American Cities of the Future 2015/16 Winners. Houston ranks 3rd

[curbur]

Originally Posted by Dopo

The plan for rail in Houston should have this as #1 priority
IAH-Downtown-Hobby-Galveston

That's commuter rail though and not light rail. Now you're not only talking one city or one county even.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by UAE50

I wonder why there is a stigma? New York, London, San Francisco, Paris, Hong Kong, Zurich, Washington, DC all have more wealth and sophistication than Houston could ever dream of, and people there don't view public transportation with any sort of stigma. The greatest cities in the world have one things in common - they have trains.

And they were also major cities long before cars.

Oh, and more sophistication? Really? You believe sophistication is defined by geography? lol

[UAE50]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

And they were also major cities long before cars.

Oh, and more sophistication? Really? You believe sophistication is defined by geography? lol

No, not only geography. In pretty much every other way..

In any case,

Dubai, the most modern example of a world city, has trains that run through the center of the city and the network is continually expanding...

Doha, Qatar, an even newer city, has rapid-train that runs through business districts and it is continually expanding..

Sydney, Australia was fully developed post-car, and Sydney has trains..

Last but not least, Hong Kong, the the most important place developed post-car, has (amazing) trains...

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by UAE50

No, not only geography. In pretty much every other way..

Well, maybe best ya not ta hang out with all us cave dwelling beer swilling rednecks here in Houston. We just so simple and silly. We ain't no way sophisticated like y'all. I bet you is just the coolest thing since ice.

I love people who have such superiority complexes. They make me laugh until you are forced to have social interaction with them face to face. It quickly devolves into:

Me, "I just found this pretty good little Mexican place down the road."

Smuggy-face, "Well, I'm sure it's nothing compared to the authentic places down in Mexico."

Me, "Maybe not, but it's still good."

Smuggy-face, "Good, I can tell you where all the good restaurants are, and they aren't here. The good restaurants are found in Europe and Asia. That's where I prefer to dine."

Me, "Ok, I was just saying I knew a good Mexican place here in Houston, I wasn't talking about international places."

Smuggy-face, "Why would you? Houston isn't international."

Yeah, something like that.

[Augiec]

The fact of the matter is we really do need a good commuter rail program to get a lot of the cars off the congested freeways. Having lived in Boston for a few years, I could see something like the T lines popping up and serving the community well.

A line running alongside North & Southbound on 59 with park and rides along the way, same for 45. We could also use lines along 290 & 288. We could place major stations in the med center, galleria & downtown. My only concern would be walking in the galleria area in the Summer.

The costs for such a project would be enormous. Lol, I don't even want to think about how much or how it would be funded.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by Augiec

The fact of the matter is we really do need a good commuter rail program to get a lot of the cars off the congested freeways.

I've posted my support of expanded rail on here many, many, many times.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by Augiec

The fact of the matter is we really do need a good commuter rail program to get a lot of the cars off the congested freeways. Having lived in Boston for a few years, I could see something like the T lines popping up and serving the community well.

A line running alongside North & Southbound on 59 with park and rides along the way, same for 45. We could also use lines along 290 & 288. We could place major stations in the med center, galleria & downtown. My only concern would be walking in the galleria area in the Summer.

The costs for such a project would be enormous. Lol, I don't even want to think about how much or how it would be funded.

What makes no sense is how the city keeps putting it off due to cost. If they think it's expensive now, they're going to **** bricks when they see how much it costs 20 years from now.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

Well, maybe best ya not ta hang out with all us cave dwelling beer swilling rednecks here in Houston. We just so simple and silly. We ain't no way sophisticated like y'all. I bet you is just the coolest thing since ice.

I love people who have such superiority complexes. They make me laugh until you are forced to have social interaction with them face to face.

On the other side you have people that seem to be 100% against progress
Anything that could make our city better is always "too expensive"
But have no problem spending millions to build a stadium so that we can get charged $20 for a hot dog and a bottle of water.

Those same people call themselves "Common sense folks" lol

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Dopo

The plan for rail in Houston should have this as #1 priority
IAH-Downtown-Hobby-Galveston

Honestly, I don't think the current rail that Houston has would work to go to Iah. Hobby yes as it's not far from Downtown. But Iah is too far Houston's system is basically what Europeans would call a tram though Houston does use LRT vehicles. What Houston could work with is something that DC has now with it's HRT system. Far more capacity, higher speed, and it's own row (though LRT can build have it's own row as well such as metro link in St Louis). Houston is not building it's current LRT system like the other systems in the country and that's fine.

Also, I do like the proposal that Houston is doing with its new bus system.