Tag Archives: light rail

Metro celebrates ridership increase one year after new bus network rollout

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Leah Binkovitz reports. From September 2015 (the first full month after the switch was implemented) to July 2016 (the most recent complete month), METRO saw its ridership on local bus and light-rail add an additional 4.5 million boardings — a … Continue reading →

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Harrisburg overpass nearing completion

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Hallelujah. Six months ago, Harrisburg Boulevard looked almost exactly as it has for more than five years, dotted by construction equipment. East of downtown Houston, the thoroughfare was more exposed dirt than street, and showed little sign of the rail … Continue reading →

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Metro rider satisfaction

Posted on July 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Not too bad. The recently released study by advocacy organization TransitCenter, which details attitudes about public transit nationwide, generally offers good news for METRO Houston. The Urban Edge requested Houston-specific data from the TransitCenter’s national survey of transit passengers. Roughly 76 percent of Houston … Continue reading →

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Main Street Line having on-time issues

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Not good. Poor on-time trends for Metro trains are costing riders time along the city’s most heavily-used transit route, and potentially leading some to consider other options for trips, a transit agency board member said Wednesday. “I think we are … Continue reading →

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Harrisburg overpass update

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Progress. Right now the East End light rail line stops a few blocks short of the Magnolia Transit Center on Harrisburg. Metro was going to build an underpass at the Hughes Street railroad crossing, but cancelled those plans because of worries … Continue reading →

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Carrin Patman’s vision for Metro

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I commend you to read Christopher Andrews’ report of a recent meeting between Metro Board Chair Carrin Patman and group of local transportation-interested bloggers. I quote here from his recap of what Patman has in mind for Metro while she … Continue reading →

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My vision for Metro: Expansion

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Part 1: Buses Part 2: Marketing itself One of the things that new Metro Chair Carrin Patman has been talking about is a regional transportation plan, to get everyone – including cities and counties not currently involved with Metro – … Continue reading →

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My vision for Metro: Marketing itself

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Part 1: Buses Metro Board member Christoph Spieler has said that Metro turns over 20 percent of its ridership each year, just due to the natural comings and goings of life. As such, Metro doesn’t have to expend effort to … Continue reading →

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One year of the Green and Purple light rail lines

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ridership keeps trending up, but it’s hard to get a handle on the details from this story. Monday marks one-year of Metropolitan Transit Authority’s two newest rail lines. Well, most of Metro’s two newest rail lines. The last mile or … Continue reading →

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Feds rescind Universities line funding

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise at this point. A proposal for a light rail line along Richmond Avenue, long left for dead because of strong opposition and years of languishing, has lost its shot now for funding from the Federal Transit Administration. … Continue reading →

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Turner reiterates the need to rethink transportation

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

New audience, same theme. Houston’s transportation future – and perhaps its economic vitality – relies on more options than new freeway lanes to make room for more cars, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Tuesday. “The solution is to increasingly take advantage … Continue reading →

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Patman shares her vision for Metro

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I like what I’m hearing from new Metro Board Chair Carrin Patman. A regional transportation plan is critical, Patman said, because it allows everyone to establish what transit and transportation officials should be doing. Everyone, including counties and cities not … Continue reading →

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Want to buy a big piece of land near the Medical Center?

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s your chance. A single tract of land large enough to hold multiple office towers, high-rise residential buildings and a hotel doesn’t often come available inside Loop 610. One near the Texas Medical Center is even more uncommon. After 45 … Continue reading →

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The dry run for the Super Bowl

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It went pretty well. In less than a year, the Super Bowl is expected to draw almost twice as many as the 70,000 out-of-towners who flocked here for the Final Four. More than 1 million are expected to come downtown … Continue reading →

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Take transit to the game

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

If you can, you should. The transformation of downtown from a work place that empties after dark to a true community is finally underway in earnest, with residents, retail shops, and restaurants that remain open long after the lunch rush. … Continue reading →

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Lots of people took the train to the games

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. After handling more than a quarter-million rail trips over the four-day NCAA Final Four period, Metro is calling it a slam dunk. “These are numbers are fantastic for us,” spokesman Jerome Gray said. Metro said 255,700 rail boardings occurred … Continue reading →

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What do you do with a problem like I-10?

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From a conversation that Cite Editor Raj Mankad conducted with Andrew Albers and Ernesto Alfaro, who co-teach a survey of landscape architecture at the Rice School of Architecture. Mankad: Let’s come back to I-10 and the failure of its… Alfaro: … Continue reading →

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The Purple City plan for I-45

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Check it out. Should a major freeway plan consider the needs of cyclists? Of transit riders? And if we’re going to tear down and reconstruct the entire downtown freeway network of the fourth-largest city in America, shouldn’t the final result … Continue reading →

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Metro smartphone payment system debuts

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Progress marches onward. Metro riders will be able to board a bus or train without a fare card or cash within a few days, just in time for some of the transit agency’s heaviest use during the Houston Livestock Show … Continue reading →

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Turner wants to rethink transportation

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I like the way he’s thinking. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, in less than a month on the job, has hit the streets at full speed. First he tackled potholes. Last week he tackled a state transportation department that’s spent the … Continue reading →

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Harrisburg line overpass delayed again

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Just, ugh. A rail overpass vital to completion of the East End light rail line that has divided neighbors and eroded public confidence will be delayed another four months, Metro officials confirmed Monday. “It has been the project from … Continue reading →

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More on the Gulf Coast Rail District and the high speed rail line

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reports on the story. Officials with the Gulf Coast Rail District, Houston-Galveston Area Council, Texas Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transit Authority are involved in a comprehensive planning study of rail, generally in the Washington Avenue and Interstate … Continue reading →

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Metro posts solid ridership increase

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. METRO’s chosen path to increase ridership by delivering improved routes, with improved connections, is producing solid, steady and most impressively significant, numbers – across the board. Ridership on all fixed routes grew to nearly 7 million in November 2015. … Continue reading →

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Paxton opines on Uptown BRT

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

AG Ken Paxton was asked for an opinion on whether or not Metro could work with the Uptown Management District on its proposed BRT line. The opinion has been given, though it doesn’t really settle anything. In the ruling, Paxton … Continue reading →

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More rail options being studied

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This caught my eye last week. The Gulf Coast Rail District says to make the system viable the train needs to come into downtown, or there has to be some sort of commuter rail option that would link downtown with … Continue reading →

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More on the high speed rail station in Houston

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron frets about it not being downtown. After hearing so much about how the proposed Central Texas Railway will help people commute between the central business districts of Houston and Dallas, it turns out that the Houston station will … Continue reading →

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Red lights on the Green line

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Alas. Light rail is up and running along Harrisburg on the city’s east side, but Metro’s construction continues to be a sore spot with area residents because it seems at every turn the work is taking longer than promised. The … Continue reading →

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The FRA releases its alignment analysis for the high speed rail line

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

There will be no downtown Houston station, that much is for sure. The area around U.S. 290 and Loop 610, anchored by Northwest Mall, is likely to be the end of the line for a proposed Houston-to-Dallas high speed passenger … Continue reading →

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Another review of Metro’s bus system reimagining

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This time from the Chron: Nearly three months into what many consider the most significant operational change any American transit system has made in three decades, Houston transit officials and supporters are calling the new bus network a rousing success. … Continue reading →

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Where things stand with bus ridership

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Jarrett Walker, one of the consultants who helped design the new Metro bus network, looks at the most recent stats from Metro and tells us what they mean. It’s now been about two months since Houston METRO implemented their New … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit against Uptown line dismissed

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We haven’t heard the last of this, of that you can be certain. A judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a dedicated bus lane project in Houston’s Uptown area, but the ruling is not a final resolution of the dispute. … Continue reading →

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Metro once again considers advertising

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

And I once again say go for it. Thursday, Metropolitan Transit Authority board members will consider researching options for putting ads inside buses and trains, as well as text-based ads for those who use the system’s next-bus texting service. Metro … Continue reading →

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B-Cycle expansion coming

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Houston area officials are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into widening Interstate 45, and they could be paying much more for even larger upcoming projects along the corridor. But a comparatively-paltry sum is about to boost bike sharing … Continue reading →

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August ridership numbers for the new rail lines

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Again, don’t get too excited just yet. Use of Houston’s two newest rail lines increased in August, though it took a strong late showing and free rides to finally meet the ridership expectations Metro officials outlined in May. According to … Continue reading →

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