Oops, the light rail won’t go through Washington Avenue (Houston: apartment, condo)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

East of Heights Boulevard is where the rail was planned. West of Heights Boulevard, we see semi-consistent development. East of it, we see lots of abandoned and underused lots. We see a Salvation Army store, some industrial bakery warehouses, a used car lot, lots of apartment complexes, and lots of surface parking lots.



But they’re exactly met in the Houston area as a whole - which is the bigger picture here. Accordingly to one source I saw recently, Houston suffers the #1 worst traffic congestion in the country - in terms of hours and dollars lost. People are forced to live farther and farther out from downtown to find affordable housing. Texas is among the tops in death rate from automobile accidents. The air quality in Houston is among the worst of cities in the U.S.

These are all serious problems for Houston. And this kind of light rail project on Washington Avenue would help fight all those problems. It would spur development for thousands more people to live in affordable apartments near downtown. It would allow those residents to take transit and even walk or bike to work and to amenities. Every person on a light rail train is one less parking spot needed. Every person on a train is one less risk of an automobile accident. Every person on a train is one less tailpipe spewing smog.

Got a link? Doubt it.

Tomtom had Houston 18th in the US in traffic despite being #5 in population.https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/traffic-index/ranking/

Houston is one of the most affordable major cities in the US. Its 57th in this list in North America.
https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-l.../north-america

Houston does have some of the worst ozone problems outside of California. But on particulate matter, its cleaner than most of the other top 30 metros.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by bu2

Got a link? Doubt it.

Tomtom had Houston 18th in the US in traffic despite being #5 in population.https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/traffic-index/ranking/

Houston is one of the most affordable major cities in the US. Its 57th in this list in North America.
https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-l.../north-america

Houston does have some of the worst ozone problems outside of California. But on particulate matter, its cleaner than most of the other top 30 metros.

Houston's car accidents are out of control.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...t-12865072.php

The carnage, all factors considered, makes Houston the most deadly major metro area in the nation for drivers, passengers and people in their path, a Houston Chronicle analysis of 16 years of federal highway data reveals.

The nine-county metro region, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, leads the nation for fatal crashes involving drugs and alcohol, the Chronicle analysis shows. It's No. 2 for fatal crashes, per capita, on federal highways in the 12 largest regions of the country. The Houston region ranks second for fatal wrecks that involve speeding and also trails only Dallas in crashes blamed on someone slamming into stopped congestion on the freeway.

Each of the 12 biggest areas has weak spots, but only Houston ranks in the top half of major metros in every category examined in the analysis.

[Snapper_head]

Originally Posted by bu2

Got a link? Doubt it.

This from an article I read elsewhere recently:

“Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, is fast-growing and sprawling, and as of 2012 had more highway lane-miles per person than all but two cities in the country. The city’s over-reliance on cars has created big problems for residents. Long trips on congested highways mean that Houston workers have America’s second-most expensive commutes.

The metro area’s roads are also the deadliest in the nation, and according to the Houston Chronicle, the ‘death toll is the equivalent of three fully loaded 737s crashing each year at Houston’s airports, killing all aboard’. Vehicle pollution is also harming air quality in Houston, which in 2019 was ranked ninth-worst in the country for high smog days by the American Lung Association.”

We can look up sources for all these. I’ve done so in the past and they checked out.

Nobody would be surprised to learn that Houston is sprawling, congested, smoggy, and deadly.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by SanJac

Who told you mass transit is a "pleasant experience?" Trust me it is not always pleasant. Try being cramped like a sardine in a hot subway car (with a suit on), and that is after walking thousands of steps just to get underground.

People on C-D romanticize about rail but I wonder how many people would actually use it on a daily basis if Houston had it. Sure, it's fun to take the subway in Washington D.C. or New York as a tourist, but as a way of life? Houstonians don't want that lifestyle. The Oil & Gas industry has nothing to do with it.

I take the rail to avoid parking congestion at sporting events...other than that there is no reason for me to take metro. I definitely wouldn't take rail to an airport... that trip would take forever!

Don't know that until it actually exists. I've seen plenty of light rail pics from Houston with it being packed on rush hour. That's usually when most systems have their peak riders. During the day however, the trains aren't as packed and they are very useful and easy to use. Especially when you are at night out on town. Locals and tourists alike love it in cities that have extensive rail systems.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Spade

Don't know that until it actually exists. I've seen plenty of light rail pics from Houston with it being packed on rush hour. That's usually when most systems have their peak riders. During the day however, the trains aren't as packed and they are very useful and easy to use. Especially when you are at night out on town. Locals and tourists alike love it in cities that have extensive rail systems.

I used to take the commuter rail in the Chicago area. Commuter rail is very pleasant compared to driving and compared to the elevated or light rail although the elevated was not terrible. It's more crowded in NYC certainly. The commuter rail in Boston is also very pleasant. I took that to get to my daughter's home and its very nice. The subway in Boston is also pretty nice at least in non-rush hours. I wish we had something in Houston that I could take to go downtown from Pearland. There is a park and ride bus starting up, but that is really only convenient if you are commuting. It does little good for someone like me who wants to go to the museums in the middle of the day or to a show at night. (I did that in Chicago when I lived in Evanston - went to shows and museums on the *el.*

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

This from an article I read elsewhere recently:

“Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, is fast-growing and sprawling, and as of 2012 had more highway lane-miles per person than all but two cities in the country. The city’s over-reliance on cars has created big problems for residents. Long trips on congested highways mean that Houston workers have America’s second-most expensive commutes.

The metro area’s roads are also the deadliest in the nation, and according to the Houston Chronicle, the ‘death toll is the equivalent of three fully loaded 737s crashing each year at Houston’s airports, killing all aboard’. Vehicle pollution is also harming air quality in Houston, which in 2019 was ranked ninth-worst in the country for high smog days by the American Lung Association.”

We can look up sources for all these. I’ve done so in the past and they checked out.

Nobody would be surprised to learn that Houston is sprawling, congested, smoggy, and deadly.

None of what you wrote addressed what I said. You are going off on a different tangent and are unable to defend what you initially said.

[Milton Miteybad]

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

As the saying goes, you gotta break a few eggs if you want to make an omelette.

And if you're wanting an omelette, but have no eggs of your own, well then...grab the other guy's eggs and get crackin'.

No need to consider whether the other guy whose eggs you're stealing had plans for his own eggs when you, the person with no eggs, are hungry, right?

After all...he shouldn't be so selfish. He should instead think of how he will benefit by you taking his eggs and eating his omelette.

[Vicman]

The issue with that argument is: once the density of a city gets too high, there's no other way of doing things. Tokyo, Seoul, etc. cannot move to a model where everybody drives their car to work. There would be too many people at one time, and it becomes impractical.

As Houston gets denser, the inevitability of needing rail gets higher and higher. The businesses will have to put on their big boy pants and take it.

Originally Posted by SanJac

Who told you mass transit is a "pleasant experience?" Trust me it is not always pleasant. Try being cramped like a sardine in a hot subway car (with a suit on), and that is after walking thousands of steps just to get underground.

[Snapper_head]

Originally Posted by bu2

None of what you wrote addressed what I said. You are going off on a different tangent and are unable to defend what you initially said.

Maybe you can make it clearer what you’re looking for.

[Snapper_head]

Originally Posted by Milton Miteybad

And if you're wanting an omelette, but have no eggs of your own, well then...grab the other guy's eggs and get crackin'.

No need to consider whether the other guy whose eggs you're stealing had plans for his own eggs when you, the person with no eggs, are hungry, right?

After all...he shouldn't be so selfish. He should instead think of how he will benefit by you taking his eggs and eating his omelette.

And, in this analogy, the other guy’s eggs are the road space for automobile drivers?

That’s the cruel irony of mass transit. It actually reduces automobile congestion much of the time, at least in the long run. But automobile drivers in congested cities are so frustrated and desperate to cling to the short-term road space that they miss the bigger picture.

And of course there’s always the culprit of the political news media. They pounce on anything that stirs up a debate. That’s how they get ratings. Ratings is how they make money and stay in business. So everything is a myopic, heated confrontation. Light rail versus automobile drivers. Fight fight fight. Fight to the death.

Sadly, the truth is that a more diverse set of transportation options tends to give people more choices and open things up and benefit everyone. In cities, people have to cooperate to find win-win situations. In today’s hyper-argumentative media climate, everything is sound bites and close-mindedness and shouting,