Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, you are spot on. Transit authorities need to do a better job of making transit convenient (for those of us that have options). In Houston if we had more structured park-and-ride options I would definitely use rail more frequently.
In my personal situation it makes sense to use rail when going to a sporting event at NRG stadium or at the University of Houston campus. I can park downtown and take the rail to the event, avoiding major parking congestion at the event. I use this option frequently.
The main “red” line in Houston has high ridership because it goes through downtown, the museum district, the medical center, and finally NRG stadium. The problem for me is accessibility to the line. I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on Friday and there is a rail stop right in front of the museum. I thought, “how awesome it would be to take the rail.” The issue is that the nearest rail stop for me is a 30 minute walk away. It took me 15 minutes to drive myself to the museum. The rail stop near my house actually does have a park and ride option, but it only has capacity for about 20 vehicles and it does not seem safe. Therefore the risk of leaving my car there is too much for me to take. It is a 5 minute drive from my house to the rail stop, which I would use if I felt there was adequate security at the park-and-ride lot.
That's the classic "last mile" problem. Another issue we have here in Austin is that outside of a couple of the most popular bus routes, frequency is low. It's very annoying to have to time your departure perfectly to make the bus/train. I often end up taking an uber instead of the train just because it saves me 45 minutes of waiting around for something like $6-7.
The other part is that driving in the sun belt is not that big of a deal.. Certainly driving yourself to the Museum in NYC would be a much, much bigger pain in the ass than it is in Houston. So the decision is squeezed on both sides (transit is more difficult, driving is easier).
You give more weight to usage versus coverage/availability. More people use MARTA rail because of a inadequate road system and access to the airport. However, DFW three years ago extended it rail service reach to its airports on both sides of the region. Metro Atlanta lacks the cooperation necessary to reach its transit potential. As D/FW grows, so does the Bus and Rail grid, identifying corridors for growth, centered around employment hubs. That's not the case in the Atlanta MSA and it will never be.
You dismiss ridership, but that's not how things work in the real world. The bottom line is, with less than half the track miles of the various systems in the Metrplex MARTA still has way more riders than all of them combined. And DART to Love Field is a joke, it's nowhere near the Terminal.
Yes, you are spot on. Transit authorities need to do a better job of making transit convenient (for those of us that have options). In Houston if we had more structured park-and-ride options I would definitely use rail more frequently.
In my personal situation it makes sense to use rail when going to a sporting event at NRG stadium or at the University of Houston campus. I can park downtown and take the rail to the event, avoiding major parking congestion at the event. I use this option frequently.
The main “red” line in Houston has high ridership because it goes through downtown, the museum district, the medical center, and finally NRG stadium. The problem for me is accessibility to the line. I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on Friday and there is a rail stop right in front of the museum. I thought, “how awesome it would be to take the rail.” The issue is that the nearest rail stop for me is a 30 minute walk away. It took me 15 minutes to drive myself to the museum. The rail stop near my house actually does have a park and ride option, but it only has capacity for about 20 vehicles and it does not seem safe. Therefore the risk of leaving my car there is too much for me to take. It is a 5 minute drive from my house to the rail stop, which I would use if I felt there was adequate security at the park-and-ride lot.
What feeds the rail system in Houston? In DC, it was just the bus and they have multiple lines clearly go to each station frequently. DC also has the last mile problem as mentioned above even with the rail system they have. But lately, to alleviate this, the bikes and now electric scooters have made mobility in the city far better. Of course, I am mostly talking about I’m the inner city stations and not the stations in the suburbs as of course it’s a bit more spread out. I know Houston has a bike sharing system but are they at each of their light rail stations?
What feeds the rail system in Houston? In DC, it was just the bus and they have multiple lines clearly go to each station frequently. DC also has the last mile problem as mentioned above even with the rail system they have. But lately, to alleviate this, the bikes and now electric scooters have made mobility in the city far better. Of course, I am mostly talking about I’m the inner city stations and not the stations in the suburbs as of course it’s a bit more spread out. I know Houston has a bike sharing system but are they at each of their light rail stations?
I disagree with what feeds DC. It's largely car based with suburban commuters either driving to large park and ride stations or being dropped off. DC's bus system isn't utilized like many would think. It's better utilized than sunbelt cities like LA, but not by as much as many would think.
I disagree with what feeds DC. It's largely car based with suburban commuters either driving to large park and ride stations or being dropped off. DC's bus system isn't utilized like many would think. It's better utilized than sunbelt cities like LA, but not by as much as many would think.
I was mostly talking about the stations inside the city though. Inside the city, the bus feeds more than cars.
Despite my questions about the small size and slow speed of Houston's rail system, I would be remiss in not pointing out that Houston, along with Detroit and a few others who have been in come-from-behind mode in terms of transit, have been praised for recently streamlining their bus systems and gaining strong ridership boosts. This apparently has entailed reducing or eliminating runs on weak, low population runs, while increasing frequency on core routes, and in Detroit's case, introducing about 24-hour service on 10 to 12 routes. This comes at time when bus rider numbers have been dropping substantially in many major cities, including major transit cities like Cleveland.
While I leery of cutting any service -- in this fashion, I don't like robbing Peter to pay Paul -- service reduction on lighter routes to boost frequency and attract riders on line-haul routes absolutely makes sense. Also, if the planned privately-financed Dallas-to-Houston HSR continues to materialize, Houston will gain big points from me on that front as well (while places like Ohio continue to balk at even pre-HSR conventional passenger regional transit-like service that, now, involves Amtrak.
Keep it up, Texas!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
