wait for a rail system that can take decades and billions to come to fruition and in the meantime ignore what you can do to improve the bus and highway systems in the here and now.

[Slick Vik]

A great transit system is one that gets people where they want to go in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. It's a waste of time to wait for a rail system that can take decades and billions to come to fruition and in the meantime ignore what you can do to improve the bus and highway systems in the here and now.

How many more highway "improvements" can we make?

[august948]

How many more highway "improvements" can we make?

Quite a few. I'm sure you can look up TxDOT plans elsewhere and see a long list of highway improvements. Some that come to mind are increasing capacity at the 59/610 interchange near the Galleria, expanding 290, building out Grand Parkway, expanding 45 through downtown, building more bridges along Hwy 6 to make it faster to go from 59 to I-10, etc. The list goes on and on.

The point of all that, however, would be to get people to their destinations more efficiently. You may not be aware of this, but most people in the Houston area live OUTSIDE the loop and until we spend billions and decades building rail out to Katy, Sugar Land and The Woodlands the bus system is the best mass transit option for most people in the metro Houston area. And, last time I checked, buses run on the road and highway system.

[kylejack]

Yes, they have a real-time bus arrival app. It's in beta and hasn't had the bugs worked out but you can find it for iphone or android. Search Houston TRIP. Some prototype real-time display monitors are up at 1900 Main.

 

Wow! I just checked this out and it is actually pretty decent, as long as you ignore the meaningless "Scheduled" entries. The "Real-Time" told me a 52 would be arriving at Capitol and Rusk in 1 minute, and sure enough, it did!

[kdog08]

I have an idea: why not discuss ways of improving Metro's bus service? I think that's the topic.

 

For example, does Metro have an app so that smartphone users can easily access bus schedules (I don't have one, so I really don't know.)

 

A more exciting app would tell the user the way to the closest bus line, and/or the bus arriving soonest. Also, with GPS tracking, buses could be monitored in real time, so one would know if he had time for that refill, or to make tracks to the nearest stop. (And I hope I didn't offend opponents of rail by using the term 'make tracks'.)

 

 

I tried to suggest such, but was ignored. It seems that some of our posters would rather complain about trains that are 10-20 years away than buses that are here today. I shudder to think that Vik will be complaining about our trains for the next 20 years.

 

Because most major cities' (over 5 million in a metro) buses are connected to some higher capacity transit vehicle..... But hey we can continue to discuss how our city's cheapo's, er Libertarians or conservative leaning folks' phobia of spending money can help our METRO's bus system in any significant way. 

 

Simultaneously... we can discuss how the cheapos have offered no real alternatives to alleviating congestion that involves the private sector or magical flying elephants or whatever....

 

In conclusion, Houston will keep growing while we continue to debate BRT alignment and become more congested.... 

 

But please continue..... 

[kdog08]

Quite a few. I'm sure you can look up TxDOT plans elsewhere and see a long list of highway improvements. Some that come to mind are increasing capacity at the 59/610 interchange near the Galleria, expanding 290, building out Grand Parkway, expanding 45 through downtown, building more bridges along Hwy 6 to make it faster to go from 59 to I-10, etc. The list goes on and on.

The point of all that, however, would be to get people to their destinations more efficiently. You may not be aware of this, but most people in the Houston area live OUTSIDE the loop and until we spend billions and decades building rail out to Katy, Sugar Land and The Woodlands the bus system is the best mass transit option for most people in the metro Houston area. And, last time I checked, buses run on the road and highway system.

 

Wow we get to rebuild the 610/59 interchange after how many years? Wow people live outside of the loop? I'm sure they only want to arrive by car? Oh and building rail out to the suburbs.... come on....stop putting straw into some sort of man..... But wait,.... I must have missed all those new buses that are on our highways... please link all the new P&R routes that have opened up. 

 

Seriously, how many of y'all own stock in cement companies? 

[MetroMogul]

Any talk about making the bus system improved is a waste of time 

 

Then why are you polluting this thread?

[kdog08]

I disagree with your premise.  Most US cities that have built transit systems post WWII have done so exactly because it's cool and hip.  The thought is that cities won't attract the "creative class" without rail and the stigma that buses are for poor people.

 

If you want to understand the concerns that some Houstonians have about rail, look at Dallas.  They've spent a huge amount of money putting in an 85 mile light rail system that has a daily ridership of 109,511 as of Oct 2012.  And what has the impact of that system been?  They are doing massive amounts of highway improvement and construction so it doesn't seem to have alleviated that need.  They're needing to provide financial incentives to developers to get them to build next to the rail stations.  It hasn't created urbanization or density in the areas serviced by rail and it hasn't reduced sprawl.

 

If you would like to have a discussion about how Dallas' light rail has been useful and why you feel a comparable system would have different results in Houston, I would be happy to create a thread to have that conversation.

 

Most US cities? I clearly said the world, expand your horizon yo. 

 

And Dallas is not Houston. Dallas doesn't have employment centers as big and as dense as our Uptown, Greenway Plaza, TMC, and DT conveniently along our proposed lines all within 5 miles of our DT.... Not to mention it doesn't have as many college and university campus conventiently along a rail.... Or the amount of visual and performing arts.... Or museums.... 

 

So no, I don't think DART has been successful. As I said originally, mass transit isn't the issue, it's the implementation. 

[august948]

Wow we get to rebuild the 610/59 interchange after how many years? Wow people live outside of the loop? I'm sure they only want to arrive by car? Oh and building rail out to the suburbs.... come on....stop putting straw into some sort of man..... But wait,.... I must have missed all those new buses that are on our highways... please link all the new P&R routes that have opened up. 

 

Seriously, how many of y'all own stock in cement companies? 

I'm sure people want to arrive at their destinations by the most efficient and cost-effective means. The point of this thread was that Metro was looking at ways to improve the bus system. That's not going to happen via a rail system for the vast majority of commuters, now or in the foreseeable future. We do, however, have a well-rated park and ride system. We also have a pretty extensive local bus system, but it takes a lot longer to ride to most destinations than most people are willing to accept, thus they get in their cars and go that way instead. Either way, buses benefit from good roads just as much as cars do. I'm not sure how shutting down road construction in favor of rail, which by definition is inflexible, will lead us to a better and more efficient transit system. Especially for the majority of commuters who live outside the loop and thus outside of any current plans for rail connectivity.

[august948]

Most US cities? I clearly said the world, expand your horizon yo. 

 

And Dallas is not Houston. Dallas doesn't have employment centers as big and as dense as our Uptown, Greenway Plaza, TMC, and DT conveniently along our proposed lines all within 5 miles of our DT.... Not to mention it doesn't have as many college and university campus conventiently along a rail.... Or the amount of visual and performing arts.... Or museums.... 

 

So no, I don't think DART has been successful. As I said originally, mass transit isn't the issue, it's the implementation. 

And if you happen to live in TMC and commute to downtown, then the rail is great. But most people don't live on or near the rail lines and so they become irrelevant as far as their commutes are concerned.

[kdog08]

On the contrary, the local bus system will probably always account for the majority of ridership and when it's losing ridership something needs to be done.

 

Well yes..... but as cities grow and evolve they continue to expand their bus systems and add additional modes of transit for capacity purposes.... NYC's Grand Central isn't serving everyone by bus...

[kdog08]

I'm sure people want to arrive at their destinations by the most efficient and cost-effective means. The point of this thread was that Metro was looking at ways to improve the bus system. That's not going to happen via a rail system for the vast majority of commuters, now or in the foreseeable future. We do, however, have a well-rated park and ride system. We also have a pretty extensive local bus system, but it takes a lot longer to ride to most destinations than most people are willing to accept, thus they get in their cars and go that way instead. Either way, buses benefit from good roads just as much as cars do. I'm not sure how shutting down road construction in favor of rail, which by definition is inflexible, will lead us to a better and more efficient transit system. Especially for the majority of commuters who live outside the loop and thus outside of any current plans for rail connectivity.

 

 

And if you happen to live in TMC and commute to downtown, then the rail is great. But most people don't live on or near the rail lines and so they become irrelevant as far as their commutes are concerned.

 

.... you don't understand how transit systems work? 

[august948]

.... you don't understand how transit systems work? 

This is how it works...

I walk 10 minutes to the bus stop at Richmond and Dairy Ashford, board a bus that takes me to Wheeler station where I either board another bus or use Metrorail to reach downtown. Trip time: 1 hour 35 minutes, not including the 10 minute walk plus whatever walking I need to do to reach my final destination. Reverse the commute and it's around 4 hours out and back, each day.

Or I hop in my car and I am there, door to door, in 45 minutes. 1.5 hours total commute each day.

That's how our transit system works...

[kdog08]

This is how it works...

I walk 10 minutes to the bus stop at Richmond and Dairy Ashford, board a bus that takes me to Wheeler station where I either board another bus or use Metrorail to reach downtown. Trip time: 1 hour 35 minutes, not including the 10 minute walk plus whatever walking I need to do to reach my final destination. Reverse the commute and it's around 4 hours out and back, each day.

Or I hop in my car and I am there, door to door, in 45 minutes. 1.5 hours total commute each day.

That's how our transit system works...

 

Which is why it sucks and carries a pathetic percentage of commuters. But again you don't understand how transit works..... It's not your fault if Houston METRO is all you've known. So your logic is Houston transit represents mass transit in general.....?

[samagon]

All this territory is covered by the Google Maps app. We need real-time tracking of buses, though.

 

now there's an idea, imagine if there were an app that sucked GPS data from a metro bus, and showed each bus as a dot.

 

not only could everyone watch random buses just idling in random places, but we could watch them skipping their routes and driving down residential streets not designed for buses to travel.

 

most importantly though, I could see that a bus is 5 minutes from my house and leave to catch it.

[kylejack]

most importantly though, I could see that a bus is 5 minutes from my house and leave to catch it.

 

A few posts later, JamesL informed me that METRO T.R.I.P. app is now beta testing this. I tested it last night and by jove, the thing works. I don't think all the routes are on there yet, but a lot of them are. It's a fantastic advancement. Now deploy it to the entire fleet! And polish the app a bit.

[Slick Vik]

Quite a few. I'm sure you can look up TxDOT plans elsewhere and see a long list of highway improvements. Some that come to mind are increasing capacity at the 59/610 interchange near the Galleria, expanding 290, building out Grand Parkway, expanding 45 through downtown, building more bridges along Hwy 6 to make it faster to go from 59 to I-10, etc. The list goes on and on.

The point of all that, however, would be to get people to their destinations more efficiently. You may not be aware of this, but most people in the Houston area live OUTSIDE the loop and until we spend billions and decades building rail out to Katy, Sugar Land and The Woodlands the bus system is the best mass transit option for most people in the metro Houston area. And, last time I checked, buses run on the road and highway system.

 

You can thank Tom DeLay for pulling out rail on the side of Katy Freeway, setting us back even further. And none of those highway projects will stop congestion, it's just an obsession of Houston and Dallas (and other cities) to expand highways beyond belief with the thought that congestion will be totally alleviated. Instead, it's the opposite, bigger highways lead to more sprawl and encourage more people to clog up the roads. I admire Vancouver for going to opposite of other cities and building a proper urban city.

[august948]

Which is why it sucks and carries a pathetic percentage of commuters. But again you don't understand how transit works..... It's not your fault if Houston METRO is all you've known. So your logic is Houston transit represents mass transit in general.....?

Now we're getting somewhere. We know that the system sucks, at least for many, and that it carries a pathetic percentage of commuters. And since it's very unlikely that that a rail line will be run down Richmond all the way to Hwy 6, at least in my lifetime, we're left with the question of how to improve Metro's bus service. So how do we do that?

Metro isn't the only transit system I've ridden, but it's the one that's relevant to me at the moment. Giving an example of how it currently works isn't an attempt at inductive reasoning regarding mass transit in general and shouldn't be taken as such.

[august948]

You can thank Tom DeLay for pulling out rail on the side of Katy Freeway, setting us back even further. And none of those highway projects will stop congestion, it's just an obsession of Houston and Dallas (and other cities) to expand highways beyond belief with the thought that congestion will be totally alleviated. Instead, it's the opposite, bigger highways lead to more sprawl and encourage more people to clog up the roads. I admire Vancouver for going to opposite of other cities and building a proper urban city.

That's interesting because DeLay represented district 22, which encompasses much of suburban Houston south of I-10. The reason it's interesting is that his constituents would have been some of the people suffering from the worst commutes. Yet they elected him over and over despite his very well known opposition to rail. Could it be that they knew that rail wasn't really the needed fix?

[samagon]

Now we're getting somewhere. We know that the system sucks, at least for many, and that it carries a pathetic percentage of commuters. And since it's very unlikely that that a rail line will be run down Richmond all the way to Hwy 6, at least in my lifetime, we're left with the question of how to improve Metro's bus service. So how do we do that?

Metro isn't the only transit system I've ridden, but it's the one that's relevant to me at the moment. Giving an example of how it currently works isn't an attempt at inductive reasoning regarding mass transit in general and shouldn't be taken as such.

 

I think making the park and ride more efficient for travelers, and getting more people to those lots via local bus circulators more efficiently as well.

 

if the city is insistent on buses over rail, then the city needs to fix the streets so they don't grow potholes from heavy vehicles like buses, as was mentioned above, fix the lights so that as buses approach they get greens when they are moving.

[mfastx]

Now we're getting somewhere. We know that the system sucks, at least for many, and that it carries a pathetic percentage of commuters. And since it's very unlikely that that a rail line will be run down Richmond all the way to Hwy 6, at least in my lifetime, we're left with the question of how to improve Metro's bus service. So how do we do that?

Metro isn't the only transit system I've ridden, but it's the one that's relevant to me at the moment. Giving an example of how it currently works isn't an attempt at inductive reasoning regarding mass transit in general and shouldn't be taken as such.

 

Suburban commuters like yourself are less likely to take transit than inner city commuters.  In most cities taking a commuter bus or rail takes longer than a car. 

 

I'm somewhat opposed to commuter rail in Houston for this reason.  While a couple of corridors have good potential, ridership likely wouldn't be much more than P&R buses already. 

 

This is a separate issue though.  How would you like P&R bus service improved (as opposed to local bus service)?  I personally think our P&R service is pretty damn good.  Local service is what needs to get better.

[Slick Vik]

That's interesting because DeLay represented district 22, which encompasses much of suburban Houston south of I-10. The reason it's interesting is that his constituents would have been some of the people suffering from the worst commutes. Yet they elected him over and over despite his very well known opposition to rail. Could it be that they knew that rail wasn't really the needed fix?

 

Voters have also voted for rail referendums over and over again, yet nothing happens. Could it be that they knew rail was the needed fix?

 

Yet, it doesn't matter and the promised rails never get done. The politics of this state are pretty similar to those of corrupt third world countries when it comes to mass transit.

 

And what ever happened to that Delay guy anyway? Got in some legal troubles I believe.

[RedScare]

I see that you are still not posting on topic. What's funny is that you complain of rail referendums passing but are not followed by the politicians. That is kind of like having a topic about bus service, but a poster who keeps changing it to a rail topic. I guess you are a big fan fan of Tom DeLay.

[Houston19514]

Yes, they have a real-time bus arrival app. It's in beta and hasn't had the bugs worked out but you can find it for iphone or android. Search Houston TRIP. Some prototype real-time display monitors are up at 1900 Main.

 

That is VERY exciting news.  Thanks for the tip.  I'm eager to check it out.

[Slick Vik]

I see that you are still not posting on topic. What's funny is that you complain of rail referendums passing but are not followed by the politicians. That is kind of like having a topic about bus service, but a poster who keeps changing it to a rail topic. I guess you are a big fan fan of Tom DeLay.

 

You've put up with the status quo so long you've given in and accepted it. I refuse.

[kylejack]

Have you checked out this app yet Vik? It's pretty cool. Needs some polish, but seems to basically work. Has potential.