Light Rail Progress (Houston, Dallas, Orange: fencing, price, move)

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by DiverTodd62

What do the tollway and freeway expansions have to do with it? The Main St rail line is and never was an alternative route for them.

They all lead to downtown and/or the Med Center.

Gas prices are a heck of a lot higher today than when the rail line opened.
http://www.GasBuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=USA Average&city2=&city3=&crude=n&tme=72&units=us

Yes they may be higher today but higher gas prices during the housing bubble drove LRT ridership higher. As I've mentioned before, these systems don't operate in vacuum. The novelty of the line wore off and ridership has decline, as it historically has throughout LRT expansions. However, no matter how you cut it, the line still has high ridership mile (2nd in the nation) after all these years.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by dv1033

They all lead to downtown and/or the Med Center.

Tell me why LRT ridership would be higher before those tollway/freeway improvements? How did riding LRT provide relieve to the commuter? And now that those road improvements have been made, it is easier than ever to get to the LRT stations so why would that explain lower LRT ridership?

[Wonderful Jellal]

Here in Reims,France (250,000 inhabitants) we'll have our light rail in April 2011, it's practically over, in just 3 years.I like it, it's fast and modern, and the university is linked to the train station in downtown.That could be great to see it in Houston, if you can find many customers.

Reims tramway in pics :

[nana053]

I think commuter rail is actually a quicker and more efficient way to go. Put the trains in the median of 288, I10, 290, etc. They should have done that when they built these highways or when they started improvements.

[mm4]

Originally Posted by dv1033

However, no matter how you cut it, the line still has high ridership mile (2nd in the nation) after all these years.

Then I honestly don't see what the problem is. Keep the one rail line down Main separated by tire buttons, don't build anything else, and keep feeding area busses into one end and out the other, and ridership mile should be better than WMATA, MUNI Metro, BART, MBTA, anything.

[mm4]

Dallas really lucked out because the preexisting work center population was already on radial arteries like Central and Stemmons where, coincidentally, older rail easements and brownfields already paralleled them very, very close by.

There's none of that in Houston, where the freeways and bayou easements serpentine away from downtown and duck and dart around radial southwest growth a mile either side of it. And forget even trying to fit one onto freeways like the Southwest or Eastex.

Elsewhere, Houston has a giant Preston Road problem. You have to get to the extant outtowns axially once you're away from downtown. In Dallas, it's like LBJ/Far North, in Houston it's like West Loop. (Still, in D, you could get at a modest bite of Far North Dallas if you had to via spur on an old rail easement from the west, from Carrollton. It won't happen because the cost/benefit isn't there.) But in Houston you can't even get away from downtown without tunneling, because there are no easements. But you can't tunnel because there's no money.

[UHLatino]

Originally Posted by astrohip

I've ridden it. It is NOT a success. The reason the ridership is so high is because Metro "forces" it. What do I mean? They feed all the bus lines into it. And they removed most of the bus lines that ran up & down Main. If you take the previous transit figures for Main St bus lines, and add in the number of riders who are forced to transfer to rail to connect to another bus line, it's not much different than before. Metro's own studies confirm this.

Remember the development light rail was going to bring? Have you driven/ridden up Main lately? It's like a vast wasteland. Empty storefronts, vacant buildings, nothing new in ages. Why? Because Main is unusable now. No one rides rail to get to these places, and there is nowhere to park on Main, and Main went from being six lanes to one lane each way. All it takes is one slowpoke, and Main comes to a crawl. I know, I drive it all the time.

Wait until rail runs down Richmond, thru the heart of Montrose, then across Shepherd and Kirby. Those are major, major traffic areas already, and once rail commingles, it will bring long red lights while the train passes thru. People are going to be pissed. Far more traffic in those areas than Main St. People have no idea how bad rail can be to street traffic.

BTW, I am not anti-mass transit. I am in favor of it. I just think our street level light rail is a joke, and a travesty. And we've blown tens of millions, with nothing to show for it (referring to the feds turning down our funding request).

Huh.....you do realize that if you were to time the rail lets say from the Wheel Station to lets say UHD between bus and Rail, rail would kick its butt. The Biggest and best thing about rail you failed to mention is the reliability of it. Buses rarely come on times and rarely leave on times. Waiting for rail takes around 5-10 minutes while waiting for a bus takes around 10-15 minutes. Rail also cuts through lights and road work. A bus can't simply do it. A bus usually has more stops than a rail. Quicklines are rarely justified, awesome if you leave near one but rarely do they justify the ROI a dept spends on them. A rail line takes in more passengers than a Quickline and don't have to deal with as many lights or blocks on the road.

Don't forget about the mid-day traffic, rail never has to deal with traffic or random occurrences like a car breaking down in the middle of a road or some idiot drive getting into an accident.

[Univ_Texas_Alum_30]

Originally Posted by UHLatino

rail never has to deal with traffic or random occurrences like a car breaking down in the middle of a road or some idiot drive getting into an accident.

You do realize that the rail line shares space on the road with car traffic right?

[jfre81]

He's right about the reliability and timeliness advantages of the light rail compared to the buses, though.

[diablo234]

Originally Posted by Univ_Texas_Alum_30

You do realize that the rail line shares space on the road with car traffic right?

You do realize that the rail line has it's own separate lane while busses have to share lanes with cars correct?

Plus the busses tend to be less reliable compared with the light rail.