Public Transportation in Houston (Dallas, Mission: rent, tax, living in)

[ayannaaaliyah]

Originally Posted by Guerilla

You said you live in Katy, which is the suburbs. Of course there are no buses out there...its the suburbs. Not many suburbs have normal buses (not commuter, park and ride buses), and that is anywhere in the U.S.

Sorry Guerilla, that's not anywhere in the U.S.

I grew up in Washington DC and could take the rail and/or bus to VA burbs and MD burbs or vice versa.

In Miami "burbs" (i.e. coconut grove, pinecrest, kendall) you can catch the rail and/or bus to downtown.

In Chicago you can catch the L train out to the "burbs" or vice versa.

Shall I continue????

Again, Houston is not public transportation friendly.......and cannot compare to other major U.S. cities when it comes to public transportation.

[jfre81]

Study supports choice of rail route backed by Metro | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle (broken link)

They need to just send the rail straight down Richmond. It is going to make life miserable for residents and business there, but it will be better in the end. This building a bridge over 59 to Westpark idea is downright kooky. Why spend all that money to

Selfish NIMBYism. That's why. Freeways cause a lot more to get torn up than a rail line. Remember how fun it was when they were converting 59 from an elevated to a trench and how it was closed off all that time?

It will be interesting to see how they will reroute traffic - traffic during the construction is going to be atrocious.

I'll reap the reward the day I ride the new line down Richmond, have a good time and get home without worrying about who's got the car keys.

[krazymack]

I just wanted to contribute my 2 cents to this topic.

I'm a Brooklyn, New York native currently visiting Houston for the first time ever in life and I say Houston is a "no go" without a car. I'm 28 year old, male single guy came down here by myself without a car thinking I'd rely on public transportation. I was sorrily mistaken. I had to rent a car and it eased my transportation woes. The city is so darn spread out and I feel so lame walking to things here. I would even feel more lame taking a bus. I'm staying near the Northwest Freeway/290 and called up Metro to see if I can take a bus downtown. The Metro rep said I had to walk to my bus stop which is like a mile and a half away and take three buses to reach my final destination. It is very ridiculous.

Houston is not really a walkable city. The exception may be the downtown and the Galleria areas. It is funny because you hardly see that much people walking anywhere here. Everyone lives in their cars. If you are going to move to Houston, I say learn to drive and get a car. Don't rely on public transportation. That is just my humble opinion, I was itching to contribute.

[jfre81]

Consider moving to Midtown if you are commuting downtown. There is a rail line there that goes to downtown.

The whole *public transit* thing is new here. Don't feel lame. Start a trend. Maybe more will follow. You will probably want to get your own car eventually though.

[krazymack]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Consider moving to Midtown if you are commuting downtown. There is a rail line there that goes to downtown.

The whole *public transit* thing is new here. Don't feel lame. Start a trend. Maybe more will follow. You will probably want to get your own car eventually though.

You have an excellent point jfre81. I think if Houston increased its public transportation ridership it would definitely be better for the city's environment. I'll take a look into the Midtown area. Thanks.

[Wysiwyg]

I could have sworn I saw 2 red 'taxi' tricycles yesterday around the toyota center district. might potentially add character to downtown

[Historian/Traveler]

Little do most people know about the history of rail in Texas, which is amongst the oldest in the country, believe it or not. The first rail was from Houston to Galveston. Check these websites out (they are fairly trusting):

http://http://members.iglou.com/baron/ (broken link) and http://http://www.fbmrc.com/history_timeline.htm (broken link)

If they had kept it up here in Houston, like they should have, it would automatically be classified on the lower tier of 'Beta' Global Cities. This should occur at some point if they ever get around to building more lines like they say they will.

[jfre81]

Houston had a streetcar system a la New Orleans until World War II, when there was not enough manpower with the war overseas to run it. The cars were eventually scrapped for military use - then post-war it was all about cars and freeways and suburbs and oil.

Fast forward to today...and we're just getting back in touch with our heritage

[Historian/Traveler]

Amen to that jfre81! Luckily most people are just plain used to driving in this 'car-culture' city. But, I agree it would be extremely nice and invaluable to kick all of these jacka$$, know-it-all, lobbyist, coffer-filling local politicians to the curb who oppose mass transportation who want to cling to an era that is rapidly becoming bygone. I don't care what their party affiliations are (to be honest both of the big ones anymore suck and have real problems from Washington down to local municipalities). If someone is hindering positive growth it's time to send them out... ON A RAIL! Ha ha ha!

[gauri]

I have been here for an year now, the bus service is okey near medical centre and downtown area....elsewhere it sucks....
bus frequency is really low...smetimes i had to wait for an hour to catch a bus.
The taxi system is good....
but all in all you must have a car in houston if you want to live life!!!