ricco67 Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2889369Nov. 7, 2004, 10:19PMRIDING THE RAILRidership of 32,941 in October sets a recordCopyright 2004 Houston ChronicleRidership on the Main Street light rail line went up again in October, setting another record, the Metropolitan Transit Authority says.October numbers released last week show 32,941 average weekday boardings, up 2 percent from the 32,292 recorded in September. That was the first month the daily ridership count topped 30,000.Average weekend ridership also went up 2 percent compared with September's count, not counting three Sundays in October when the Houston Texans played home games at Reliant Stadium. MetroRail ridership typically doubles on a Sunday home game.The record weekend count remains from January, when an average 41,648 people per weekend rode the train during its inaugural month of service.Total ridership, including special events, for October was 853,542, up 4.5 percent from September's record high.Metro collects ridership data through "automatic passenger counter" devices embedded above train doors.From staff reports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted December 6, 2004 Author Share Posted December 6, 2004 http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2933144Dec. 6, 2004, 12:55AMRIDING THE RAILLate-night rail service's fate riding on Metro evaluationLow ridership could spell end to 'last call' trainsBy LUCAS WALLCopyright 2004 Houston ChronicleLate-night bar patrons downtown might be running out of time to use the train as their designated driver.Metro is reviewing whether to continue late rail service on Friday and Saturday nights. The extended weekend hours began in June at the request of city officials and downtown businesses who hoped the availability of the rail ride might lure more customers. It hasn't happened."Ridership has been disappointing, but Metro leadership is now working to develop ways we might work with the downtown business community to build enough ridership to support it," said Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Ken Connaughton.The transit authority originally had planned to run trains until 2:15 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights for three months and then decide whether to make the extended hours permanent. Nearly six months have passed, but Connaughton said Metro wants to give the "last call trains" a longer evaluation period.Texas law mandates that bars stop selling alcohol at 2 a.m. Prior to June, MetroRail stopped running about 12:45 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, just as it does the rest of the week.Bar and club owners along the Main Street entertainment area on downtown's north side requested the extra service. They said that stopping trains before last call on busy Friday and Saturday nights left some customers stranded and gave those who wanted to party late little choice but to drive their cars into downtown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 What a shame. I have taken the "last call" train in Amsterdam, and it's a rolling party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 I don't think it would be a good idea to discontinue it, the city is still in the early stages of our pedestrian friendly downtown and we should still wait for the foot traffic to increase, they can't expect it to be packed right away. And if they did stop the last-call trains then the weekend DT activities might decrease because of no way to get out of downtown. Many other cities have trains running all night long, we can do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted December 6, 2004 Author Share Posted December 6, 2004 Personally, I think they should continue the run until 2:30am. 15 people per train a night is still not bad ridership and is still a good option. Especially for those that live in midtown or near Reliant. At the very least they should do it when they're planning a Main Event or other major event downtown that would have late night revelers. Ricco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 800 Billion for a rail line, and too cheap to use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 800 Billion for a rail line, and too cheap to use it.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I agree. The idea when they built this was to anticipate the future somewhat. What, now they can't anticipate an eventual increase of downtown activity? Put the thing to use, maybe it will save a life or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yes all those drunk people must get back to their hospital beds!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yes all those drunk people must get back to their hospital beds!!Or their houses and apartments. Many of us do live on or very near the rail line you know. And many people are using the Fannin South Park and Ride, as well as other parking lots and on-street parking, to drive from their homes to the rail line.I know that Metro is under a lot of financial pressure these days and is working very hard to avoid a fare increase to $1.25 on local bus and rail service. Much of this is due to the cost of fuel that keeps increasing. Many of the recent bus service cuts on underperforming routes were made to avoid a fare increase. That said, I think they really need to find a way to keep the late night service on Fridays and Saturdays running and work to build the ridership. As more people move to live near the rail line and downtown continues its renaissance the ridership can't help but increase. I was somewhat surprised to see an average ridership of 15 per train on the late night runs. While not a huge number, it shows that people are using the service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I know Sulli... I'm still just harping on the initial route chosen, due to the politics. I'm very happy its there. Now if we could just get Northline Mall hooked up we'll have it all (Actually I'd love to see a proposal on how they propose to connect the Northline Mall route to IAH) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Well I understand a lot of the criticism of the initial MetroRail route, but you have to consider that the reasoning does go beyond developers wanting it built through Midtown and other interests. For any regional rail system to be successful, it has to have a central backbone that's usually built first, and that's what the Main St. line is. Sure a starter line down the Katy Freeway from downtown to the Addicks or Kingsland Park and Rides would have generated riders, but it wouldn't have been able to serve future connections very well, nor would it have been able to be built with the budget of local funds that Metro was forced to use when DeLay cut them off from the federal money other cities have had. Still, when you look at other rail systems, the central backbone line is usually the first built, and everything else branches off of it. The initial line that opened in Dallas in 1996 was about the same length as our starter line and did not go to the suburbs. It ran from downtown north to Mockingbird and southeast from downtown a few miles into a transit-dependant low income neighborhood not that unlike the area the Northline extension will serve.As for the Northline extension coming first, I think a lot of that is Metro's desire to get rail service into neighborhoods that rely heavily on public transportation as soon as possible. Service to Northline does that and can be opened much faster than the Southeast and Harrisburg lines becuase the Northline extension doesn't depend on a new east-west downtown line like the Harrisburg and Southeast extensions do. The Northline extension also won't just serve people in the North Main/Fulton/Irvington corridor, but other areas to the north, east, and west, as it will end at the existing Northline Transit Center. This will provide a large bus connection point like the TMC, Wheeler, and Downtown Transit Centers do on the Main St. line, allowing Metro to take more buses off the downtown streets and provide faster service between those neighborhoods and downtown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 (Actually I'd love to see a proposal on how they propose to connect the Northline Mall route to IAH)From what I've seen and read, the route will eventually continue north from Northline to Greenspoint, and then east to the airport. Bypass tracks are in the plans to allow airport express trains to skip stops and provide faster service. I've also heard rumors of a branch line from the Northline Transit Center directly to the airport on a dedicated right of way with no stops in between, but I have yet to see this on anything official from Metro. Unfortunately real progress on any airport extensions is more than a decade away unless there's some huge financial windfall for Metro that allows the design, approval, and construction process to be rapidly sped up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Ah I had no idea that there was a large bus terminal at the Northline Mall. That makes much more sense. I had figured it was property investors trying to bring people back to a aging retail center. I'll gladly look at it differently now.As for my critisism of the initial route that is founded on one of my associates being a Metro employee and all the bureaucracy that he became entangled in thoughout the planning stages. I'm just glad they laid the tracks and have something to start with now. Safety issues aside, I think its running wonderfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted December 13, 2004 Author Share Posted December 13, 2004 http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2944083Dec. 12, 2004, 8:13PMRIDING THE RAILMetroRail ridership drops 10% from October to NovemberCopyright 2004 Houston ChronicleMetroRail ridership drops 10% from October to NovemberFewer passengers rode MetroRail last month, marking the first month since service began Jan. 1 that the number of average daily boardings and the total monthly count were lower than the previous month.MetroRail averaged 29,782 weekday boardings in November, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority.That's a 10 percent drop from the record high 32,941 boardings in October.Total ridership dropped from 853,542 in October, also a record high, to 761,718 in November.Metro attributes the lower counts to two storm-related service disruptions and the Thanksgiving holiday.From staff reports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 Well, I'm glad they gave Metro's conclusions there at the end.. I thought this was going to be one of those statements where they let the reader draw their own conclusions.I'm not suprised. I'll bet December will see even lower numbers (Holidays and school break) but January will be perhaps the best month yet (few vacations). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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