Why isn't there a metro train from Sugar Land (Katy, Woodlands, etc) to downtown?

[crone]

Originally Posted by TDAlmighty

Where is the money going to come from to build this? I would prefer not to have my taxes go up further so I can subsidize your decision to live in the burbs.

Last time I checked there were 250,000 between I45 and 290 north of beltway 8. If we decide to move ITL, where will you put us?

[TDAlmighty]

Originally Posted by crone

Last time I checked there were 250,000 between I45 and 290 north of beltway 8. If we decide to move ITL, where will you put us?

In high rises that don't exist because everyone wants to live in spring/woodlands in their big house with their big lot and knew that the tradeoff was an hour+ commute. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by Astoriahoney

See this is what I don't understand. It has cost me more money living in Houston than it was in NYC. The gas prices, insurance for the car, maintenance/car payment and frustration of the freeway traffic, it's all costly. That's not including Tolls if you must take the beltway. It's an enormous expense.

If they built a subway from Sugar Land to Downtown I guarantee you that people will ride it. Sugar Land is filled with people that enjoy walking here. Walking or driving to the trainstop would not be an issue for people that lived here. In fact I've met many Easterners here who want a train to DT because the traffic on the 59 is so outrageous.

Have they tried using the METRO park&ride that serves Downtown? Or forming a carpool to take advantage of the HOV lanes?

Currently Sugar Land has a private transit service that serves the Greenway Plaza and Texas Medical Center area, but Sugar Land area residents have not elected to pitch in for public service.

So if you want public transit from Sugar Land into Houston than you need to convince them to start paying for it.

[micmac99]

I am fairly new to Houston so I don't know everything that has gone on with METRO light rail. What I think they need to do now is keep working on getting the funding for the rail lines they have planned, and build them.

Then, I think a good option to consider is commuter rail. Someone mentioned Amtrak as an operator of a commuter rail system, which I think is a great idea. Look to places like Chicago and Los Angeles which have good commuter rail from what I understand. (Enhanced Amtrak service to and from places like Austin, SA and the DFW Metroplex isn't a bad goal either.)

The park and ride buses, I think, are METRO's real strength. They are heavily used and the riders seem to LOVE them. Expand this concept into a true "bus rapid transit" system. I like what METRO has done with the "Quickline" concept along Bellaire Blvd. That's what a lot of cities nationwide are doing, places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, etc. Extend the Quickline westward on Bellaire! Also have other Quicklines that serve other areas, such as the 290 corridor, the 288 corridor and the 45 North corridor (or streets parallel to them such as Hempstead Highway or Almeda.) A Quickline on Westpark (the street) would also be perfect.

[Sunderpig]

People in Texas are big on having their own vehicles, and are not very receptive to depending on others / agencies to get them around. Even if it doesn't necessarily make sense in a traffic / mass transit situation, that's the way it seems to be.

[AmberAzeneth]

To answer the the OP's original question: That would make way to much sense for Metro to actually run real trains and act like a true mass transportation agency. If you have not learned yet, Metro does things back asswards on purpose to keep draining us of our tax dollars. Metro is a disgrace of a transportation agency. It was better when it was HouTran or whatever it was called when I was a kid growing up.

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by AmberAzeneth

To answer the the OP's original question: That would make way to much sense for Metro to actually run real trains and act like a true mass transportation agency. If you have not learned yet, Metro does things back asswards on purpose to keep draining us of our tax dollars. Metro is a disgrace of a transportation agency. It was better when it was HouTran or whatever it was called when I was a kid growing up.

How does it make sense to run "real trains"? Do you understand how transit systems function? It's a terrible waste of money and resources to run commuter trains in a low density and decentralized city like Houston. Essentially building commuter rail in Houston would be a very expensive park&ride commuter rail system. Why on earth does Houston need something like that, as opposed to building transit in the core and connecting it with our already in place HOV/park&ride system?