Public Transportation

Public Transportation, Quicklink

7 Comments

METRO’S NEW TRIP-PLANNING APP You can now download T.R.I.P., aÂ trip-planning app that’s all Metro’s own. The Write on Metro blog first mentioned the app in October 2011, reporting that a launch was expected later that winter. Of course, that delay isn’t mentioned in today’s press release announcing that theÂ Transit Route Information and Planning app, a screenshot of which is shown here, is up and running, ready to provide schedule and route information based on the user’s location, predict “to within 3 minutes” arrivals of the next bus or train, and generate routes. And it’s free. [Write on Metro; Ride Metro]

Bus Routes, Metro, Metro Rail, Mobile Resources, Public Transportation

Development Strategies

04/12/13 10:15am

Mayor Parker’s Plan for a Bigger, Friendlier Uptown TIRZ

Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Quicklink, Taxes, Uptown

20 Comments

MAYOR PARKER’S PLAN FOR A BIGGER, FRIENDLIER UPTOWN TIRZ Why not both? Yesterday, Mayor Parker announced a $556 million plan that, if approved by city council on April 24, wouldÂ fund the seemingly unrelated instead-of-light railÂ Post Oak BRT and Memorial Park reforestation: Uptown would annex 1,768 acres of property into theÂ TIRZ, and a gradual increase in tax revenue over the next 25 years would help to keep the BRT operational and implement a program of park improvements. Those would include, says Houston Parks and Rec director Joe Turner in a city press release, “erosion control, removal of invasive non-native plants, the reestablishment of native grasslands and forests and facility needs.” Still: Only 36 acres of the property roped in for annexation would be taxable. And does this plan mean that BRT — first thought to be up and running by 2017 — will be delayed? Don’t worry, says Uptown Management District president John Breeding. Besides what will be generated by the more environmentally friendlyÂ TIRZ, money for BRT will come from TxDOT and — if approved by a vote on April 26 — Transportation Improvement Program grants from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. [City of Houston; previously on Swamplot] Drawing of Post Oak BRT: Uptown Management District

Development Strategies, Memorial-Park, Parks, Property Taxes, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, TIRZs, Uptown

Parks

03/19/13 10:00am

A Look at the Hike and Bike Now Running to the Addicks Park and Ride

Photography, Public Transportation

10 Comments

Looks like this mile and a half extension of a hike and bike trail leading north out of Terry Hershey Park is ready to go. Photos popped up on HAIF yesterday that follow the trail as it dives beneath the Katy Fwy. and banks west between Highway 6 and Eldridge Pkwy.Â along the Addicks Dam.

According to the Terry Hershey Park website, this extension now makes a continuous ride possible from neighborhoods around Wilcrest, Kirkwood, and Dairy Ashford to the Addicks Park and Ride to the northwest.

Here are a few more photos of what you’ll see:

77079, Bicycles, Parks, Photography, Public Transportation, Trails

03/11/13 10:00am

Houston’s New Short Buses

Quicklink

11 Comments

HOUSTON’S NEW SHORT BUSES Metro will roll out a fleet of these 15-passenger van-like buses this week on 13 underused routes, reports The Highwayman’s Dug Begley: “Following a voter referendum to continue giving a quarter of Metroâ€™s sales tax collections to local cities for road repairs, the agency said smaller buses would be a better fit for routes where conventional 40-foot buses were mostly empty.” According to a press release from Metro, the shorterÂ 27-ft. buses will have “all the amenities” of the conventional ones, with “header signs, interior pull cords, and audio/visual announcements.” You’ll be able to see them for yourself tomorrow at the Southeast Transit Center on Scottcrest; the buses will begin running routes Wednesday and Thursday from the Magnolia TC on Harrisburg and the Acres Homes TC on Little York.Â [The Highwayman; Ride Metro] Image: Write on Metro

Buses, Metro, Public Transportation, Quicklink

Art

02/01/13 12:30pm

Midtown Muralist Outed by Metro, Has Day Job . . . at Metro

Buildlings for Sale, Graffiti, Midtown, Public Art, Public Transportation

3 Comments

Before Daniel Anguilu started redecorating Midtown, he tagged trains — and, apparently, he drives one, too, says a press release Metro released yesterday: The official housepainter of Houston Texans linebacker Connor Barwin works as a light-rail operator. (Interesting, isn’t it, that so many of his murals — including the ones pictured here, on the for-sale formerÂ Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority building at 2850 FanninÂ — can be found within walking distance of the Red Line?) Anguilu’s moonlighting work can be seen — you’ll have to go inside, though — at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art through February 17.

In related news, Metro says all stations will be closed this weekend for rail construction and maintenance.

METRORail Operator Paints the Town [Ride Metro]
HX8 [Station Museum]
MetroRail stations will be closed this weekend [Houston Chronicle]
Previously on Swamplot: How You Can Help Large-Scale Graffiti in Midtown Get Off the Ground, Among the Giant Bugs of Midtown, Up on the Roof, Thanksgiving in Midtown: A Bird Is Born

Photos: Candace Garcia

77006, Art, Buildings for Sale, Graffiti, Light-Rail, Midtown, Public Art, Public Transportation

New Construction

01/17/13 1:31pm

Uptown’s Not Waiting for Light Rail, Planning Bus System Along Post Oak Instead

Post Oak, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Streetscapes, Traffic, Transportation, Uptown

34 Comments

The driving force of a project that Uptown Houston District has proposed to the city to transform Post Oak Blvd.? Big beautiful buses. With both residential and commercial developments like Skanska’s 20-story office building popping up along the major transit corridor and METRO’s Uptown/Gold Line nowhere in sight, the District has developed a $177-million project featuring light rail-like BRT to update Post Oak — a street “that has long outlived its original use,” says John Breeding, the District’s president.

77056, Bus Routes, Buses, Post Oak, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Traffic, Uptown

East End

10/03/12 3:28pm

Where’s That “YEEEE-HAWWW” Now? Thunderbolt Puts on its Harrisburg Rail Face

Parking, Public Transportation, Retail, Streetscapes

3 Comments

It was inevitable that construction of the new East End Line would change the face of Thunderbolt Motors & Transmissions. No more head-in parking out front means customers may have a hard time replicating the closing image of the business’s (locally) famous teevee commercial, 2 versions of which feature a blonde urban-cowgirl type in a Caddy convertible waving her hat in the air as she pulls her (presumably backed-in) convertible onto Harrisburg from one of those spaces.

The 1977 original is shown above. In the commercial’s more recent remake, the head-in parking at 6847 Harrisburg is easier to make out:

77011, East End, East End Line, Light-Rail, Parking, Retail, Streetscapes, TV-Commercials

East End

10/01/12 9:34am

Power to the Pedestrians: Sidewalk Utility Poles of the East End Line

Public Transportation, Utilities

64 Comments

Courtesy of a reader wielding a camera along Harrisburg Blvd., here’s a tour of a few standout elements you can expect to encounter in a stroll along the path of Houston’s new East End light-rail line, now that sidewalk coordination work between CenterPoint Energy, Metro, and the Greater East End Management District has been completed.

“Most of the poles,” the reader reports, “are now in the center of the sidewalk leaving 24 inches to squeeze by on either side.” Or maybe a bit more:

77003, 77011, 77012, Construction Problems, East End, East End Line, Eastwood, Metro Rail, New Construction, Streetscapes, Utilities

09/07/12 9:30pm

A Special Kind of Limbo for Metro’s University Line

Quicklink

59 Comments

A SPECIAL KIND OF LIMBO FOR METRO’S UNIVERSITY LINE Have plans for a light-rail line along Westpark and Richmond from Hillcroft to Eastwood been dealt a deathblow? In a story aired this evening, Ted Oberg claims Metro “recently took that project off the table” — and that “nothing will be built until at least 2025 if Metro gets its way.” But transit agency spokesperson Jerome Gray says the patient is still alive: “The Metro Board has not scrapped plans for the University Line,” he tells Swamplot. “While work has slowed down Metro has not pulled this project out of its rail expansion program. . . . Metro will proceed with rail expansion as funds become available.” [abc13] Map: Metro

Metro, Metro Rail, Public Transportation, University Line

08/28/12 11:22am

Driving Tour Progress Reports: How Far All That Light Rail Construction Has Come

24 Comments

How far along is construction on the 3 rail lines Metro is building? A little more than a year ago, HAIF user ricco67 took a video camera along on drives following the paths of each soon-to-be rail route, and posted the results. With the completion of a video taken alongside the East End Line construction from Downtown to the Magnolia Transit Center posted yesterday (above), you can now spot-check progress in updated tours of each of them.

Ricco67’s update showing construction on the Southeast Line dates from last month:

East End Line, Light-Rail, Metro, Metro Rail, New Construction, North Line, Southeast Line, Videos

Comments

07/05/12 10:49pm

Comment of the Day: Light Rail for the People

Public Transportation, Quicklink

9 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: LIGHT RAIL FOR THE PEOPLE “One very interesting upshot to delaying Uptown and University is that it heads the ‘LRT is elitist’ argument off at the pass. If you open the E, SE, and N lines without Uptown and University then youâ€™ve just created an LRT system that predominantly serves black and hispanic neighborhoods. Possibly the first such new-start system ever built in [the US and Canada]. Opposition to the ‘white manâ€™s train,’ whether it takes a grassroots, Los Angeles Bus Riderâ€™s Union form, or whether itâ€™s simply a talking point for people who will always think rail is a ‘boondoggle,’ is thus impossible. Considering that H-town will be minority-majority by the 2020 census, I think itâ€™s kinda cool. And Iâ€™m an elitist white dude.” [KHH, commenting on Light Rail Scorecard: 6 Miles Down, 9 To Go, Culberson Blocking Goal]

Comments, Light-Rail, Metro Rail, Public Transportation

New Construction

07/02/12 5:07pm

Light Rail Scorecard: 6 Miles Down, 9 To Go, Culberson Blocking Goal

Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Quicklink

47 Comments

LIGHT RAIL SCORECARD: 6 MILES DOWN, 9 TO GO, CULBERSON BLOCKING GOAL Metro says it’s now laid 6 miles of track for the 3 light-rail lines its working on — the new East End and Southeast Lines and the North Line extension. And construction is now under way on 10 of 24 new stations. All is on track for a 2014 opening date, including $200 million of federal funds for 2 of those lines, approved by a vote in the House of Representatives last Friday. Also approved within the same bill, though: Congressman John Culberson’s ban on federal funding for both the Uptown Line and the long-delayed University Line. A House-Senate conference committee will determine if the funding block remains in the bill’s final version. [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Metro

East End Line, Financing, Light-Rail, Metro, Metro Rail, New Construction, North Line, Southeast Line, University Line, Uptown Line

06/18/12 10:28am

The Sewer and the Rail on Richmond

Upper Kirby, Utilities

22 Comments

“Does major storm sewer work on Richmond between Kirby & Buffalo Speedway,” reader James Glassman wants to know, “mean Metro’s University Line has thrown up the white flag? Seems like all major work had been deferred until Metro broke ground there. But now this?”

Richmond Ave. traffic alert between Kirby-Buffalo Speedway: drainage work will cause delays, detours [River Oaks Examiner]
Richmond Drainage Work Begins [Upper Kirby District Street Talk]

Photo: James Glassman

77098, Metro Rail, University Line, Upper Kirby

Buying and Selling

06/13/12 12:45pm

UH Tries To Throw Metro’s Southeast Rail Line Off Track

Neighborhood Disputes, Public Transportation, University of Houston

44 Comments

University of Houston officials have asked Metro to move a portion of the Southeast Line, currently under construction, off its planned route — and off campus. Work on portions of the line on Wheeler and Scott streets near Robertson Stadium came to a standstill 2 months ago, West U Examiner reporter Michael Reed notes. Metro and UH officials have apparently been negotiating on the layout of the light-rail route since that time, but so far, according to Reed, there’s been no agreement.

Metro’s planned design for the line requires the transit agency to purchase a total of 4.48 acres of UH property, much of it in a strip along the eastern side of Scott St., just west of the stadium. A plan submitted to the Department of Transportation for funding last year shows the line and a Scott/Cleburne station on the east side of Scott St., on part of what’s currently a stadium parking lot. (The map, below, also shows that Metro adjusted the plan from a 2008 layout that would have eaten up more UH property.)