Texas Medical Center in HOU poised to overtake Downtown Dallas in 5-6 years (Houston: bus, delivery)

[feufoma]

Actually, I think the freeways in Houston are far superior to anything in the DFW area outside of the new tollways. If public transport is so much greater in Dallas then why is ridership higher in Houston?

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

Two things:

1) Dallas is a smaller city and the traffic isnt quite as bad.
2) The public transit is better in Dallas than Houston. With the expansion they are planning, its about to get even better.

1) Houston may be twice as large, but its freeways are laid out much better & much easier to navigate IMO with the hub & spoke design as opposed to Dallas (D/FW's) tangleweb of freeways. When you look at average commute times they're both about the same, really.

2) How is public transit any better in Dallas just because you have a train with more tracks & less ridership per mile than Houston's? The numbers speak for themselves. If you wanna talk bus fleets Houston trumps Dallas. Even with all of DART, Houston's Metro still receives more ridership. Flip back a couple of pages to see the numbers I posted.

[justme02]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

1) Houston may be twice as large, but its freeways are laid out much better & much easier to navigate IMO with the hub & spoke design as opposed to Dallas (D/FW's) tangleweb of freeways. When you look at average commute times they're both about the same, really.

2) How is public transit any better in Dallas just because you have a train with more tracks & less ridership per mile than Houston's? The numbers speak for themselves. If you wanna talk bus fleets Houston trumps Dallas. Even with all of DART, Houston's Metro still receives more ridership. Flip back a couple of pages to see the numbers I posted.

I have no clue where youre getting your stats from. DART rail has a higher ridership than the Metro in Houston. The daily ridership is around 61,000 for DART and about 39,000 for the Houston Metro.

Also, I dont know if youve seen the 2013, 2018, 2030 plans for the DART and NTTA in the Metroplex, but its extremely impressive. Ive seen the expansion plans out of Houston are and they arent as big.

[justme02]

Originally Posted by feufoma

Actually, I think the freeways in Houston are far superior to anything in the DFW area outside of the new tollways. If public transport is so much greater in Dallas then why is ridership higher in Houston?

The freeways are better in Houston, but because Houston is bigger, it can still be harder to get around.

Houston has a better bus network and Dallas has better rail.

http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/dallas/images/13-dallas-rail-network.jpg (broken link)

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfa...vicesjun09.gif

Dallas will be covered very well when this is all said and done. Its fair to say that Dallas has and will have a more extensive, better rail network. I look how I can get where and if the train network has more stops and more lines, that makes it a better rail system.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

I have no clue where youre getting your stats from. DART rail has a higher ridership than the Metro in Houston. The daily ridership is around 61,000 for DART and about 39,000 for the Houston Metro.

Also, I dont know if youve seen the 2013, 2018, 2030 plans for the DART and NTTA in the Metroplex, but its extremely impressive. Ive seen the expansion plans out of Houston are and they arent as big.

I wasn't only talking rail.

Daily ridership including bus & light rail:

Metro - 600,500+

DART - 228,300
.
As you can see, that's more than double the ridership of public transit. Who's more urban now?

[justme02]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

I wasn't only talking rail.

Daily ridership including bus & light rail:

Metro - 600,500+

DART - 228,300
.
As you can see, that's more than double the ridership

I still make the arguement that public tranist is better here. The arguemet you make is lopsided. Weve established that Houston is a much bigger city, takes up more land, and has more people. So of course, the public transit is going to have more people riding it.

[justme02]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Who's more urban now?

WHERE DID I SAY DALLAS WAS MORE URBAN?

Youre a very snotty poster on this board. With that attitude, I would think you are from Dallas. After all Houstonites are so laid bag and subtle while Dallasites are such braggarts and have that attitude. Your post is pretentious as all get out, yet thats the very thing you say you hate about Dallas.

As weve established your comparing Houston, which is a bigger city, with more people, and more land, to Dallas which is smaller.

Why dont we compare Houston to Chicago? They have about the same difference in population as Houston and Dallas. Is that a fair comparrison? By your logic bigger cities = more urban.

[mm4]

Originally Posted by feufoma

Actually, I think the freeways in Houston are far superior to anything in the DFW area outside of the new tollways. If public transport is so much greater in Dallas then why is ridership higher in Houston?

A lot of people in much larger Houston can't afford cars, and the distances in the city are so vast they're not walking or biking it. They have no choice but to stand at bus stops all day and ride buses in crosstown road traffic absent anything but a single, short light rail line on Main Street.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

I still make the arguement that public tranist is better here. The arguemet you make is lopsided. Weve established that Houston is a much bigger city, takes up more land, and has more people. So of course, the public transit is going to have more people riding it.

Of course Houston is larger than Dallas so for all practical purposes lets throw Fort Worth back into the mix (as Dallas so often does) along with the mighty Trinity Railway Express to cover the whole metro region.

Ridership
Passenger Totals (Include Bus, Vanpool, Paratransit, Tarrant County TRE boardings)
2005 7.1 million passenger trips
2006 8 million passenger trips
2007 8.1 million passenger trips
2008 8.5 million passenger trips
Average Weekday Ridership: T Buses – 22,500. TRE – 11,000
The T | Fort Worth Transportation Authority | Fort Worth, TX - Just the Facts

DART - 228,300
The T - 22,500
TRE - 11,000

= 261,800

By my math that is still a far cry from Houston's public transit #'s.

[justme02]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Of course Houston is larger than Dallas so for all practical purposes lets throw Fort Worth back into the mix (as Dallas so often does) along with the mighty Trinity Railway Express to cover the whole metro region.

Ridership
Passenger Totals (Include Bus, Vanpool, Paratransit, Tarrant County TRE boardings)
2005 7.1 million passenger trips
2006 8 million passenger trips
2007 8.1 million passenger trips
2008 8.5 million passenger trips
Average Weekday Ridership: T Buses – 22,500. TRE – 11,000
The T | Fort Worth Transportation Authority | Fort Worth, TX - Just the Facts

DART - 228,300
The T - 22,500
TRE - 11,000

= 261,800

By my math that is still a far cry from Houston's public transit #'s.

Its still not the same. You have a gap of 20 miles or so between the systems. Not one continuous clump as Houston.

Let me make this simple. I was giving the reasons people in LA had given me for why they liked one over another. Dallas has a better rail network and a brighter future for their rail network. Houston obviously has a more extensive bus network.