Which Texas city has the best public transportation? (Houston, Dallas: how much, light rail)

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

I have used Public transportation in all 4 major cities and I would rank them as follows:

1. Houston C+
2. Dallas C
3. Austin D
4. San Antonio F

Originally Posted by grf430

No. I'd actually give San Antonio an F- for it's terribly outdated infrastructure and lack of logical planning in the suburban areas. Not to mention terrible bus service.

I gave SA a higher F because the bus service was cheap (especially for students)

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by hamiltonpl

That was not responsive to my question. Show me the source that says Washington Township has had $15 billion in TOD developments every year. So far, I've gotten nonsensical uninformed rambling about Dallas and unsubstantiated numbers about economic development in Washington Township New Jersey. First, it was $15 billion per year, with $270 billion in your area. Now its $25 billion in your area. Just show me the backup. I'd ask another question, but I'm certain I'd just get another lie in return.

I never said that my town has 15 or 20 Billion , my County does .....but you keep ignoring that.... How does a town of 10,000 have 15 Billion worth of TOD? My state has had over 40 Billion over the past 10 years , NYC has had over 100 Billion in TOD , of course there TOD is different.

[blkgiraffe]

Austin and SA could both get an F or at least a D. Austin has a horrible highway system; while SA lacks any type of rail transit.

[jr1038]

Originally Posted by blkgiraffe

Austin and SA could both get an F or at least a D. Austin has a horrible highway system; while SA lacks any type of rail transit.

This is a discussion on public transportation systems which implies we are more or less excluding the highway system and considering only things like bus and rail. Public transit service and options are definitely better in Austin than in SA, but neither city has good public transportation overall.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by hamiltonpl

Dallas has to deal with more special interests, which is a shame. Plano and Irving complain that they have no rail, so they demand that rail be built in their town instead of Dallas building more in downtown, which was already planned to be built by now. Houston has a better political situation because it is the alpha city in its area. In Dallas, we have to build farther out because those DART member cities threatened to stop paying into DART if they didn't immediately receive rail. It's not about style over substance.

No public transportation system builds for style. Instead, it's about politics. I wish it wasn't that way. It's short sighted. But it's reality.

If this is true than that is sad for Dallas. They had the right idea but had to serve the suburban members. Though I think Irving was going to get stations anyway considering you wanted a connection to DFW. I still think the Orange Line will become the most used line in the system. Dallas and it's member cities just need to start developing around the stations and than outward from there. Let the buses feed the rail system and keep pressing on. Who knows, many the system does have higher ridership if they didn't do the honor system.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by jr1038

This is a discussion on public transportation systems which implies we are more or less excluding the highway system and considering only things like bus and rail. Public transit service and options are definitely better in Austin than in SA, but neither city has good public transportation overall.

Oh.....I'm dyslexic! Don't judge me!

[ClarenceBodiker]

Originally Posted by Spade

If this is true than that is sad for Dallas. They had the right idea but had to serve the suburban members. Though I think Irving was going to get stations anyway considering you wanted a connection to DFW. I still think the Orange Line will become the most used line in the system. Dallas and it's member cities just need to start developing around the stations and than outward from there. Let the buses feed the rail system and keep pressing on. Who knows, many the system does have higher ridership if they didn't do the honor system.

I'm pretty sure that is the plan. A lot of TOD's stalled with the economic crash. Look at the Lake Highlands station. They tore down several apartment complexes and vacant land has been sitting there for four years with a sign out front claiming a town center is coming. Why hasn't it? Because the economy is still so uncertain. I don't get people who complain about rail lines going out to Garland, Plano, Carrollton, etc. They've paid taxes to DART for 3 decades. DART had to give them lines! They didn't have a choice. Now, DART can focus on improving its core and foundation.

[dallasboi]

I don't know where the idea of dart building its lines on the outskirts came from.Our system is a hub and spoke system similar to a freeway system with all the lines meeting in the CORE.Of course it reaches the suburbs, and it should. Even New York's system is not just limited to just Manhattan. It serves the suburbs also(it only makes sense). Our system connects the entire metroplex which is the most important thing. This puts you in access to the entire region without a car. I'm not saying people are parking their cars for good in dallas but if you don't own a car you still can get everywhere including Ft.Worth. I knew Houstonians would find some kind of way to discredit dart. If Metro bus operations are so stellar and efficient and moves so many people soooo much better than Dart then why did yall even build a line? Its clear that the 7 mile rail line is nowhere near the same league as ours alone, so y'all would have to rely on bus ridership to "so call" push metro ahead of dart. To me bragging about a bus fleet and hov lanes seems backwards for a growing huge city like Houston. And by looking at metro's system map,it looks like they gave a red crayon to a three yr old and said draw a bowl of speghetti. It looks like CRAP!!!!!....It looks rushed like they just wanted to hurry and get ANY kinda plans together just to be able to say they have a rail line project or to shut people up. Who knows. How can dart be criticized for going to the suburbs then all of suddenly its a good idea for metro to build a line from Houston aaaaallll the way(45-50miles) to galveston?....Yall just jealous of dart that all.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

you would have more credibility if you didn't argue against facts. That is the true sign of a homer. Go with the facts dude



not saying something is wrong with, just pointing out how small the area is. And even then in that small land area a small portion of it is used. It makes transportation much easier

I guess I missed something. Remind me again of the "facts" that I'm arguing against, which evidence that the Victoria bus system is no better than the C and D and F that other posters are attributing to their cities. I've never heard about any one in Victoria complaining about the buses and grading the service C, D or F. Maybe if you go to a city and find a lot of "homers", there is a reason for it. I don't know a single person here who wishes they lived in Houston.

Every city's public transport system consists of X number of buses per capita, and the difficulty of financing the fleet, scheduling and routing the buses, hiring and supervising the personnel. etc. is pretty much the same regardless of the size of the city. Considering how many small cities have no public transport system at all, it may in fact be even harder to maintain good and reliable service in a smaller city. A small city has a less dependable tax base to rely on for system support, and less leverage to pry funding out of other sources.

[dallasboi]

Originally Posted by jtur88

I guess I missed something. Remind me again of the "facts" that I'm arguing against, which evidence that the Victoria bus system is no better than the C and D and F that other posters are attributing to their cities. I've never heard about any one in Victoria complaining about the buses and grading the service C, D or F. Maybe if you go to a city and find a lot of "homers", there is a reason for it. I don't know a single person here who wishes they lived in Houston.

Every city's public transport system consists of X number of buses per capita, and the difficulty of financing the fleet, scheduling and routing the buses, hiring and supervising the personnel. etc. is pretty much the same regardless of the size of the city. Considering how many small cities have no public transport system at all, it may in fact be even harder to maintain good and reliable service in a smaller city. A small city has a less dependable tax base to rely on for system support, and less leverage to pry funding out of other sources.

This is a good point. People often forget that houston has about 1million more people than the city of Dallas. So if Dallas had 1million extra people in its city limits it would definately warrant a bus fleet similar to metro. This proves that the Houston "BUS" fleet is no more significant than Dallas'. Both systems are reflective of the populations of the cities they serve.