METRO JUST MEANS AFTERPARTIES ARE OUT OF THE QUESTION On the way to asking a larger political question, a personal testament to the moderating influence of going car-free: “See, in the past month I’ve had absolutely no problems getting to where I want to go. I can grab groceries, visit friends. The other day I took my primary romantic interest to dinner and a movie. We hopped a few buses to the Marq*E, headed back across town on a 20-Long Point to Ninfa’s/Navigation, then grabbed two buses back to her place. Thing is, it was a 3:30pm movie. You can get anywhere on the bus, but you have to do it *early*, because if you stay out too late the buses stop running. Transit doesn’t alter your mobility, it alters your lifestyle. I can hop a 40-Telephone and grab some extra-large CFS at the Dot Coffee Shop. But I can’t do it at 3am. I can catch a 25-Richmond to the drum and bass night. But to get home will require an expensive cab ride, unless I jet the party when other people are still showing up. Basically, transit has an incredible power to make you square.” [Keep Houston Houston]
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Welcome to reality!
Car and designated driver are the way to go.
Or just live next to your hangout of choice!
Today was “World No Car Day” right? I wonder if Metro saw a spike in ridership. Probably not.
But if you don’t have a car, you can afford the occasional cab. Isn’t that what people do in NYC? Mostly transit, some cabs?
I’m car free in houston and don’t use metro cause it takes way too long. Just bike everywhere. 6 mi commute to work, kinda sucks when it rains but whatever, just water. best part is I’m always hungry so I get to eat a lot and I love eating.
so if metro’s services are incapable of reducing the number of cars in this city and providing a realistic lifestyle, what is it that we hope to gain by replacing buses (that mostly operate way under capacity at that)with light rail?
i still don’t understand it. i can understand the pollution angle, but i think it’s effect will be negligible if beneficial at all considering the years of construction to put it in place, increased traffic for detours and stops once in place, additional construction from homes and businesses that will have shortened lifespans.
There has to have been dicussion of park and ride centers N, S, SE, W, NE with rail running on 45N/S, 59, Katy FW, 290 to downtown. Like many major cities in America (and EVERY city in every other country in the entire freakin’ world).
I’d ride it and everyone else I know wuold too. Am I just naive?
Oh, please. Buses and rail are for poor people and snotty politicians looking for a sound byte. Poor people of course work and so aren’t out late at night. So they don’t need bus or rail. The snotty politicians of course only ride the bus and rail during the day during “photo-ops” and have the Benz or the Beemer at their disposal the rest of the time. The only people who would use the bus or rail at 3 am are the prostitues and drug dealers and, well, they have the Benz or the Beemer at their disposal as well.
Just walk. It’s good exercise. But after dark, well, leave the wallet at home and just stuff the jewels and cash wherever you can stuff it. Or carry a gun. Just make sure you have a license to carry.
Joking aside, Metro probably would see a lot of business in the “wee hours” but of course Metro has no clue as to what serves the public best. So far they only seem interested in billions and billions for rail to serve the developers and even then still don’t have a clue. If I’m going to pay $2,000 a month for a one bedroom box on the rail line I would think I should be able to ride the rail downtown to party at the clubs and be able to ride the rail back home when the clubs close. Although on Friday and Saturday I can. But only if I leave when they call last call. Which is last call for the train as well.
“Joking aside, Metro probably would see a lot of business in the “wee hours†[…]”
I really kind of doubt that. In my experience, it is fairly rare for transit systems to run extremely late at night. In a spread out city like Houston, it’s hard to imagine the demand would be enough. (Maybe on Fridays and Saturdays, it would be enough…)
Houston buses are, in my personal experience, pretty calm, peaceful places. (That’s why the murder that happened on one about a year ago was such a shocker.) But imagine the buses picking up the drunks on Saturday night–and the accompanying mess, smells, passed out people, and occasional fights! (I once took the last Metro North train on Friday from NYC to New Haven–it was disgusting, as you can imagine! But better that than having all those drunken Yalies driving, I suppose.)
Why wouldn’t Housotnians ride Metro if it was to expand its hours. If metro was to expand into my area of the city, I would become a frequent rider.Longer weekend hours and a larger coverage area would be spectacular. I think of it as a buffet, lots of choices and optins and the freedom of travel would liberate all who choose to ride. Houston is the fourth largest city in America, I think its time we shed our 1950’s cloak, and step into the 21st century. We don’t need to duplicate any other cities transit, we need to look beyond and make Houston have it’s own identity. It is depressing when Houstonians have this negative attitude about public transit expansion. Houston has potential, and that potential lies in the younger generation, and if the younger generation sees that living in cities such as New York, Chicago, and even Los Angeles; which has expanded it’s public transit in leaps and bounds, are more porgressive, Houston could end up a lost city. Lets make Houston mobile…make Houston the great city it is, and can be. It would not only be beneficial to younger Houstonians, but all ages and visitors could grow to love Houston, the new mecca of transportation. Automobiles are here to stay. I am a car fanatic myself, but I still would love to have the option to choose. I feel forced to drive, or move to the museum distict to go to school. Houston is still fresh and moving and we have endless posibilites. Transportation is the key! I don’t feel as though money has anything to do with public transportation riders, if someone chooses to ride p.t., then they can, if not, drive. Is that really the stigma behind ridership? The lack of system i feel is the only reason the buses don’t appeal to all…