Vacancy Rates on the Rise; Documenting How Houston’s Bus Network Got Its Groove Back

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Photo of McGovern Lake at Hermann Park: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

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  • More false PR from Metro, no surprise more self aggrandizing without any substance to back it up, service is worse.. And no surprise Omar Afra is working (read: exploiting) the city and it’s lax enforcement, the venue is nice but not at all surprised by that given how many strings they pull/or pockets they pad for summerfest, etc.

  • @cm The substance is ridership reports that are up. And to equal out your personal opinion, my experience is MUCH improved taking a high frequency route.
    .
    Whether you believe it or not, what Metro did to the transit network was revolutionary. Public transit services across the country are looking to what Houston did as a blueprint for the future. Dallas, Baltimore and many others are implementing the same philosophy.

  • Maybe that’s why they’ve received more complaints in the first quarter than they did all year last year.. Glad you’re the exception to the rule, try riding a city bus sometime.. Start with the #82 route, and then try the #47, and tell me if you still have that opinion.. Highly doubtful.

  • @cm Interesting. I ride the 82 everyday to and from work and love the dramatic improvement. And of course you are going to get more complaints when things change. Or you know, you could just keep on doing what we were doing and watching ridership dwindle.

  • “Maybe that’s why they’ve received more complaints in the first quarter than they did all year last year.”

    Source?

  • RE: White Oak Music Hall…in 2014 all the Glen Park people and nearby neighbors were for it. Now that the local residents finally understand that this outdoor music hall, with its parking problems and excessive noise (and lets not forget the d-bags that will flock here), will destroy their peaceful existence, they are against it. Too bad they didn’t listen to those who told them that this would happen, back when they could have easily nipped this venue in the bud by protesting the permit process.

  • The 82 was a nightmare right after the change. It was crowded to the point of people smashed against the doors. There were a lot of complaints, and to Metro’s credit they put more buses on that route in January. That has helped some.

    I was personally complaining daily at that time. So, my complaints rose sharply from none to daily. Other people on that route reported doing the same. That’s not statistical or measured, but the people I ride with regularly lodged their complaints.

    The thing was that three lines went down too one on Westheimer. The Metro representatives they sent to talk to riders acknowledged it was an issue they hadn’t anticipated correctly. That’s to be expected with a huge change, but it wasn’t all roses.

    I miss the 53. Lots of people miss the 53. What’s not to love about a bus from that goes downtown to Greenway to the Galleria to the west side of town? The Metro reps said that was one line people complained about missing a lot.

    If your commute improved, the changes were great. If not, you’ve lodged your complaints and moved on by now.

  • @Tetris Great feedback. I’m on the first few miles of Westheimer so the redundancy has been improved (not perfect) but things are better. And I think that’s my main point about applauding Metro. At least they are doing something (from nothing) and making improvements. Sure it’s easy to bemoan a quasi government organization that is generally poorly run nationwide. Houston Metro is trying and it’s working and others have taken notice. I have a positive outlook that improvements will continue.

  • Another tower in the Med Center breaks ground…that is incredible. Seems that TMC is immune to the economy, and booming more than ever. The skyline there seems to have changed more dramatically than any other part of Houston in the past decade, and remains on the same pace today. Blows my mind.

  • 650,000+ complaints in the first quarter, source Metro. It’s called a control number, and some of us might actually work for federal agencies that have oversight of said transit agency.

    Excuses don’t get people to work on time, or prevent dangerous over crowding conditions where if said bus was in an accident Metro would have dozens of riders possibly unable to exit buses, leading to massive injuries or deaths. The #82 route is late over 2/3rds of the time, and is dangerously over crowded more than 50% of the time. Nice try white washing that..

  • @cm No one is trying to white wash anything or say it’s great. There is work to be done but ridership is up and service is better (for some). Again….. the point is Metro is doing something period. Which is a lot better than people’s general expectation of their government organizations.

  • Funny, I’m *looking* at METRO’s source. It appears that they had 2,681 complaints in January and 3,002 complaints in February. So you’re saying that they had 644,317 complaints during the month of March?

    Or are you talking about Q1 of METRO’s fiscal year? 10,091 complaints is a long way from 650,000.

    Scroll down to page 24 of the packet:
    http://ridemetro.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=1270&meta_id=24473

    Nice try, troll.

  • @Thomas (another one) it obliviously doesn’t pass the eye test. ‘10% of Houston residences were so dissatisfied with their metro service they phoned in complaints in the last quarter.’